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Playa del Carmen continues sargassum removal battle

Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — Large mounds of sargassum continues to be removed from central Playa del Carmen beaches each day since the latest bloom arrived. Solidaridad Zofemat says that after more than two weeks, additional machinery is required to deal with the mass of seaweed.

María de Lourdes Várguez, director of the Solidaridad Federal Maritime-Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat), reported the daily figures being removed from central beach areas. She said that Solidaridad City Council had to rent a sargacera machine due to the excessive amount of seaweed that landed on the coast more than two weeks ago.

“The large amount of sargassum landfall is public knowledge,” she said. “We have been like this for 16 days, battling a lot. We reinforced the collection with a sargacera that we hired as a municipality in addition to more machinery that, due to the volume of seaweed, is the most effective to collect,” she explained.

Várguez said that the bad weather has allowed the sargassum to breach the barriers. She says the strong winds have generated high waves which has allowed the seaweed to make landfall.