Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt reaches record mass in 2025

The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB), a massive expanse of floating algae stretching from West Africa to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, reached a record estimated mass of 37.5 million metric tons in May 2025. While these algae provide ecological refuges for marine life in the open ocean, their massive arrival on coastlines creates severe environmental, sanitary, and tourism challenges.

In response to the crisis in the Mexican Caribbean, Senator Mayuli Latifa Martínez Simón has proposed legislative reforms to address the impact. Her initiatives include amending the General Law of Civil Protection to classify sargassum as a severe natural disturbance, which would allow for emergency declarations when mass arrivals threaten ecosystems or exceed local operational capacities.

Additionally, the Senator proposed reforming the Federal Law on Rights to allocate 15 percent of funds collected from the Non-Resident Right to combat the phenomenon. As of early July 2025, approximately 79,476 tons of sargassum had already been collected in Mexico, representing nearly 86 percent of the year's estimated total of 90,538 tons.