Officials in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and other tourist-friendly beach destinations along Mexico's Riviera Maya will soon begin efforts to collect sargassum at sea before it has a chance to reach land.
According to Riviera Maya News, Quintana Roo governor Carlos Joaquin said ecological fences similar to those used in oil spills will be utilized in the coming days to round up the troublesome seaweed.
What's more, manual cleaning of the beaches will continue twice a day.
"The cost of the work comes from the federation, however, we are providing state support to get the work started. We are working on a federal agreement so that we can have joint resources to carry out the project that we hope solves this problem," the governor said.
"Beyond the legal discussion about who should clean the beach, the state government has taken the initiative to clean them because tourism and work by Quintana Roo are involved."
Joaquin noted that Cozumel, Isla Mujeres and coastlines facing the west have been less affected by the seaweed. Officials have been reviewing several potential solutions, even working with some universities in the U.S. to better understand the phenomenon, Riviera Maya News reported.
Government workers, private companies and even citizens have chipped in to clean up the sargassum, managing to collect as much as 120,000 cubic meters of seaweed along beaches across seven municipalities over the past 45 days.
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