US EditionSargassum Seaweed! My Summer Vacation, a Beach Trip Turned Into a Pool Trip. What Is Sargassum?
CARIBBEAN, JUL 14 – A record 37.5 million metric tons of sargassum in May 2025 has severely disrupted marine ecosystems, fisheries, and tourism across the Caribbean, driven by climate and environmental factors.
- In 2025, a record-breaking sargassum seaweed invasion impacted Caribbean beaches, including Quintana Roo and Tobago, prompting extensive clean-up efforts.
- Researchers at the University of South Florida link the recent increase to factors such as climate change, fertilizer runoff, deforestation, and alterations in wind patterns that boost nutrient upwelling.
- Authorities deployed 400 naval personnel, 34 vessels, and nearly 9 kilometers of containment barriers while bulldozers piled seaweed to clear the beaches for tourism and residents.
- The 2025 invasion reached 37.5 million metric tons, a 70% increase over the previous high of 22 million tons in 2022, with NOAA providing weekly risk maps covering the Caribbean and adjacent coasts.
- This event threatens marine ecosystems, public health, and coastal economies and has led to new monitoring facilities and regional cooperation aimed at sustainable management and biofuel conversion.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Despite heroic clean-up efforts, sargassum keeps accumulating on Quintana Roo's coast
Sargassum has invaded Quintana Roo’s beaches with unprecedented intensity for much of the year, prompting daily herculean efforts by authorities and citizens to clear the noxious brown seaweed from normally pristine shores. And their task shows no sign of abating. A stunning indication of the current crisis — as well as of the locals’ heroism — took place in Isla Mujeres. Between Sunday night and Monday morning, 140 tonnes of the algae came asho…
THA Executes Sargassum Cleanup
The Tobago House of Assembly's Division of Food Security, Natural Resources, the Environment and Sustainable Development is monitoring the influx of sargassum seaweed across the island’s beaches. Work began on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday as clean-up gangs were deployed, and plans are underway for further clean-up if necessary. THA Secretary of Food Security, Natural
La Romana-Bayahíbe is one of the few destinations whose offer of sun and beach remains intact in the face of a problem that increasingly affects tourism: the sargazo. According to the president of the Association of Hotels La Romana-Bayahíbe (AHRB), Andrés Fernández, the geographical location and the natural protection offered by the island Saona, whose streams of water divert the algae to other places, make Bayahíbe an alternative increasingly …
Laura ToribioThe massive arrival of sargazo to the Mexican Caribbean, which dyes the waters brown between March and August, could reach in 2025 a volume of approximately 37 million tons, surpassing the historical maximum of 2018 (when 22 million tons were recorded), according to information published by the Polytechnic Gazette. Dr. Norma Patricia Muñoz Sevilla, researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for Research and Studies on Environment an…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 100% of the sources lean Left
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
