Mexico to spend US$9.1 million on seaweed cleanup

Mexican authorities say they will spend about US$9.1 million and hire 4,600 temporary workers to clean up mounds of seaweed that have accumulated in recent weeks along the Caribbean coast.

Part of that money will go to a plan to test whether the sargassum seaweed can be collected in the sea before it reaches shore.

The Environment Department said Thursday that while machinery may be used on some beaches, manual collection will be used in protected areas, some of which are nesting grounds for sea turtles.

The seaweed removal will cover Holbox in the north through Cancún, Isla Mujeres, Playa de Carmen, Cozumel, Akumal, Tulum and as far south as Mahahual.

Sargassum is an algae that grows in the Sargasso Sea, a large body of warm water in the mid-Atlantic.