Marine litter arrived: Distribution and potential sources on an unpopulated atoll in the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, Caribbean Sea

Abstract

The Albuquerque atoll was studied as a representative natural laboratory to explore the role of sea-based sources of marine litter. This work aimed to identify the small-scale spatial distribution of marine litter (i.e., plastic, glass, paper, and others) as well as to explore the connectivity among the atoll habitats (sand beach, water surface, and reef) to give insights of potential sources of marine litter (> 5 cm), mainly plastics. Marine litter was dominated by plastic items, as expected, with an average value of 0.5 items/m 2 . Large microplastics (1-5 mm) were also sampled on beaches with an average value of 90 particles/m 2 . In the atoll inner lagoon, marine litter was also composed by plastic, mainly fragments (average 0.059 items/m 3 ). The predominance of plastic fragments on both the sea surface and beaches of the atoll makes inferences on sources limited. However, o fishing activities and sea-based sources might be relevant since local sources are very limited.

Qualitative and Quantitative Beach Cleanliness Assessment to Support Marine Litter Management in Tropical Destinations

“…As an example, Puerto Velero and Caño Dulce beaches had low grades with BLAT-QQ (D and E respectively), which is broadly similar to the results presented by Rangel-Buitrago et al [56]. Nevertheless, in the majority of the studies published about Colombian beaches, the beaches were sampled only once or twice [40,56,58,59], meanwhile Figure 7 shows well consolidated data that correspond to four sampling days per beach. These results are consistent with other studies published, which included some of these eight beaches.…”

Where does marine litter hide? The Providencia and Santa Catalina Island problem, SEAFLOWER Reserve (Colombia)

“…Cigarette butts comprise mainly cellulose-based polymers and were therefore quantified separately from the main litter categories (Araújo and Costa, 2019). Plastic items were further classified as disposable items (e.g., straws, bottles), fishing-related items (e.g., rope, floats), films (e.g., bags, wrappers), fragments (pieces of plastic that are not recognisable as an item), clothing (e.g., shoes), and miscellaneous items (e.g., toys, cosmetics) (Portz et al, 2018(Portz et al, , 2020.…”

“…Inadequate solid waste management is one of the leading marine pollution-related issues of recent decades, and its consequences have been reported in coastal and marine areas around the world (Derraik, 2002;Woodall et al, 2014;Schuhmann and Mahon, 2015;Gall and Thompson, 2015;Anfuso et al, 2020;Gonçalves et al, 2020a;Portz et al, 2020). Marine debris is present in several ocean compartments: biota, coastal areas, on the surface, in the water column, and on the sea floor, as well as in the sediments and marine ice cover (Barnes et al, 2018;Bergmann et al, 2016;Borrelle et al, 2017;Brown and Takada, 2017;Mallory et al, 2021;Monteiro et al, 2018).…”

“…Although there is scant knowledge on the distribution and accumulation of debris in the different coastal ecosystems, some studies have included mangroves (Bijsterveldt et al, 2021;Garcés-ordóñez et al, 2019;Luo et al, 2021aLuo et al, , 2021bMartin et al, 2019;Suyadi and Manullang, 2020), shallow water zones (Chiappone et al, 2002), coral reefs (Abu-hilal and Al-Najjar, 2009;Chapron et al, 2018;Kroon et al, 2020;Portz et al, 2020), dune systems (Andriolo et al, 2020b;Menicagli et al, 2019;Poeta et al, 2016;Portz et al, 2011) and even polar coastal environments (Anfuso et al, 2020).…”

“…Contamination by solid waste on the beaches of San Andrés Island (SEAFLOWER tourist island) presented high rates due to human activities, mainly on account of beachgoers (tourists and local inhabitants) and inadequate waste disposal (Portz et al, 2018). On the islands where human activities are restricted (with minimal local sources), the predominance of plastic fragments, both on the sea surface and the beaches, highlights the importance of marine currents in these environments (Portz et al, 2020).…”