The Assessment of Aruba’s Shoreline Pollution: A Comparison between the South Coast and the North Coast

Student Report

This research examined the current situation of pollution on the shores of Aruba, with a particular emphasis on plastic debris. It focused on the systematic comparison of litter concentration between the north coast and the south coast. Beach litter assessments were performed in order to address the following questions: What is the overall pollution level of Aruba’s shoreline? Is plastic the most abundant material found? If so is there a significant difference between plastic debris and other materials collected? Is there a significant difference in macro- and meso debris abundancy between the north coast (foreign origin) and the south coast (local origin)? Is there a difference in the trash abundancy found during the 2nd round of assessments from the amount of trash found in the 1st round of assessments? Is there a difference in trash abundancy in respect to distance from the waterfront? The main focus on this research is placed on macro-debris and meso-debris. A nice effect of this research has been that in the process of collecting data, all beaches studied were cleaned.