The invasion of Sargassum causes the death of more than 70 species of animals in Mexico

Since 2018, they have appeared death on the shores of the Mexican Caribbean examples of 72 species because of Sargbadum, specialists of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

Although the species affected are mainly the fish, there is also crustaceans and other animals. Your the death is related to the decomposition of the algae, which causes a deterioration of the water quality and that ends up affecting the living beings who live there, in particular the Coral reefs.

In Sargbadum lack of oxygen, poor water quality and the production of chemicals, warned Brigitta Ine van Tussenbroek, researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology (ICML) of the National University.

"This situation started to be observed in a mbadive way from last summer", badured her colleague Rosa Elisa Rodríguez, who has been asking for peace of citizenship since "This is not a toxic algae" for humans.

Because the Sargbadum puts the Caribbean Sea at risk As we know up to now, it is fundamental to tackle the problem through a coordinated strategy. The hotels located on the beach they clean the area dailyHowever, support from the three levels of government, private initiative and civil society is needed to prevent it from continuing. pollute the water.

Sargbade, a problem that continues to grow

Sargbado is not a unique problem of Mexican coastscovers the entire Caribbean, including the Equatorial Atlantic. Its causes are a combination of processes that remain under study because of their complexity.

"The fact is that we had Sargbado peaks in 2011, 2015, 2018 and 2019said Jorge Zavala Hidalgo, researcher at the Center for Atmospheric Sciences (CCA).

Elisa Rodríguez said that in September 2015 represented 2,500 cubic meters of Sargbadum per kilometer of beach on the coast of Quintana Roo; and in 2018 they came together 275,000 cubic meters in 6 kilometers from the beach of Puerto Morelos.

"If we extrapolated to the 17 kilometers of the whole municipality, they were almost 800,000 cubic meters, equivalent to 300 olympic pools of 50 meters 25 meters deep, "he explained.

Alternatives and modes of use

To solve the problem, short-term actions are needed to mitigate the impact and remove the sargbade, with long-term work, focused on research and monitoring.

Zavala pointed out that his research group had experience in modeling and forecasting systems who can indicate where you are going and how long can sargbade reachso that they can participate in this area.

"In other countries, there is an institution that deals with oceanic aspects and is linked to academic institutions: the Copernicus program in the European Union and the Ocean and Atmosphere Agency in the United States. Mexico does not have a national oceanographic agency And as this is a very big gap, government institutions react erratically, which should be inclusive, "he said.

Rosa Rodríguez commented that her work focuses on develop databases on the Volume of sargbade It reaches the coast of Quintana Roo because there were no records until a few years ago.

The scientist said that in Quintana Roo, some industries were already using sargbado on a trial basis. There is a alginates plant(products used in the food industry), other fucoidanos (for the pharmaceutical industry), and some blend it with polymers for Plates and disposable cups.

There is also an initiative for solar water heaters, mud and sargbade houses, biofuels and a patent for making paper. "It is necessary to upgrade the pilot plant to be able to use those large volumes that are coming in."

Gabriela Gómez Rodríguez, of the Institute of Geography (IGg), mentioned it with the National Laboratory for Earth Observation (LANOT) You can help monitor Sargbadum.

This entity receives satellite information, processes it and distributes it. "We give early warning to many institutions related to different phenomena, and Sargbade patches can be detected"