Semar collected 52,000 tons of sargassum off the coast of Quintana Roo during 2022

Cancun, QR. The Secretary of the Navy (Semar) reported that during 2022, 52,647 tons of sargasso on the coasts of Quintana Roo, as part of the strategy to address this phenomenon.

For the task of collecting sargassum, 9,050 meters of containment barriers were implemented, in addition to the participation of 350 elements of the secretariat and 618 of Civil Protection.

According to the dependency report, this year did not exceed 2019, when there was a record of 85,495 tons.

Also, this year there were four sweepers with tractors, 16 smaller vessels, and 11 coastal vessels. In addition, there was a support ship of the Marine Secretary and an ocean-going sargassum vessel, and there were 9,050 meters of sargassum-containing barriers.

Monitoring was also carried out through a helicopter from the Marine Secretaryin addition to satellite images through the Institute of Oceanography of the Gulf and Caribbean Sea.

For their part, the coastal municipalities of Quintana Roo 414 people were deployed, as well as 14 sweepers and tractors, 23 dump trucks, five containers, 13 transport vehicles and 10 beach trailers.

Observatory

In addition to the containment strategy to avoid the impact on the state’s sandbanks, the Sargassum Observatory and Early Warning project for the coasts of Quintana Rooin the northern part of the state.

The observatory includes the installation of specialized radars that will allow up to a week in advance to determine with a high degree of probability the points where the sargassum will land, thus anticipating much more precise containment strategies.

Probes that will measure the depth of the sargassum patches are expected to be installed by 2023, as well as cameras capable of generating three-dimensional images from logarithmic models.

The first phase of the sargassum observation and early warning system began last August, while in 2023 another two phases of the project will be deployed.

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