by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 9:30 AM ET, Mon September 29, 2025
Costa Maya, Mexico has collected over 400 tons of seaweed from September 20-26, a massive amount from two major beaches: Mahahual and Xcalak.
According to Riviera Maya News, the Mexican Navy is involved in the 2025 Sargassum Response Strategy, cleaning up the beaches, drying out the sargassum in facilities and re-entering it back into the environment.
Seventy-three Naval members and 80 civilians participated in the cleanup efforts this past week.
“Specialized machinery and various resources were also deployed for this purpose, maintaining 2,265 meters of containment barriers. This maintenance strategy has been possible thanks to close coordination between this institution, authorities from all levels of government and the active participation of organized civil society and the private sector,” the Secretariat of the Navy explained.
Recent bad weather in the area helped sargassum, a seaweed algae, from covering the northern beaches, including in Cancun, though it shifted all the algae towards the southern beaches.
Around this time during the sargassum season, cold fronts, which extend through the first quarter of 2026, often push the sargassum to different regions, making Cancun less impacted in the winter. Sargassum season runs from April through October, so the region is expected to see less and less sargassum through the end of the month.
Prior to this, the Mexican Caribbean reported collecting a stunning 76,000 tons of seaweed from both beaches and offshore containment units this year, a number which is triple the amount collected in 2024.
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