29/06/2026
🤔 THE SENSITIVE TOPIC: CAN WE REALLY GET RID OF SARGASSUM?
🔑 As a real estate agent on the Riviera Maya, it is crucial for me to ensure my clients make the right investment, which means being able to answer this question in the most REALISTIC and ACCURATE way possible.
Therefore, I won't settle for cliché answers like:
"Sargassum only happens in the summer!" or "No big deal, just go to Cozumel or Isla Mujeres!"
👨🔬 I chose instead to conduct extensive research to truly understand the phenomenon and know what will happen over the coming years. Here is what I discovered...
✔️ WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS? "Man-made" solutions are currently very limited and have little impact on Sargassum, as it is difficult to fight such a force of nature.
The French government has invested MORE THAN 40 MILLION DOLLARS over 4 years into research and combating Sargassum in the French West Indies, but without much success...
The arrival of Sargassum on the beaches is MAINLY linked to certain climate phenomena; these are CYCLES and not a PERMANENT problem at all.
THE REAL REASONS THAT RID US OF SARGASSUM: NATURE 💚
🌪️ PHENOMENON 1: HURRICANES When a storm breaks out, the sargassum sinks or gets blown away!
Violent waves: They break the small air bubbles that allow the algae to float. Deprived of air, they sink to the ocean floor. ⚓
Powerful winds: They disrupt the currents and push the algae away from the beaches, out into the open sea.
📊 FACT CHECKING: This is exactly what happened with Hurricanes Fiona in 2022 and Beryl in 2024, which caused the near-disappearance of sargassum after passing close to the beaches of the Riviera Maya.
🌡️ PHENOMENON 2: EL NIÑO This global climate disruption cuts off nutrients to the algae completely.
Less wind: El Niño weakens the trade winds, the ocean's surface winds.
Without wind, nutrient-rich deep water no longer rises, and the sargassum "starves" in the middle of the ocean.
The Saharan wind, which deposits dust, also feeds the Sargassum, but it is considerably weakened during the EL NIÑO phenomenon.
📊 FACT CHECKING: During the summer of 2023, to everyone's great surprise, the beaches were completely free of sargassum, precisely because of the EL NIÑO phenomenon which deprived them of their nutrients!
🛰️ PHENOMENON 3: THE SARG'COOP HUMAN SHIELD Caribbean cooperation is also stepping up to block the algae at sea!
Space tracking: Satellites track the trajectory of the algae blankets in real-time to anticipate their movements.
🛰️ Barriers and vessels: Miles of floating barriers deflect the algae, and vacuum boats harvest them directly from the water before they ever touch the sand.
🤔 WHAT DOES 2027 HAVE IN STORE FOR US? The current El Niño phenomenon this year, combined with the deployment of the SARG'COOP network, will certainly weaken the invasions.
🔭 The 2027 Prediction: A major respite is on the horizon! Thanks to the prolonged blocking of nutrients and offshore cleanup technologies, 2027 is expected to see a massive drop in sargassum on our Caribbean and Mexican beaches.
Share your thoughts in the comments! 👇
