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Beach debris on Aruba, Southern Caribbean: Attribution to local land-based and distal marine-based sources
Keyword
Beach survey metrics
Marine debris sources
Plastic debris
Coastal pollution
Macro-debris
Meso-debris
Marine debris sources
Plastic debris
Coastal pollution
Macro-debris
Meso-debris
Location research
Date
2016
Language
English
ISSN
0025-326X
ISBN
Collections
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
Accumulation of marine (plastic) debris from local land-based and distal marine-based sources along coastlines is a pressing modern issue. Hitherto, assessing the relative contribution of pollution sources through beach surveys is methodologically challenging. We surveyed ten beaches along the leeward and windward coastlines of Aruba (southern Caribbean) to determine differences in macro- and meso-debris densities. Differences were quantified using three metrics: 1) the gradient in macro-debris density away from the waterfront; 2) the proportion of plastic within macro-debris; 3) the meso-:macro-debris ratio. Overall 42,585 macro-debris items and 884 meso-debris items were collected. The density of near-shore macro-debris, proportion of plastic debris herein, and meso-:macro-debris ratio were highest on the windward coastline. These results suggest that southern Caribbean windward coastlines are mainly exposed to debris originating from distal marine-based sources, and leeward coastlines to local land-based sources. Our metrics clearly reflect these differences, providing novel means to survey debris source origin.
Citation
de Scisciolo, T., Mijts, E., Becker, T., Eppinga, M. (2016), "Beach debris on Aruba, Southern Caribbean: Attribution to local land-based and distal marine-based sources", Marine Polution Bulletin, Vol. 106, No. 1-2, pp. 49-57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.03.039
Sponsorship
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal
Target group
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/1025
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.03.039