Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — The Sargassum Response Cabinet has agreed to work on standardizing monitoring, strengthening public communication. The Cabinet has also agreed to improve operations for collecting and storing the macroalgae.
Playa del Carmen Mayor Estefanía Mercado and the National Fund for Tourism Development (Fonatur) have agreed to standardize sargassum monitoring and alert systems, political communication, and advance the collection and storage operation to 2027.
The move comes as part of the comprehensive strategy promoted by President Claudia Sheinbaum to address this phenomenon in the Mexican Caribbean.
During a Wednesday Sargassum Cabinet meeting with Fonatur head Luis Martínez Vega, the mayor proposed strengthening the communication strategy during the sargassum season and a standardized monitoring format that allows informing citizens and tourists about the conditions of the beaches and the presence of the macroalga.
The meeting also allowed progress in preparing the collection operation for 2027, from the work on the coast to the reception of the material at the collection centers, as well as in the design of strategies for its concentration and compaction.
Estefanía Mercado reaffirmed her government’s priority of maintaining coordination between institutions to address one of the main environmental challenges facing Mexican Caribbean destinations, which requires timely information, operational capacity, and collaboration among the responsible authorities.
During the meeting, Rear Admiral Topiltzin Flores Jaramillo, coordinator of the Anti-Sargassum Strategy, explained that the Mexican Navy, through its oceanographic research centers, is developing a monitoring and forecasting system that allows it to identify the masses of sargassum with the highest probability of reaching the coasts of the Mexican Caribbean.
He explained that the Gulf and Caribbean Oceanographic Institute integrates satellite information, including data from South Florida, as well as records of winds, ocean currents and tides, to produce bulletins with forecasts of between 24 and 48 hours.
He explained that these tools allow for locating concentrations of the sargassum and estimating its possible movement toward the coast, however, he warned that the forecasts are probabilistic and can be modified by meteorological and oceanographic conditions.
The meeting also reviewed information exchange mechanisms, monitoring reports, dissemination channels, and alert procedures, from detecting concentrations to activating cleaning crews.
In operational matters, aspects related to access, concessionaires, containers, transfer sites and final disposal were addressed, as well as the identification of collection spaces and the review of irregular or previously closed points.
