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Sargassum removal continues along Cancun, Riviera Maya beaches

Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — Sargassum continues to be collected from state beaches with officials reporting the collection of 8.9 tons from Playa del Carmen since January. The Office of the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (ZOFEMAT) says they continue to attend to a six kilometer stretch of coastline in the municipality.

The director of Zofemat, Marco Loeza Pacheco says Zofemat personnel work to clean shores from Playa Caribe to 16th Street and from Constituyentes Avenue to 40th Street. The office added that the Blue Flag beaches of Playa 88, Punta Esmeralda and Xcalacoco are areas where during the month of June, 922.4 tons of arriving sargassum has been removed.

The removal of the beached seaweed is in addition to the tasks carried out by the Secretary of the Navy in shallow waters, who use vessels to capture the seaweed and transport it to shore where it is loaded into trucks and removed.

Loeza Pacheco said that as a result, the municipality of Solidaridad remains in yellow, which means Moderate Sargasso status. The Marina of Mexico monitors the state’s shores, providing a colored map of where the sargassum accumulates and colors beach areas accordingly.

He noted that the removal of seaweed along the coast is done by 120 workers who remove the sargassum both manually and using light machinery.