Authorities on Mexico’s Caribbean coast are battling an “alarming” invasion of smelly brown algae that has accumulated on beaches in the region.
Algae, known as sargassum, spill onto the shores of white sandy beaches just as tourists begin to return to the country after the pandemic, according to an ABC News report.
“We can say that the current situation is worrying,” said Fleet Minister Jose Ojeda, who is leading sargas collection operations at sea before reaching the beaches.
The Navy currently has 11 sargas collection boats in the Caribbean.
So much algae reaches the beaches that hotels and local authorities reportedly used bulldozers and excavators to collect the algae-like plant.
Big machines also trap sand and contribute to beach erosion, said Rosa Rodriguez Martinez, a biologist in the coastal city of Puerto Morelos who studies reefs and coastal ecosystems for the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
The Mexican Navy has 11 sargas collection boats in the Caribbean. ZUMAPRESS.com Experts fear that sargas levels may be the highest of the set records in 2018 EPA
“There are so many sargas that you can no longer use small-scale equipment, you have to use heavy things, and when the excavators come in, they remove more sand,” she told the newspaper.
Experts fear that the current accumulation of sargas may surpass the records set in 2018.
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