A massive blob of seaweed is headed towards Mexico’s popular Caribbean tourism towns, and the country’s Navy is out at sea trying to collect it before it reaches the shore. According to an article in the Tulum Times, the Navy has dispatched 13 vessels and 191 personnel in Quintana Roo — the stretch of coast with Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum — to remove the problematic sargassum seaweed before wind and waves push it to land.
Since the sargassum season began this spring, 29,000 tons of the seaweed have been extracted from the sea. As many as 130,000 tons are forecast to reach Mexican beaches in 2026, up from 96,000 tons in 2025.
Sargassum seaweed originates in the Atlantic Ocean and drifts to the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and southern Atlantic Seaboard of the U.S. It plays a key role in healthy marine ecosystems, supplying habitats and sustenance for fish, turtles, and seabirds.
Historically, the seaweed was found in the Sargasso Sea in the western North Atlantic Ocean, but its geographic range has greatly expanded in recent years in the Atlantic due to climate change. When sargassum piles up on beaches, not only does it impact tourism with its foul smell, but it can also negatively impact coastal ecosystems by blanketing organisms like coral and producing toxic algae blooms.
Stakeholders around the Atlantic region have been searching for solutions to fend off the seaweed. Grenada has been turning the seaweed into biogas and fertilizer, Cozumel has plans to install barriers around the island, and researchers from the University of Miami have been tracking the shifting patterns of where the seaweed blooms.
