Overview
- The two-day EU–Caribbean Global Gateway conference on Oct. 1–2 drew about 350 participants from 45 countries to coordinate a regional response and move pilot projects toward an industrial market for sargassum.
- Mexico and partners including the European Commission, Grenada and the Dominican Republic pledged to collect and process at least 660,000 tonnes of sargassum between 2026 and 2027 to build supply for industry.
- The federal government announced expanded Marina investments totaling more than 2,000 million pesos to deploy 50 kilometres of high-seas barriers, expand ocean collection from roughly 270 to 1,860 tonnes per day in the first stage and aim for 3,000 tonnes per day with full funding.
- A formal agreement to create Quintana Roo’s first licensed sargassum fishery was scheduled for signing in Cancún to integrate up to 840 cooperative fishing vessels and provide local crews with a new commercial income stream.
- Puerto Morelos’ circular-economy polo is moving to procurement with about 20 firms expressing interest and a developer tender planned for October, while officials say remaining bottlenecks include unified satellite forecasting, quality standards for metals and arsenic, logistics for drying and storage, and blended financing.