Sargassum

Twenty-six government and international agencies convened to develop strategies for managing sargassum affecting the Bay Islands' coasts, exploring uses such as fertilizer and biofuel while Roatán faces cleanup costs of roughly L1 million every 15 days, with Germany and Portugal offering up to €20 million in support.

Roatán's municipality is stepping up weekly or biweekly beach-cleaning crews during the March–September peak season to remove sargassum and solid waste from Guatemala (via the Motagua River) and Puerto Cortés that wash ashore on the island's unmonitored beaches.

Monitoring by the Roatan Marine Park reveals sargassum seaweed is spreading into northern and western zones of Roatán where concentrations were historically low, with climate instability making the algae's behavior harder to predict and manage.