Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA) announced the end of the sargassum season in the Tropical Atlantic. DRNA Secretary Waldemar Quiles and Marisel Martínez, acting secretary of the agency’s Auxiliary Secretariat for Conservation and Research, said that about 150 tons of sargassum were collected in the Las Croabas area of Fajardo from April through October 31.
Traditionally, the sargassum season in Puerto Rico begins in April and May and runs through the end of October. Quiles called Las Croabas one of the sectors most affected every year by the arrival of the algae. He thanked House of Representatives Speaker Carlos "Johnny" Méndez, the mayor of Fajardo and the senators for the Carolina District for supporting joint efforts to mitigate its arrival there.
Besides boats and heavy vehicles used to remove the material, this year unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) were used to gather scientific metrics on sargassum events, including their size and movement. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2025 set a sargassum record in the Tropical Atlantic, with more than 40 million metric tons.
The previous record was 36 million in 2005. NOAA has not yet tabulated the final amount, but it is estimated that through August 31 the total stood between 29 and 33 million tons.