Puerto Morelos, Q.R. — Puerto Morelos sargassum collection removal efforts will be increased starting next month. Jesús Espinosa Payán, City Council General Secretary, says an average of 30 tons is currently being collected daily by a 40-person team.
He says starting next month, however, additional people will be added since June and July usually means more sargassum. According to Espinosa Payán, those are the months the town sees the heaviest seaweed deposits. He says City Hall will work with Zofemat (Zona Federal Marítimo Terrestre), who are charged with cleaning, to increase the number of people.
“City Hall staff also organizes cleanup sessions for each department which helps Zofemat staff keep the beaches clean,” he said.
He stated that the containment barriers installed by the Navy retain between 80 and 90 percent of the arriving sargassum, preventing it from reaching the coast. Now, once it lands on the beach, a 40-person team from Zofemat works with a company to remove it.
However, in anticipation of a busy June and July, another 60 staff will likely be hired. That will provide approximately 100 people to work in shifts to remove what makes it to shore, he said.
The sargassum collected along the 18 kilometer stretch of coast is transferred to kilometer 1 along Ruta de los Cenotes. There, it is dried and sifted to recover the sand and return it to the beaches. Sargassum collected by hotels is also deposited at this site, he said.
According to Puerto Morelos Zofemat (Zona Federal Marítimo Terrestre) Director Gerardo Rosas García, the sargassum season normally runs from April to November, however, in March, more than 632 tons of sargassum was collected with March 10 being the heaviest day with 119.2 tons removed.
He says during the first week of April, 75.31 tons of seaweed was removed from local beaches. This year, the Secretary of the Navy installed 2,100 linear meters of anti-sargassum barriers off the coast of Puerto Morelos to help stop seaweed landing on Puerto Morelos beaches.
