A baseline assessment of beach debris and tar contamination in Bonaire, Southeastern Caribbean

Debrot, Adolphe O.; van Rijn, Jimmy; Bron, Patrick S.; de León, Ramon

A baseline assessment of beach debris and tar contamination in Bonaire, Southeastern Caribbean

2013

Debrot, Adolphe O. | van Rijn, Jimmy | Bron, Patrick S. | de León, Ramon

Data on beach debris and tar contamination is provided for 21 natural beach sites in Bonaire, Southeastern Caribbean. Transects amounting to a combined length of 991m were sampled March–May 2011 and a total of 8960 debris items were collected. Highest debris and tar contamination were found on the beaches of the windward east-coast of the island where geometric mean debris concentrations (± approx. 70% confidence limits) were 115±58itemsm−1 and 3408±1704gm−1 of beach front. These levels are high compared to data collected almost 20years earlier on the nearby island of Curaçao. Tar contamination levels averaged 223gm−1 on windward beaches. Contamination levels for leeward west-coast beaches were generally two orders of magnitude less than windward beaches.

Показать больше [+]