COVID-19 Impacts on Beaches and Coastal Water Pollution at Selected Sites in Ecuador, and Management Proposals Post-pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has obliged Governments all around the world to implement confinement and social distancing measures. Leisure and business activities on beaches and in ports have restricted direct and indirect contamination from, for example, plastics, hydrocarbon spillage, microbiological loads, and noise levels. This has led to temporarily improved environmental conditions, and the beaches having conditions closer to Marine Protected Areas. Here we report some impacts that have been studied using local surveys and qualitative observations in Ecuador at the popular beaches and ports of Salinas, Manta, and Galapagos. Satellite data support this information. Online surveys were carried out at critical moments of the pandemic: May (15th) and just after when measures were relaxed a little, but within lockdown in July (21st) 2020. Respondents were asked to compare conditions before and during the pandemic lockdown. Most (97–99%) suggested that beaches had significantly improved from visual observations during confinement. On a scale from 1 (worst) to 5 (best), the beaches of Salinas and Manta respectively were rated 2.2 and 2.8 (less than acceptable) before quarantine, and 4.5 and 4.3 after; results from the second survey (after 18 weeks of restrictions) were much the same. Replies from Galapagos showed a similar trend but with less marked differences. In addition to the beaches having less plastic and garbage, more fish, and large marine organisms, including humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), dolphin (bottlenose, Tursiops truncatus), and manta ray (Manta sp.) were observed near to shore. At Galapagos beaches, turtles, sea lions, and sharks were observed many more times than pre COVID. Quantitative satellite data on Chlorophyl and attenuation coefficient (Kd, 490 nm) support the qualitative survey data that there is an improvement in coastal environment quality. Here we recommend that this unique opportunity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is used locally, regionally and globally to construct baseline data sets that include information on physical, chemical, biological, and microbiological factors in coastal zones. These parameters can then help establish an effective Coastal Zone Management Plan based on beach description and quality (water standards, noise pollution), as well as the human dimension (tourist load, cultural heritage, and economic value indices). This data and information gathering ideally should be done before the beaches become more heavily used again as the pandemic recedes.

The role of remote sensing during a global disaster: COVID-19 pandemic as case study

“…A study in the Venice Lagoon (Italy) found a 50% reduction in total suspended matter (TSM) after lockdown through Very-High Resolution (VHR) PlanetScope Imagery ( Table 1 ) ( Mousazadeh et al, 2021 ; Niroumand-Jadidi et al, 2020 ). Since the reduction of tourists, water quality along beaches in Acapulco (Mexico), Barcelona (Spain), and Salinas (Ecuador) improved noticeably ( Ormaza-Gonzaìlez et al, 2021 ; Zambrano-Monserrate et al, 2020 ). Wagh found a significant reduction in lake water pollution due to lockdown in Lake Hussain Sagar (India) by using two techniques: spectral reflectance and chromaticity analysis ( Wagh et al, 2021 ).…”

Contrasting tourism regimes due to the COVID-19 lockdown reveal varied genomic toxicity in a tropical beach in the Southern Atlantic

“…As previously mentioned, the restrictions to human movement and social distancing established worldwide, in an attempt to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, impacted the tourism sector, with beach tourism being one of the most affected sectors. The absence of tourists on beaches resulted in notable changes to these ecosystems as described by many researchers (Zambrano-Monserrate et al, 2020 ; Zielinski & Botero, 2020 ; Ormaza-González et al, 2021 ; Edward et al, 2021 ; Loizia et al, 2021 ). According to Mousazadeh et al ( 2021 ), tourist restriction on beaches has resulted in the evident reduction of pollutants in the water and as a consequence, many animals have returned to these habitats.…”

“…Tourism activities during the COVID- 19 pandemic were strongly affected globally, experiencing a global reduction of approximately 73% and an estimated economic loss of almost 2 trillion dollars in 2020 compared with 2019 pre-pandemic year (UNWTO, 2021 ). As such, coastal tourism was one of the most affected sectors (Ormaza-González et al, 2021 ). Social distancing and lockdowns imposed by many countries considerably reduced the level of anthropic pressure on environments.…”

“…Therefore, this situation provided a rare opportunity to investigate the extent of the ecological damage caused by human intervention (Edward et al, 2021 ). As such, the COVID-19 pandemic facilitated experimental comparisons between an environment that experiences high tourist impact with minimally disturbed environment, since beach visitation restrictions established a unique situations, thus allowing for the evaluation of the effects of the temporary absence of tourists in this environment (Coll, 2020 ; Manenti et al, 2020 ; Ormaza-González et al, 2021 ; Rume & Islam, 2020 ; Arora et al, 2020 ; Zielinski & Botero, 2020 ; Soto et al, 2021 ; Edward et al, 2021 ).…”

Sustainable development goals under threat? Multidimensional impact of COVID-19 on our planet and society outweigh short term global pollution reduction

“…Global water pollution also declined, likely due to the decrease in industrial and agricultural activities as reported in heavily populated countries like China ( Shen et al, 2021 ), India ( Singh & Mishra, 2021 ), and Pakistan ( Shafeeque et al, 2021 ). Globally, the period of COVID-19 restrictions also provided relief (reducing litter, and plastic pollution) to various water bodies, including the coastal areas of Ecuador ( Ormaza-Gonzaìlez et al, 2021 ), Damodar River ( Chakraborty et al, 2021 ), and Vembanad Lake, India (longest lake in India) ( Yunus et al, 2020 ), Kenyan recreational beaches ( Shafeeque et al, 2021 ), and the west coast of Tangier, Morocco ( Cherif et al, 2020 ). Thus, as outlined above and showcased in recent research, many positive environmental impacts were recorded during the initial phase of strict government regulations.…”