Abstract
In addition to its ecological and recreational relevance, beach cleanliness is also one of the five most important aspects (i.e., the “Big Five”) for beach visitors around the world. Nonetheless, few efforts have been carried out to guide the sound management of this rising issue. This paper presents a quantitative and qualitative method to assess the level of beach cleanliness, in order to allow managers to focus their attention on the environmental management of the most frequent and relevant types of litter in tropical areas. In a first step, a survey on users’ perception was applied to 361 beachgoers in eight beaches in Colombia to identify the most relevant types of beach litter and the weighting factors to obtain quantitative calculations. In a second step, the thirteen categories of litter identified were analyzed in relation to beach cleanliness, origin of litter, and environmental impact, to define its individual weighting importance. Some categories were also selected according to particularities of tropical countries, such as the presence of abundant natural vegetation debris and gross polystyrene items, largely transported by rivers in great quantities. In a third step, the method was then tested at eight beaches in the Caribbean coast of Colombia through a period of four months, during which 192 transect samplings were carried out. The qualitative module of the proposed technique, named Beach Litter Assessment Technique—Qualitative and Quantitative (BLAT-QQ), identified the main types of beach litter and the quantitative module gave an overview on the state of beach cleanliness. The method is demonstrated to be quick and effective in diagnosing beach cleanliness, providing a simple instrument to carry out sound environmental management actions in coastal destinations.
Highlights
The presence of litter, independent of its origin, is a factor of utmost importance for the aesthetic experience, health and safety of beach users, and for the beach ecosystem itself [1,2]
The results obtained from this work are classified into three main categories: (a) Litter categories/types identified by beach users, (b) Visitors’ perceptions of the degree of beach pollution and (c) Application of the qualitative and quantitative calculations of the BLAT
Puerto Velero and Caño Dulce beaches had low grades with Beach Litter Assessment Technique—Qualitative and Quantitative (BLAT-QQ) (D and E respectively), which is broadly similar to the results presented by Rangel-Buitrago et al [56]
Summary
The presence of litter, independent of its origin, is a factor of utmost importance for the aesthetic experience, health and safety of beach users, and for the beach ecosystem itself [1,2]. According to Williams [3], the absence of litter has been empirically identified as one of the five most important factors for visiting a beach. >4000 questionnaire surveys concerning beachgoers’ priorities and preferences in many countries, e.g., UK, Malta, Turkey, Croatia, New Zealand, Portugal, and USA, and confirmed that there are five main parameters (namely the “Big Five”) that beach users look for. These are water quality, safety, facilities, scenery, and no litter, which is the object of this paper. Marine litter has a significant impact on flora and, especially, fauna [12,13], e.g., due to ingestion [14,15] together with entanglement of animals in abandoned nets, fishing lines, ropes, and ribbons [16,17]
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