Mexico Assigns $110 Million Navy Budget to Fight Sargassum in Quintana Roo

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Mexico’s draft 2027 federal budget earmarks 1.867 billion pesos (roughly $110 million) for the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) to deal with sargassum in Quintana Roo, handing the armed forces control of a job currently shared by state and municipal governments.

The allocation, filed under budget code 26131180002, appears in the annex of Investment Programs and Projects. It states that spending will be concentrated in the state and that the Navy, rather than the state government or local municipalities, will act as the operating agency.

Infrastructure, Vessels and Equipment

The budget document lists the infrastructure and equipment the money would cover for what it describes as an integrated response in oceanic, island and coastal zones. According to the file, the package includes:

• A central logistics support building and three additional support buildings
• A dock
• Ocean-going and coastal sargassum-collecting vessels
• Tugboats, systems, vehicles and specialized equipment

The stated goal is to give the Navy enough operational capacity to collect the algae both before and after it reaches the beach.

The document classifies the project under the sustainable development pillar of the 2025-2030 National Development Plan. It does not designate specific destinations such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen or Mahahual, but says the scope covers the entire coastal and island strip of Quintana Roo. No parallel line item for the Environment and Natural Resources Department (Semarnat) or the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp) appears in the budget proposal.

Officials said the figures grew out of meetings with Quintana Roo’s hotel, academic and business sectors, as well as the actions reported by Semarnat.

More Than 124,000 Tons Collected This Season

Quintana Roo’s state environment department (SEMA) has reported that 124,852 tons of sargassum were removed between April and August, an increase of 29,069 tons over 2025, and has identified the five municipalities with the heaviest concentrations of the seaweed.

With less than a month left in the sargassum season, Playa del Carmen has recorded the largest volume of the macroalgae removed, followed by Cancún, Puerto Morelos, Tulum and Mahahual.