Overview
- Official monitoring shows 65 of 140 beaches on red alert for sargassum, with 34 beaches flagged in the north and 31 in the south due to heavy accumulation.
- Federal and local teams have collected tens of thousands of tonnes so far, with the Navy reporting about 38,650 tonnes removed by mid-May and Tulum authorities reporting more than 2,000 tonnes taken from local shores.
- Authorities say southeasterly winds and an early season increase the chance that annual landings in Quintana Roo will exceed 90,000 tonnes, raising near-term expectations for larger arrivals.
- Private hotels are installing their own containment systems and hiring removal contractors, including a 1,050-meter segmented barrier at Destino Maroma, as municipal brigades say volumes already exceed cleaning capacity.
- The current surge builds on a massive 2025 Atlantic sargassum belt that left large floating biomass in the region, creating logistical and environmental challenges for disposal and for tourism businesses that rely on swimmable beaches.