Rosa Elisa Rodríguez Martínez, Eduardo Gabriel Torres Conde, Eric Jordán Dahlgren,
2023
Revistas arbitradas
Pelagic Sargassum cleanup cost in Mexico
237
0964-5691
CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA
BOTANICA
ECOLOGIA VEGETAL
Pelagic Sargassum spp. (Sargassum) blooms in the tropical Atlantic began in 2011. Since then, frequent and significant beaching events have caused ecological, economic, and human health related problems in over 30 countries. On the Mexican Caribbean coast, massive beaching events began in late 2014 and, since 2018, have occurred annually, with high-volume landings lasting from five to seven months. This study analyzes data on Sargassum cleanup costs done by three municipalities (Puerto Morelos, Solidaridad, and Tulum) and five hotels between Tulum and Cancun. The annual harvested volumes ranged from 10,105 to 40,932 m 3 per kilometer, resulting in US$ 0.3–1.1 M cleanup costs per kilometer. The prices of cleaning one cubic meter of Sargassum ranged from US$: 19–85. The expenses were influenced by cleanup management strategies rather than beach cast volumes. Hotels were more cost-effective than municipalities. For the city of Puerto Morelos, we additionally the yearly and monthly cleanup costs using the mean per-unit price obtained from hotels within this municipality (US$ 27 per m 3 ) and the Sargassum volumes removed monthly from the beach by 14 hotels during 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. The costs per kilometer for this municipality ranged from 0.8 to 1.5 M in years (Mean: 1.0 M) and US$ 10,186–100,446 over months, with mean values greater than US$ 70,000 from May to August. The data provided here can help governments and hotels to anticipate cleanup costs for forecasting purposes and industries interested in valorizing Sargassum.
Sistema Estatal de Información y Documentación Científica y Tecnológica
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