Huge quantities of sargassum seaweed on the coast of Tulum, Mexico.

Observation by Melanie Teitler:

In 2019 my family and I travelled to Tulum, Mexico. While on the beach it was an abnormally large amount of brown seaweed in the water along the coast and washing onto the shore. While we were there for a week, I noticed there were dozens of full-time employees whose full time job was to rake, pile, load into trucks and remove the seaweed from the beach front so it would appear clean and pristine for resort guests. According to Jolley (2021) the seaweed is a macroalgae called sargassum and large amounts have been washing up on eastern Caribbean beaches for approximately 10 years.

I chose to document this as a unique observation because I am an avid traveller, but I had never been to Mexico or the Caribbean for a beach resort style vacation and while researching destinations, I did not come across any images that showed sargassum or any type of seaweed lining the beaches. By conducting some preliminary research searches, I was able to find vast amounts of scientific studies have been done in the last decade on sargassum in multiple different areas including social, economic, and environmental impacts as well as beneficial and practical uses.

Reference Jolley, A. (2021, August 25). Can science solve the seaweed problem on Mexican beaches? National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment-and-conservation/2021/08/can-science-solve-the-seaweed-problem-on-mexican-beaches

Comment from LEO.ai:

The influx of sargassum seaweed on the coasts of Tulum and other Caribbean regions has become a significant environmental concern. This phenomenon, often referred to as "sargassum blooms," has escalated since 2011, with the largest quantities recorded in 2018. The causes of these blooms are multifaceted, including increased sea surface temperatures, changes in ocean currents, and nutrient inputs from rivers, which are exacerbated by deforestation and fertilizer use. The sargassum influx can have detrimental effects on local ecosystems, such as smothering coral reefs and seagrass beds, and it also poses challenges for tourism and fisheries. However, it's important to note that sargassum plays a critical role in the open ocean by providing habitat for a variety of marine species. Efforts to manage and mitigate the impacts of sargassum blooms are ongoing, with research focusing on prediction, removal, and potential uses for the collected seaweed, such as biofuel production or agricultural applications. Understanding the complex dynamics of sargassum blooms is crucial for developing sustainable solutions that balance environmental health with economic interests.

For further reading on the sargassum phenomenon and its impacts, see the work of van Tussenbroek et al. (2017) on the massive influx of pelagic Sargassum in the Mexican Caribbean: "Golden tides: Management of the invasive, pelagic Sargassum species in the Caribbean Sea" in the journal "Current Biology" (https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(17)30856-4).