TY - JOUR
T1 - Citizen scientists study beach litter along 12,000 km of the East Pacific coast
T2 - A baseline for the International Plastic Treaty
AU - De Veer, Diamela
AU - Baeza-Álvarez, Jostein
AU - Bolaños, Solange
AU - Cavour Araya, Sebastián
AU - Darquea, Jodie J.
AU - Díaz Poblete, Manuel A.
AU - Domínguez, Gustavo
AU - Holtmann-Ahumada, Geraldine
AU - Honorato-Zimmer, Daniela
AU - Gaibor, Nikita
AU - Gallardo, María de los Ángeles
AU - Guevara Torrejón, Valeska
AU - León Chumpitaz, Alejandra
AU - Marcús Zamora, Lara
AU - Mora, Valentina
AU - Muñoz Araya, Juan Manuel
AU - Pernía, Beatriz
AU - Purca, Sara
AU - Rivadeneira, Marcelo M.
AU - Sánchez, Osmel Alberto
AU - Sepúlveda, José Miguel
AU - Urbina, Mauricio
AU - Vásquez, Nelson
AU - Vélez Tacuri, José
AU - Villalobos, Vieia
AU - Villanueva Brücher, Bernardita
AU - Thiel, Martin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2023/11
Y1 - 2023/11
N2 - Anthropogenic Marine Litter (AML) accumulating on beaches causes damage to coastal ecosystems and high costs to local communities. Volunteers sampled AML on 130 beaches along the central and southern East Pacific coasts, with AML densities ranging from 0.46 to 2.26 items m−2 in the different countries. AML composition was dominated by plastics and cigarette butts, the latter especially in Mexico and Chile. The accumulation of AML in the upper zones of the beaches and substantial proportions of cigarette butts, glass and metal pointed mainly to local sources. Statistical modelling of litter sources on continental beaches revealed that tourism, access and related infrastructure (e.g. parking lots) best explained AML densities, while plastic densities were also influenced by the distance from river mouths and national Gross Domestic Product. Large-scale monitoring can be a useful tool to evaluate the effectiveness of public policies that should primarily focus on land sources.
AB - Anthropogenic Marine Litter (AML) accumulating on beaches causes damage to coastal ecosystems and high costs to local communities. Volunteers sampled AML on 130 beaches along the central and southern East Pacific coasts, with AML densities ranging from 0.46 to 2.26 items m−2 in the different countries. AML composition was dominated by plastics and cigarette butts, the latter especially in Mexico and Chile. The accumulation of AML in the upper zones of the beaches and substantial proportions of cigarette butts, glass and metal pointed mainly to local sources. Statistical modelling of litter sources on continental beaches revealed that tourism, access and related infrastructure (e.g. parking lots) best explained AML densities, while plastic densities were also influenced by the distance from river mouths and national Gross Domestic Product. Large-scale monitoring can be a useful tool to evaluate the effectiveness of public policies that should primarily focus on land sources.
KW - Cigarette butts
KW - Collaborative science
KW - Large-scale monitoring
KW - Marine debris
KW - Plastic pollution
KW - Public policies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85174169883&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115481
DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115481
M3 - Article
C2 - 37857060
AN - SCOPUS:85174169883
SN - 0025-326X
VL - 196
JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin
JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin
M1 - 115481
ER -
