“It’s all about the beaches”: Sargassum algae, tourism, and coastal transformations along the Mexican Caribbean

Abstract

Coastal zones have become particularly endangered in the Anthropocene. The Mexican Caribbean faces severe change through the massive arrival of sargassum algae. Since 2011, it has begun arriving in vast amounts in the Caribbean; with its arrival beginning on Mexican shores in 2015. The algae bring about several threats to the coastal ecosystem, namely, beach degradation, the release of hydrogen sulfite, and it hinders underwater plants from photosynthesis. In addition, it challenges notions of “beach paradise” as it covers the white sand, colours the water brown, stinks, and threatens the tourism sector. Based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out since 2019, I demonstrate how the arrival of sargassum transforms coastal relations on site. On the one hand, the coast and its integrity have received more attention since the algae have begun appearing. On the other hand, attention for the coast is decreasing mainly due to a reorientation of tourists further inland. Coastal villages that do not live from tourism remain vastly overlooked in addressing the problem, while touristified areas invest in algae removal. The coastal transformations analysed here allow for the argument that tourism must be understood as enabling both environmental problems and environmental protection, thereby demonstrating the multiple and ambivalent effects of coastal tourism in the Anthropocene.