Mahahual, Q.R. — Seabed anchoring work for the installation of anti-sargassum barriers has begun off the coast of Mahahual. The beginning stages of the installation began after the arrival of the sargassum.
For weeks, local businesses had been requesting the Navy, who is in charge of controlling the state’s sargassum, to install the barrier prior to its arrival, however, the seaside town endured the recent holidays without any Navy help.
According to town mayor William Calderón Sánchez, earlier this week, after the official end to the Easter holidays, the Secretary of the Navy (Semar) began seabed work which involves drilling anchors that will hold the floating mesh in place.
Calderón Sánchez said that although this is a positive move, they are now going to request a meeting with Semar and the Othón P. Blanco City Council to confirm the installation of the mesh containment barrier.
“Fortunately, they are already here installing the anchors. We are about to confirm whether it will be 400 meters more than what was installed last year.
“The most important thing is that they have already started with the anchors that serve to hold the mesh and with this, prevent the arrival of macro algae in large quantities to the beach area.
“Although the barrier was expected to be ready in the first days of April, we now hope that they can install the barrier before the end of this month because there is always the fear that the longer they take, the more sargassum will arrive.”
He said for now, the amounts of arriving sargassum is manageable in part due to the homemade (plastic jugs) barrier they have installed themselves.
“The artisanal barriers placed by businessmen also helps a lot. There are also cleaning brigades with an average of 22 people who are in the temporary employment program for the removal of the algae and thus, have a good image so that Mahahual continues to be attractive for tourism, which is what we are looking for,” he said.
