Temporal trend of litter contamination at Cassino beach, Southern Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Tourinho, Paula da Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2011
• Outros Autores: Fillmann, Gilberto
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da FURG (RI FURG)
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/2143
• topic: Litter; Temporal trend; Seasonal and spatial variations; Southern Brazil; Beach; Sources; Resíduos sólidos; Tendências temporais; Variações sazonais e espaciais; Região Sul do Brasil; Praia; Fontes

This study was undertaken to evaluate temporal trends of litter contamination at Cassino beach, Southern Brazil. Surveys were conducted between 1994 and 1995, and then resumed from 2003 to 2006. Litter composition was related to both land- anmarinebased origins. However, seasonal and spatial variations showed that in situ deposition by beach users is still a major source of litter at Cassino beach. The results indicated a significant increase in litter amount at Cassino beach over the survey period. Probably, population growth, tourism activity and fishery activity contributed to this temporal trend. Although few studies have already pointed out the contamination by debris at the study site, no management actions involving education, disposal, clean-ups have being effective enough to cope with this ever-increasing problem. Based on that, new approaches are urgently needed, which may involve the development and use of new products with shorter environmental half-lives.