Support the Half Moon Bay Sargassum Project!
The Good News:
Phase 1 of barrier installation is now complete and paid in full from existing reserves. We have also published these guidelines to assist beachfront property owners in transitioning to an easy and affordable regime of DAILY beach cleaning by in-houise maintenance staff.
Our Ongoing Goals:
As we enter the Operations Phase of the project, we still seek:
1) Commitments
to help cover 2024 Barrier Operating Costs from the beachfront property owners who benefit directly from the barrier. Each of the 29 lots along the High Impact Zone ("HIZ") has been asked to cover their "Fair Share" of these operating costs by paying the monthly fees detailed here.
2) In-kind donations
of office equipment and golf carts, etc as detailed here.
3) Donations
from supporters who care about the environment and want to ensure we've got a Contingency Fund of at least $80,000 to cover the cost of environmental monitoring and any remedial measures
that might be required if the barrier causes any unintended environmental impacts. For example, in June 2023 the independent environmental group, Centro Ecologico de Akumal (CEA) identified an alarming drop in turtle nesting activity on the HMB beach front and subsequently engaged in studying all four of these recent changes to our local environment that might be contributing to this change:
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Major new construction along the northern beaches where most nesting took place last year
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An earlier start to the sargassum season than ever before PLUS more sargassum buildup, including on northern beaches
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A significant reduction in beach cleaning activity
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The installation of a sargassum barrier outside the reef in Half Moon Bay
The HMB Sargassum Project works with two different non-profit entities that are described here. Individuals who wish to donate to the HMB Sargassum Project should click on the blue Donation Form button below to submit their contribution to the US based non-profit known as "YEF" . Mexican businesses that wish to make payments on invoices from "EPA" for barrier operating services should email their RIF and other fiscal information to <ecoproteccionakumal@gmail.com>.