A SNAPSHOT OF MARINE LITTER IN SANTA CATARINA ISLAND, SOUTHERN BRAZIL AS A GUIDE TO PROMOTE PUBLIC

INITIATIVES

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The mean concentration of mesoplastic and microplasticvaried from 2 to 43.3 particles m¯² and 0 to 104 particles m¯²,respectively, and size varied from 0.11 to 10.4cm (Fig 2).

ZANETTI, G. D.¹*; ANDREUSSI, C.¹; FADIGAS, D. S.²; LEONEL, J.¹¹ Laboratório de Oceanografia Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil.

²Laboratório de Ficologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil*Corresponding author: gadens.d@gmail.com

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

>5cm

1-3cm

0.3-0.5cm

PREFERRED SIZE OF COLLECTED ITEMS

Lagoinha do Norte HWL Lagoinha do Norte BSRibeirão da Ilha HWL Ribeirão da Ilha BSMoçambique HWL Moçambique BS

16

32

49

Figure 1. Characterization of marine debris divided by types of materials. Thedivisions differ due to no other non-fragmented microplastic beyond pellets werefounded.

1cm

Figure 3. Material collected in Moçambique beach, Ribeirão da Ilha beach andLagoinha do Norte beach, containing plastic tags (seal tag), seals, cloth peg, bottlecaps, fibers, straw, toothpick packing material and sachets.

METHODS

100m

50 cm

50

cm

2 cmDried at 70 °C

Back-shore(BS)

High WaterLine (HWL)

MesoplasticsMicroplastics

fragments; styrofoam; fibers;pellets and non-fragments.

January/2018

CHALLENGES

5

0

12

27

26

17

21

2

21

1

24

2

2

24

5

5

1

60

60

14

83

0 50 100 150

Non-FragmentedFiber

StyrofoamFragment

PelletStyrofoamFragment

Mes

oM

icro

CLASSIFICATION OF PLASTIC MATERIAL

Lagoinha do Norte Ribeirão da Ilha Moçambique

Figure 2. Size of items collected in the High Water Line (HWL) and Backshore (BS)

The global demand for plastics has consistently increased over the past

few years.

Is currently around 322 million tons per

year³.

Being present in almost every product

of modern society.

And the plastic material is an environmental

problem of increasing concern.

INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to characterize, quali and quantitatively,mesoplastics (5 – 25mm) and microplastics (<5mm) on threedifferent beaches in Santa Catarina Island, SC, Brazil

STUDY AREA

Fishing and mariculture activities, evidenced mainly in Ribeirãoda Ilha beach, an important Brazilian center for bivalveproduction4.

Beach users activities (locals and tourists), since Tourism playsan important role in Santa Catarina Island’s economy.

Oceans’ currents and surface winds also contribute to anexpressive number of pellets and fragments, brought to theisland, since the island has no sources of pellets.

Plurality of sources.

The plurality of marine litter shows that different sources needdifferent approaches to reduce them. These include changesin policy, local actions, improvement in waste-managementsystems and eliminating particularly items products. In thecase of Santa Catarina Island still has a lot to do since themunicipality of Florianopolis still requires that beach vendorsoffer to their clients only disposable utensils and straws,individually wrapped and sealed, and Florianópolis WasteManagement Plan still is not responsible for fishing relatedlitter.

Acknowledgments: CENTRAL DE ANÁLISES – EQA UFSC

LABORATÓRIO DE OCEANOGRAFIA QUÍMICA

UFSC

NEMAR

REFERENCES:³ Plastics Europe. Plastics—the facts. An analysis of European plastic production, demand and waste data, 2016.4 SILVA, Ana Claudia Nascimento. O papel da maricultura na configuração urbana do Ribeirão da Ilha. 2012.