Riviera Maya, Q.R. — An additional 200 Navy personnel will be deployed in the state’s coastal areas in coming weeks. The extra military personnel will arrive as extra hands to help with Quintana Roo’s overwhelming incoming sargassum.
Governor Mara Lezama met with Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, the Secretary of the Navy, Friday. The pair met at the C5 Security Complex in Cancun where they discussed the continued support of the Navy for its coordinated efforts in surveillance, patrol and crime-fighting operations in support of state and municipal forces.
They also discussed the ongoing support of the Navy in addressing the sargassum, which represents an environmental and tourism challenge for the state. Lezama highlighted the critical role of the Natans sea vessels that are specialized in offshore harvesting as well as the 11 sargassum vessels and the kilometers of containment barriers deployed off the Mexican Caribbean coast.
According to Governor Lezama, their talks included efforts to strengthen combatting sargassum. This could include installing more linear meters of containment barriers and also expanding the loading capacity of sargassum harvesting vessels to improve the collection of seaweed.
During their Friday meeting, Lezama confirmed the arrival of 200 additional members of the Navy who, she says, will join the efforts to address the state’s sargassum collection.
Earlier this week, Cancun City trustee Miguel Ángel Zenteno said the city needs more hands to keep up with the removal of the arriving seaweed.
“We always need to find resources to address this contingency which this year, has been very abundant. There’s not enough money or enough hands,” he said.
