RT journal article
T1 Qualitative and Quantitative Beach Cleanliness Assessment to Support Marine Litter Management in Tropical Destinations
A1 Botero, Camilo M.
A1 Tamayo, Diana
A1 Zielinski, Seweryn
A1 Anfuso Melfi, Giorgio
A2 Ciencias de la Tierra
K1 beach litter
K1 vegetation debris
K1 beachgoers’ perception
K1 Big Five
K1 Colombia
AB In addition to its ecological and recreational relevance, beach cleanliness is also one of thefive 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 paperpresents a quantitative and qualitative method to assess the level of beach cleanliness, in order toallow managers to focus their attention on the environmental management of the most frequent andrelevant types of litter in tropical areas. In a first step, a survey on users’ perception was applied to361 beachgoers in eight beaches in Colombia to identify the most relevant types of beach litter andthe weighting factors to obtain quantitative calculations. In a second step, the thirteen categoriesof litter identified were analyzed in relation to beach cleanliness, origin of litter, and environmentalimpact, to define its individual weighting importance. Some categories were also selected accordingto particularities of tropical countries, such as the presence of abundant natural vegetation debris andgross polystyrene items, largely transported by rivers in great quantities. In a third step, the methodwas 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 proposedtechnique, 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 stateof beach cleanliness. The method is demonstrated to be quick and effective in diagnosing beachcleanliness, providing a simple instrument to carry out sound environmental management actions incoastal destinations.
PB MDPI
SN 2073-4441
YR 2021
FD 2021-12
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26359
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/26359
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 14-nov-2026