Distribution of Plastic Debris in the Pacific and Caribbean Beaches of Panama

Abstract

Microplastics are a global ubiquitous problem, which is becoming a major issue of concern at scientific and political levels around the world. This study presents physical and chemical characterizations of microplastic debris and a comparison between the spatial distribution and anthropogenic activities in 4 Panamanian beaches located in both sides of the Isthmus. Two of them (Juan Diaz and San Carlos beaches) are located toward the Pacific Ocean, Panamá Province, whereas the others (Palenque and Punta Galeta beaches) are located at the Caribbean Sea, Colón Province. They were chosen to show different landscape management and environmental impacts: touristic and protected areas; coastal areas that receive pollutants and marine litter from urban rivers or are used for local fishing activities. Plastic debris samples were collected and visually analyzed following the protocol proposed by the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP). The physical characterization of the samples consisted in the determination of variables associated with the number of plastic particles, shape, color, and size. The characterization of the polymers was performed by the attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy technique. A high concentration of microplastics (353 items/m2) were found at the studied sites at the Caribbean coast, whereas a lesser concentration with a greater diversity of shapes and polymer categories were found at the Pacific Coast (187 items/m2). The results indicate that, in addition to anthropogenic activities, the proximity to Panama Canal installations, as well as seasonality, natural phenomena, winds, and ocean currents may be influencing the increase in microplastic contents and the types of polymers observed.

Source, sea and sink—A holistic approach to understanding plastic pollution in the Southern Caribbean

“…pristine white colour) suggesting localised sources, such as the plastic production facilities located in the industrialised Cartagena region of Colombia. Other studies have evidenced relatively high densities of new white pellets beached in Cartagena (Acosta-Coley et al, 2019a;Acosta-Coley et al, 2019b) and found greater quantities of pellets present along the Caribbean coast of Panama than the Pacific coast (Delvalle de Borrero et al, 2020) suggesting their transport in northwesterly currents from Colombia to Panama, and corroborating our model predictions.…”

“…Previous research has documented macro and microplastics in beach sediments (Bosker et al, 2018;Mazariegos-Ortiz et al, 2020;de Scisciolo et al, 2016;Delvalle de Borrero et al, 2020) from the Caribbean region, yet few have assessed those in the marine ecosystem (Kutralam-Muniasamy et al, 2020). In this study, the quantities of microplastics varied considerably between different environmental compartments and locations, i.e.…”

Contaminación por microplásticos en playas del Pacífico de Guatemala: abundancia y características

“…Las playas del litoral Pacífico en Guatemala son utilizadas para diversas actividades entre ellas el turismo nacional. Algunos estudios muestran que a lo largo de muchas playas alrededor del mundo, el turismo es una de las fuentes de MPs (Delvalle et al, 2020;Retama et al, 2016), lo cual podría ser un indicativo de la abundancia de estos. Las cuatro playas evaluadas en este estudio tienen importancia turística debido a la ubicación geográfica y la riqueza natural que poseen.…”

“…Por otra parte, polipropileno es comúnmente usado para la fabricación de productos como empaques, tapas de botellas, equipos de laboratorio, pajillas para beber; mientras que polietileno es usado en la fabricación de bolsas de supermercado y botellas de plástico (Rocha-Santos & Duarte, 2017). Tanto poliestireno, polipropileno y polietileno han sido reportados en otros estudios en zonas marinas y costeras como los principales polímeros, lo cual coincide con lo encontrado en el presente trabajo (Bimali Koongolla et al, 2018;Claessens et al, 2011;Delvalle et al, 2020;Wessel et al, 2016). Finalmente, este estudio sugiere que la contaminación por MPs en las playas de Ocós, Tulate, Sipacate y Las Lisas, podría estar influenciado por la desembocadura de ríos que conducen cantidades significativas de plástico hacia el océano.…”

2021: The New Normal and the Air, Soil and Water Research Perspective

“…We have continued receiving manuscript from diverse regions and, as always, our goal is to continue raising the number of submissions as well as the geographic regions of the authors. Among the wide variety of topics covered by ASW during 2020, most of them have been devoted precisely to deal with some of the Global Issues highlighted by UNF earlier this year by assessing the impact and uptake of heavy metals, 1,2 climate change effects and adaptations, 3,4 the use of novel materials and processes for water treatment, [5][6][7][8] social values perception of restoration economy, 9 plastic debris, 10 soil erosion, management practices and human health, [11][12][13] PM10 concentration, 14 indoor environments, 15 and riparian restoration. [16][17][18][19][20] Also, we are happy to share with the readers the first collaborative review paper written for twenty editors belonging to the soil section to highlight the challenges that soil scientists have to face in this new era from a transdisciplinary overview of relevant topics.…”