José Paul Murad Serrano, deputy director of the Oceanographic Institute of the Gulf and Caribbean Sea, confirmed the bad news and assured that satellite footage from the University of South Florida depicted a huge patch of seaweed that will be damaging from Xcalak, in the Costa Maya region to Punta Maroma on the Riviera.

Serrano warned that Cancun beaches are already affected by aquatic plants in large quantities, and the greatest damage is expected in the southern region.

He announced that two sargassum patches are heading southern Quintana Roo, for Xcalak and Mahahual, and one more patch is about 20 km off Tulum and Playa del Carmen. The smallest sargassum seaweed patch (about 222 tons) is located 18 km off south of Cozumel.

pgh/Pll/msm / lma