by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 8:30 AM ET, Tue November 10, 2026
A month after it typically ends, the Sargassum season in the Mexican Caribbean has officially ended after officials collected more than 156,000 tons of the algae in Quintana Roo alone.
The 2026 Sargassum season in the Caribbean hit Mexico’s coastlines and those of Florida particularly hard this year, with officials collecting nearly double the 85,000 tons collected in 2025.
According to Mexico News Daily, the Mexican Navy collected 72,000 metric tons throughout the year.
Sargassum season also began in January this year, which came as a shock, since it typically begins in April and ends in October as ocean waters cool.
It got so bad in the summer that hoteliers and tourism industry members in Quintana Roo called on local government officials to declare a state of emergency because of the sheer amount of Sargassum washing ashore on popular beaches.
The headlines caught the attention of Mexico’s federal government, with President Claudia Sheinbaum creating a task force to help address the issue.
Local governments across the Mexican Caribbean are already planning to grow their response next year, which, due to the so-called Super El Niño, could bring in a record-high 80 million tons of Sargassum throughout the Caribbean.
The Navy hopes to install a Sargassum barrier called GO 60 by 60, a series of six 10-kilometer sections of barriers placed 60 kilometers offshore between Cozumel and Tulum, which will hopefully prevent tourist-dense beaches from seeing large amounts of Sargassum washing ashore. The barrier will undergo an impact analysis on local wildlife before it can be installed.
Local hoteliers and the government spent $231 million cleaning up Sargassum this year; in addition to its unpleasantness and its hefty clean-up bill, Sargassum, when exposed to air and allowed to dry out on beaches, can impact the health of beach-goers, releasing ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, and provide a breeding ground for harmful bacteria.
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