With sargassum season officially underway, authorities along Mexico’s Riviera Maya are bracing for a record-breaking influx of the messy seaweed this summer.
Sargassum blooms have been coming ashore earlier than normal this year, and Esteban Amaro, director of the Quintana Roo Sargassum Monitoring System, said the forecast for 2025 is worrying.
“We are expecting more intense and more frequent arrivals along the entire coast,” he said.
Amaro said satellite images indicate the accumulation of sargassum this summer will be greater than the region has seen in three years.
“Last year, we collected more than 40,000 metric tons, and we will easily surpass that figure this year,” he said.
The brown seaweed known as sargassum is naturally beneficial to marine ecosystems in the open ocean, but becomes harmful to marine life, plants, coral and human health when large quantities reach the coast. As it decomposes, sargassum gives off a foul smell similar to rotten eggs.
Sargassum accumulation along the Riviera Maya typically peaks during the summer months from April or May to August, but can persist into November. Last year, Quintana Roo did not declare sargassum season over until Nov. 14.
Increasing quantities of the seaweed have been washing ashore since 2011, posing a challenge to authorities as they work to keep the beaches clean and safe for tourism, a primary source of income in the region.
