Maria Christina Barbosa de Araújo

On the importance of size of plastic fragments and pellets on the strandline: a snapshot of a Brazilian beach

Virgin plastic pellets and plastic fragments are reported as ubiquitous beach contaminants in the peer-reviewed literature. A surface density of 0.3 virgin plastic pellets and plastic fragments per square centimeter of the strandline area was registered on an urban beach of the northeast of Brazil. This beach is presently not affected by petrochemical facilities or pellet processing plants. The main source of fragments (96.7%) was attributed to the breaking down of larger plastic items deposited on the beach. In the case of virgin plastic pellets (3.3%), the main sources were the marine environment and possibly nearby port facilities. This category of plastic pollutant offers particular threats to the marine environment and to beach users.

Municipal Services on Tourist Beaches: Costs and Benefits of Solid Waste Collection

Abstract Tamandaré, Pernambuco State, Brazil, has 9 kilometers of beaches that form three bays protected by coastal reefs. Until July 2001, these beaches were frequently covered by solid wastes, mainly plastics. Solid wastes carried by the wind and tides reached the native vegetation, where it remained imprisoned and accumulated in large amounts, making the beach aesthetically objectionable. The origin of the largest part of this solid waste was the local rivers. These rivers drain many municipalities but have their mouths next to Tamandaré. Beach users and locals were equally responsible for the accumulated residue. From August 2001, the municipal administration started a beach cleaning service, aiming to minimize the negative aesthetic effects caused by the accumulation of solid wastes. Sampling of plastic items accumulated on the beach within four transects of 2500 square meters each was carried out for 4 months before the cleaning service began and resulted in a total of 9289 plastic items. The dry and rainy season accumulations were significantly different. After the start of the service, in the same sampling area, plastic items were 1712 in total. In this case, the seasons were no longer significantly different. There were aesthetic, sanitary, and environmental benefits from the cleaning services. However, those were just a palliative and inefficient to definitely solve the problem. Municipalities will have to implement solid waste collection at their municipal sources and provide adequate disposal to solve the problem at the beaches of Tamandaré. Controlling the source of solid wastes from beach users through environmental education actions is also urgently needed.

Spatial and temporal patterns of use of Boa Viagem Beach, northeast Brazil.

Abstract The present work identified the patterns of spatial and temporal use of Boa Viagem Beach. The levels of use were determined during the dry and rainy seasons. Four areas with different environmental and social characteristics were considered. In eight 100-m-wide transects, ranging from the pavement down to the water line, the level of use was determined through counting of beach users throughout the day. The patterns of use of the beach were the same for summer and winter, but frequency was threefold higher in summer weekends. The most frequented days were the same between seasons, but not the same among areas. The number of beach users varied from 1–1610 in winter to 6–3610 in summer. The area occupied by beach users varied from 1.3 to 34.6 m2/person. The main arrival time was from 0930 h to 1130 h. The peak time of users was between 1130 h and 1330 h for all parts of the beach, during the whole week. The main departure time was 1530 h for all parts of the beach and days of the week. People seemed to prefer areas and stretches of the beach where the backshore was longer. The landscape was probably highly rated as an attribute in visitors choice. The north and central parts of the beach are better preserved, and they were also more used. The south part of Boa Viagem is undergoing a severe erosion process, which made the beach disagreeable for some beach users. This was clearly reflected in beach use patterns.

