Cancun gets a month’s worth of sargassum in just three days: report

Authorities in Cancun, Mexico say the volume of sargassum that washed into the region over just three days matches what is typically seen in an entire month.

According to José Antonio de la Torre Chambé, general director of public services, not only has the seaweed increased in volume, but it’s also arriving more often compared to the same time last year.

“What we’ve had in two or three days this year, last year we had in a month,” he told Riviera Maya News recently. “The arrival amounts are more frequent, closer together. We have monitoring starting at 5:30 in the morning, and at 10:00 in the morning at which time the mayor makes decisions about which beaches and what personnel will be sent to remove the seaweed.”

De la Torre Chambé said that sargassum – a thick, brown macroalgae – is removed from Cancun’s beaches the same day it arrives. He notes that workers don’t allow it to pile up, as handling large accumulations would be nearly unmanageable.

A team of 290 workers from Public Services and the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat) is assigned to clean the seven public beaches managed by the municipal government.

Over the past three weeks, the heaviest sargassum landings have been reported at Playas Delfines, Marlin, Ballenas, and Chac Mool, according to officials.

A record-breaking 37.5 million metric tons (41.3 million short tons) of sargassum seaweed inundated the Caribbean in May 2025, creating major challenges across the region.

From Puerto Rico to Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, beaches are being swamped by the seaweed, straining local resources and disrupting tourism-dependent economies.

Some 37,600 tons of sargassum is expected to arrive along the Quintana Roo coast this year, according to the Mexican Navy.

The state encompasses popular tourist destinations such as Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

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