Record sargassum levels prompt Mexican response

This year, authorities in Quintana Roo, Mexico collected 153,000 tons of sargassum, a new record, exceeding the 96,000 tons collected in 2025.

The state’s Department of Waste Management reported this increase and expects to remove around 165,000 tons by year’s end, noting sargassum now appears year-round instead of seasonally. The Environmental Monitoring Center of Quintana Roo currently lists nine beaches with “Excessive Sargassum” warnings out of the 140 monitored, while most others range from low to abundant levels.

To address the growing issue, the Mexican Navy increased its sargassum strategy. Instead of only removing sargassum from beaches, naval personnel now track the algae at sea using satellite imagery and algorithms that consider currents and wind. They deploy 11 coastal sargassum collection ships, along with other vessels and 13,000 meters of containment barriers, to intercept and collect the sargassum while it’s still alive.

The Navy plans to add a new collection ship, “Sargassum,” which will raise daily open-water collection capacity to 1,227 tons. They also intend to invest 2.6356 billion pesos in additional ships, dynamic barriers, monitoring systems, and a new pier. Naval groups are also working on beaches, manually and mechanically removing sargassum, and coordinating with local authorities and tourism businesses. The government also hopes to find ways to recycle and industrially use the sargassum as a raw material.