Mexico clears 100,000 tons of sargassum as seaweed crisis hits tourism
The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has reached record-breaking proportions in 2026, with tens of millions of tons of seaweed impacting tourism across the Atlantic basin. Scientists attribute the rapid growth to increased nutrient runoff from major rivers and rising ocean temperatures.
Why it matters
The massive influx of seaweed causes significant economic damage to coastal tourism industries and highlights the environmental impact of nutrient pollution and climate change.
A vast belt of brown seaweed is stretching across the Atlantic Ocean, from the coast of West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico, creating a phenomenon so extensive that it can be tracked from space. Known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB), it has reached extraordinary proportions in 2026, about 5,000 miles in length.Satellite measurements showed 37.5 million metric tons of sargassum across the Atlantic in May, while researchers at the University of South Florida (USF) recorded 33.6 million metric tons across the monitored Atlantic basin in June. They now expect 2026 to be at least the second-biggest year on record.The transformation has been remarkably fast. The enormous belt was virtually nonexistent before 2010. Within a year, about 1 million metric tons were recorded across the region in 2011, compared with approximately 40 million in 2025.
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