Mexican Organizations Partner To Turn Sargassum Into Business Opportunities Within 6 Months

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Mexican private and public sectors have announced a groundbreaking partnership to fight sargassum and boost business opportunities in the Caribbean region.

According to Toni Chaves, hotel leader in Quintana Roo, the Mexican Institute for Research in Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture (IMIPAS), the Association of Hotels of Riviera Maya (AHRM) and the Seas We Love (TSWL) have inked an agreement that could yield results by April 2025. 

The primary objective is to develop a sustainable model to manage sargassum arrival while protecting the marine ecosystem through technical cooperation, academic research and funding for several projects.

“The three organizations agreed on the technical and financial feasibility of changing the paradigm of this regional problem through the provision of sustainable solutions,” said a Mexican Caribbean Hotel Council spokesperson.

For this purpose, IMIPAS will conduct academic and technical studies to streamline the efficient use of “fishing techniques” for sargassum harvesting. At the same time, the AHRM and TSWL will be responsible for raising capital.

“What we have just signed is the first step toward finding solutions for this major issue, which we hope to turn into a valuable asset and a great business opportunity,” said Pablo Arenas, Director General of IMIPAS.

The once marine life shelter turned plague, has impacted the livelihoods of local communities and the tourism sector in the region since 2011.

Factors such as rising ocean temperatures and water eutrophication from large-scale agriculture in countries like the United States and Brazil have been blamed for sargassum over-reproduction—problems that are unlikely to disappear if not properly addressed in a short time.

According to official data, destinations like Quintana Roo have experienced a reduction of 2.5 to 5 percent in tourist arrivals during the sargassum season each year due to “sargassum inundations,” while hoteliers have spent over $120 million annually on algae collection, cleaning and disposal.

Thankfully, a number of business initiatives and startups have emerged over the last five years, aiming to transform this financial nightmare into a profitable venture.

A standout example is SOS Carbon, a startup within the MIT ecosystem that uses disruptive technology “to capture carbon by sequestering sargassum in deep waters and has developed a cost-effective, low-impact system called the Littoral Collection Module (LCM)” capable of collecting algae before it washes ashore.

Other organizations with the same vision include the European Union, the Secretariat of Ecology and Environment (SEMA), the CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, the IDB Group and a growing number of corporations and non-profit organizations.

In the past two years, representatives from foreign governments and the private sector have hosted multiple international forums to discuss this unprecedented environmental challenge affecting the Caribbean as a whole.

However, beyond the buzz generated after each meeting, only a handful of enterprises have received the actual technical and financial support needed to solve a problem that demands creative solutions from multiple angles and at a faster pace.