Mexico is experiencing a record sargassum season, with peak landings on Quintana Roo beaches reaching roughly 9,000 tonnes per day in 2026. The government is investing heavily in offshore collection vessels, containment barriers, and greater collection capacity in an effort to intercept more seaweed before it reaches tourist beaches.
Over the past 15 years, Mexico has faced a severe seaweed problem, with vast quantities of a brown seaweed known as sargassum washing up on beaches along the Caribbean coast and hitting the tourism industry hard. In July, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum announced a $115 million plan to combat surging sargassum in the Caribbean.
The government plans to deploy two large ships to capture the seaweed before it reaches the coast, while the navy is expected to install 30 miles of containment barriers to trap the sargassum at sea.
Mexico’s Environment Minister Alicia Barcena stated that out of almost 200 sargassum-related projects, at least 11 had the potential for scaling up industrially.
