MIAMI — Several hotels in Playacar, Mexico have banded together to eliminate sargassum from tourist areas by way of satellite monitoring and the use of drones.

Viva Wyndham Resorts, one of the companies involved in the initiative, has said the project is good news not only for beach tourism in Mexico, but also for the various Caribbean destinations that have engaged in efforts to stop the presence of sargassum in the region.

“We will install sargasse boats on the high seas and shark boats that will be collecting the sargassum long before it reaches the coast, and additionally we will place a barrier closer to the beach, which will completely eliminate the algae,” said the resort chain.

The sargassum will then be collected, compacted and bagged in huge sacks of one cubic meter, until they are taken to the discharge points and subsequently to their final destination.

The combined efforts of hotels will include a method of satellite monitoring and the use of drones to make the cleaning operation at sea more efficient and accurate. In addition to these technological strategies, containers aimed at stopping the sargassum at sea will arrive and be installed in front of the hotels in the Playacar area, covering an area of nearly 1.5 miles.

For this initiative, the Collection Service at Sea (MIDP) has been hired, who will also deliver a monthly report with photographs on the activities and interpretation of satellite and drone monitoring, with which the sargassum behavior can be observed and decisions made in future management plans for this type of algae.