Alert the increase of Sargassum on the beaches of the Mexican Caribbean and attribute the phenomenon to climate change

Sargbado It seems to have come to stay on the beaches of the Mexican Caribbean. Since 2014, brown algae and unpleasant odor began to accumulate in spas like Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum in increasing quantities. According to experts, the phenomenon is a direct consequence of climate change and represents a real threat to the local economy.

According to the oceanography professor at the School of Marine Sciences of South Florida, Chuanmin Huit is likely that the arrival of Sargbadum does not stop in the short term. "Due to global climate change, we may have increased the outcrop, supply of air or nutrient sources of rivers. The three factors may have increased the presence of algae, "he said.

According to Hu's explanation, different scientific studies have linked this phenomenon to the increase in seawater temperature and discharges of organic waste into the rivers of Central American countries. In this sense, the state government of Quintana Roo, one of the most affected, said that "it is one of the biggest challenges facing the world with the following climate change ".

With the transformation of the white sand and turquoise waters of the Mexican Caribbean into an ocher-rich and smelly fringe, the sargbado has compromised the economy of a large number of holiday resorts located in Quintana Roo. According to the Institute of Ocean Sciences and Limnology (ICMyL) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), hotels had to invest in 2018 USD 57,798 per month for cleaning beaches.

Unfortunately, projections for 2019 are not encouraging. The technical director of the Sargbado Surveillance Network in Cancun, Esteban Amaro, predicted arrival between 800,000 and one million tons on the coasts of the country, a number almost five times higher than the 170,000 recorded last year. Thus, in overpopulated stations such as Tulum, large amounts of algae can already be seen on and off the sand, where they can cover areas greater than 400 square meters.