HMB Sargassum Project

The HMB Sargassum Project aims to implement a comprehensive Sargassum Management Plan for Half Moon Bay by:

 

• DEPLOYING a barrier to deflect as much sargassum as possible away from our bay, and by

• RELYING on beachfront lots to follow these Guidelines for managing any “Residual Sargassum”
  that still reaches the shore

 

This two pronged project plan dovetails with key sargassum management directives promulgated by EIMAS, a consortium of environmental agencies in Quintana Roo.  EIMAS strategies for sargassum management have been successfully implemented at many beachfront resorts along the Riviera Maya.  Unfortunately, the HMB Sargassum Project has not yet had a chance to demonstrate the effectiveness of these strategies on our bay due to two successive years of:

 

     - delays in barrier deployment
 

     - failure of beachfront property owners to clean up any "Residual Sargassum" that builds up on their beach concession

​

As detailed in our first Annual Report, the deployment delay in 2023 was expected and managed appropriately.  The 2024 delay, however, was unexpected, unnecessary and unfair to the wider community of Akumal Norte.  (Click here for detail on the clandestine legal shenanigans that impeded our 2024 Sargassum Management Plan and the unfounded claims of environmental damage that were fully investigated and dismissed by two independent government agencies of the Mexican government.) 

Despite the project delays, there has never been a single budget overrun at EcoProteccion Akumal (EPA), the Mexican non-profit setup to manage barrier operations.  By offsetting excess legal fees with a reduction in 2024 payroll costs, EPA stayed within their 2024 budget and now stands ready to execute a full "proof of concept" for our comprehensive Sargassum Management Plan in 2025. 

​​

Unfortunately, on the revenue side, the picture for 2025 is not as rosy. Some project supporters (discouraged by the legal delays) have been ignoring the EPA invoices they'd previously agreed to pay in full.  Now that all the groundless legal issues have been put to bed, these supporters must decide whether or not to make good on their prior financial commitment.  ​All that’s required is prompt payment of past due amounts from each project supporter that has fallen behind on the financial commitment they made in 2024….as well as a renewed commitment from each to continue making the same monthly payments in 2025.

​

Bringing supporters back together in 2025 to fund our first full year of proper sargassum management will be critical to the health of our community in the face of ever more dire sargassum forecasts like this:

 

2025 Sargassum Onslaught
(Riviiera Maya New, November 17, 2024)

​