Mahahual Hoteliers Bear Up to $1,000 Monthly in Sargasso Cleanup Costs

Mahahual, Quintana Roo — Hotel owners in this southern coastal town are spending up to 20,000 pesos (about $1,000) per month per business to contain and remove sargasso seaweed, as they say government efforts fall short of addressing the massive influx.

Rudy Alberto Espadas Pinto, a local hotelier, said the monthly expenses cover artisanal barriers, net installation, maintenance, and transport of collected algae. The private sector has effectively taken over the responsibilities of all three levels of government to prevent a collapse in tourism, he added.

“The sargasso arrives with more force and we have to face it ourselves. We put up our nets, do the installation, maintenance, collection — we do everything. The municipality sometimes only provides a dump truck to haul it away,” Espadas Pinto said.

He acknowledged partial support from the Mexican Navy in offshore containment but said federal efforts are insufficient given the critical volume of seaweed arriving daily.

A major bottleneck, according to Espadas Pinto, is the lack of adequate and nearby disposal sites, forcing businesses to transport the algae longer distances at higher cost. He also criticized past multimillion-peso projects by private companies that failed to deliver solutions. “That money could have been better spent on temporary employment programs so local people could help in cleanup brigades,” he said.

The hotelier warned that beyond the economic impact, the rapid decomposition of accumulated sargasso under the sun poses a growing health and environmental risk to the Costa Maya region.