Environmental Quality Indicators for Recreational Beaches Classification

Abstract Coastal environments might be envisaged as being composed by two interacting subsystems: one natural and the other socioeconomic. This work proposes a system of recreational beaches classification in a rank of four indicators (A for excellent, B for good, C for regular, and D for bad), which can be useful in developing countries, where it is important to promote transfer of scientific information about coastal quality in a simple and useful form and to help identify areas worth preserving and others with potential for more intensive use, provided that the appropriate control is in place. The method analyses 60 parameters grouped into two subsystems (natural and socioeconomic). Each of the 30 natural parameters was assessed based on an attribute scale ranging from the worst (1) to the best (3) quality. For the socioeconomic parameters, only positive or negative categories were attributed. For both subsystems, a scale from 1 (not important) to 3 (very important) was used to indicate the weight of e...ARAÚJO, M.C.B., DE and COSTA, M.F., DA, 2008. Environmental quality indicators for recreational beaches classification. Journal of Coastal Research, 24(6), 1439–1449. West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Coastal environments might be envisaged as being composed by two interacting subsystems: one natural and the other socioeconomic. This work proposes a system of recreational beaches classification in a rank of four indicators (A for excellent, B for good, C for regular, and D for bad), which can be useful in developing countries, where it is important to promote transfer of scientific information about coastal quality in a simple and useful form and to help identify areas worth preserving and others with potential for more intensive use, provided that the appropriate control is in place. The method analyses 60 parameters grouped into two subsystems (natural and socioeconomic). Each of the 30 natural parameters was assessed based on an attribute scale ranging from the worst (1) to the best (3) quality. For the socioeconomic parameters, only positive or negative categories were attributed. For both subsystems, a scale from 1 (not important) to 3 (very important) was used to indicate the weight of each parameter. The sum of the parameters for each subsystem was used separately to find a score. To classify the beaches, different percentages of the total score were used. The scale ranged from 33 to 100% for the natural subsystem and 0 and 100% for the socioeconomic subsystem. A pilot study was made at nine beach areas ( 500 m each) of three different uses and development levels (overdeveloped, developed, and underdeveloped). The D indicator did not appear in our results. The best indicators occurred at less developed beach areas. ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Environmental indicators, beach classification, recreational beaches, coastal management, checklist, beach users’ preferences.

Plastic debris retention and exportation by a mangrove forest patch

An experiment observed the behavior of selected tagged plastic items deliberately released in different habitats of a tropical mangrove forest in NE Brazil in late rainy (September) and late dry (March) seasons. Significant differences were not reported among seasons. However, marine debris retention varied among habitats, according to characteristics such as hydrodynamic (i.e., flow rates and volume transported) and relative vegetation (Rhizophora mangle) height and density. The highest grounds retained significantly more items when compared to the borders of the river and the tidal creek. Among the used tagged items, PET bottles were more observed and margarine tubs were less observed, being easily transported to adjacent habitats. Plastic bags were the items most retained near the releasing site. The balance between items retained and items lost was positive, demonstrating that mangrove forests tend to retain plastic marine debris for long periods (months-years).

Plastic litter on an urban beach---a case study in Brazil.

Beaches are subject to solid waste contamination at the strandline. Litter depositional dynamics is influenced by specific beach morphology and sources of solid wastes. The amount of items on the strandline of Boa Viagem beach (Recife, Brazil) was evaluated during dry and rainy seasons of 2005 to characterize their sources and depositional patterns. The strandline was surveyed once a month to count and classify all visible solid waste items within a belt-transect. Plastics were used for detailed analysis of the wastes accumulated. There were quantitative, but not qualitative, differences in litter accumulation during the year and parts of the beach. The main source of debris was land-based. In general, the beach was low-polluted in the dry season and medium-polluted during the rainy season. The method is a low-cost and highly efficient characterization of solid wastes contamination of urban beaches.

Praias Urbanas: o que há de errado com elas?

RESUMO Especialmente nos paises tropicais as praias sao as mais populares opcoes de lazer gratuito. No entanto, praias urbanas frequentemente apresentam inumeros problemas, que geram degradacao ambiental e impactos sobre usuarios e biota marinha. Diante desse contexto, os principais problemas desses ambientes e os impactos associados, sao aqui abordados, visando subsidiar acoes de gestao costeira. Palavras-chave: praias urbanas; uso de praias; gestao costeira ABSTRACT Beaches are the most popular free leisure options, especially in tropical countries. However, urban beaches often have numerous problems that generate environmental degradation and impacts on users and marine biota. Thus, the main problems of such environments and the associated impacts are addressed here in order to subsidize coastal management actions. Keywords: urban beaches; use of beaches; coastal management https://doi.org/10.22292/mas.v11i05.578