Beach Debris in Curaçao

Data on beach debris contamination is provided for 10 pocket beaches in Curaçao, southern Caribbean. Non-overlapping transects were sampled in December 1992 and October 1993, and a total of 8486 debris items were recorded. Accumulated debris contamination was especially high on the pocket beaches of the windward north-east coast where debris concentrations ranged from 19 to 253 items m−1 and from 1.7 to 11.8 kg m−1 of beach front. Corresponding (geometric) mean contamination levels (followed by approx. 70% confidence intervals) were 60 (23–157) items m−1 and 4.5 (2.0–10.1) kg m−1, which appear quite high by comparison to other studies in the Caribbean. Contamination levels for leeward south-west coast beaches were generally one or two orders of magnitude less. The high levels of contamination on windward beaches is likely at least partially due to the herding of debris into these beaches. While plastic and wood were the principal debris components on both windward and leeward beaches, several notable differences were found between windward and leeward beaches in terms of debris size, material type, country of origin and the type of items collected. Results indicate regional sources of debris as being of major importance on windward beaches and local recreational activity as being a significant source of debris for leeward beaches