The uncontrolled arrival of Sargasso to Mexican shorelines over the last 10 years has negatively impacted hoteliers and authorities’ strongboxes due to the amounts of money needed to keep beaches clean. But some help is on the way.
Two companies in Quintana Roo have been granted permits to transform the problematic algae into profitable commercial products.
Sargassum-based products already marketed include cosmetics, paints, sinks and building materials such as bricks, among others.
To get legal permits, both companies had to demonstrate capacity to develop products fit for human use since sargassum has high levels of arsenic, said Huggette Hernández, head of the Secretary of Ecology and Environment (SEMA).
This brand-new business is attracting a number of investors and even academic community members.
Nowadays, two more companies are in the process of obtaining permits to transform Sargassum.
As part of the BBVA 2023 National Sustainability Challenge “Together for the Mexican Caribbean,” scientists are working on three projects focused on both the treatment and monetization of the algae.
“Understanding sargassum’s response to environmental conditions is crucial for unlocking its biology and potential value,” said sargassum expert Dr. Thierry Tonon at the University of York.
At the same time, the government is working with a Dutch company that looks to produce sargassum-based biofuels. However, the success of this particular project lies in the consistency of sargassum arrival, which sometimes is a lot but sometimes is not, Hernandez said.
“Unfortunately,” that shouldn’t be a problem.
Year after year, the Mexican Caribbean is seeing its otherwise unspoiled beaches buried under tons of algae, and what is causing it is a problem that is not easy to solve.
Sargassum season 2024 is expected to break most previous records.
The Quintana Roo Sargassum Monitoring Network detected a bloom of more than “7,400 tons of sargassum floating on its way to Mexican beaches from the Honduran Caribbean.”
The worrisome discovery was made by the University of South Florida’s Optical Oceanography Laboratory.
Last week, over 500,000 tons of that sargassum washed ashore in the municipalities of Mahahual and Xcalak, Sian Ka’an, Solidaridad, and Tulum, according to Esteban Amaro Mauricio, head of the Sargassum Monitoring Network.
And much more is coming.