Sargassum Mission to Cancún

Do you work for a company, organization, NGO, or knowledge institute in the Netherlands and/or the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom, and are you interested in sargassum? Then join this mission to Mexico! 

The massive arrival of sargassum on the coasts of the Mexican Caribbean has generated an environmental and socioeconomic crisis. Both the government and businesses in Mexico are working hard on solutions for the enormous amounts of sargassum that wash up on the shores of Mexico every year.

Sargassum damages coral reefs and coastal ecosystems, and the hotel sector in Cancún spends around 120 million euros annually to clear sargassum from the beaches. Once sargassum has reached the shore, it is almost impossible to reuse. This needs to change!

With the Mexican government’s intention to build an industrial park for the valorization of sargassum, planned legislative changes to allow the "fishing" of sargassum at sea, and a hotel sector that wants to invest in solutions, we see opportunities for Dutch entrepreneurs and knowledge institutes. 

For who is the mission?

We particularly invite companies specialized in, but the invitation is not limited to: 
- Collection at open sea and logistics: It is essential to scale cutting-edge technologies that can capture sargassum before it reaches the beaches.
- Valorization: We seek companies that can transform this biomass into high-value products such as biofuels, fertilizers, or construction materials.
- Monitoring and prediction: Advanced monitoring and prediction systems are needed to anticipate sargassum movements and take preventive measures more effectively.