Rotting seaweed invasion is killing Cancun’s tourism

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Rotting seaweed invasion is killing Cancun’s tourism | Secret Flying

Algae is washing up, turning beaches into a slimy, brown eyesore.

 

An algae named sargassum is washing up on Cancun’s beaches, turning them into a brown eyesore with a smell like rotten eggs.

 

For the past several months the invasion of seaweed-like algae has built up to the extent that the once pristine beaches of Mexico have turned into the world’s biggest seaweed patch.

 

Stretching all the way down to Playa del Carmen and even further to Tulum, the muddy-brown waters are keeping tourists away.

 

Experts suggest the cause may be down to climate change and deforestation.

 

“What’s important is that this problem is not going to go away,” said Valeria Romo, an analyst at Invex Casa de Bolsa.

 

“There’s no long-term solution in sight.”

 

Locals claim that the Sargassum has far worse devastating affects to the tourism industry than a hurricane.

 

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has reportedly called the problem controllable and refused to allocate major funds to deal with the problem.

 

City workers are shovelling the algae away, however, the endless onslaught of fresh algae with every tide results in an algae-covered beach only moments later.