Chetumal, Q.R. — The government of Carlos Joaquín, in coordination with the Mexican Navy Secretariat (SEMAR) and public and private businesses, continue their battle against the arrival of seaweed with the announcement of two mass clusters set to arrive in coming days.
On Friday, the sargassum vessel Río Hondo from the Secretariat of the Navy arrived off the coast of Playa del Carmen where it began carrying out sargassum collection efforts. In Mahahual, two sargassum vessels have arrived where elements of the navy are making efforts to lift the algae from the sea before more reaches shores.
According to sargassum forecasts by Frigate Captain Paul Murat of the Oceanographic Institute of the Gulf and Caribbean Sea of SEMAR, during the month of July, an excessive recall of seaweed is expected to land along the state coast.
He explained that conditions remain favorable for high concentrations of the seaweed due to predominate surface currents from Xcalak to Mahahual with their northwest direction and speeds .55 to .7 meters per second. He added currents are also strong from Sian Ka’an to Cancun heading north and with speeds .8 to 1 meter per second.
“The floating sargassum conglomerates identified and the current path models allow the delimitation of two main groups. A first group identified to the south of Tulum with an approximate volume of between 280 to 300 tons, and the second group located to the southeast of Mahahual with a volume of 12 to 16 thousand tons is expected to arrive in the following days,” he said.
With that, Frigate Captain Paul Murat estimates that over the next few days, those large clusters of seaweed will begin arriving, in particular, in the regions of Xcalak to Sian Ka’an and from Tulum to the vicinity of Playa del Carmen, along with the south and east coast of Cozumel and surroundings of Puerto Morelos.