Academics from the Adolfo Ibáñez University confirmed that the breakwaters accumulate more debris than the natural rocky habitat. Comparing constructions in Valparaíso – Viña de Mar and rocky areas without intervention
Lorenzo Palma, Science in Chile.- Chile is a country that faces the sea with a coastline that runs from the region of Arica and Parinacota to Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctic. Its cities are exposed to storms, tsunamis, and rising sea levels. But also the coastal urban centers face the visit of millions of visitors every season.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 2 million people visited the beaches of Viña del Mar and Valparaíso, in addition to having one of the largest ports in Chile.
The first breakwater in the country was built with wood, in the port of Valparaíso in 1836, which protected the port facilities from waves and storm surges. Breakwater infrastructure or coastal defenses are projected to increase in the next 20 years around the world.
Researchers from the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, sampled anthropogenic garbage in old breakwaters, with more than 10 years of construction and one recently improved and rocky coasts of central Chile. What they found was that artificial breakwaters accumulate much more litter than rocky habitats, and this pattern was persistent over time (~5 years). In addition, a recently upgraded breakwater had a similar debris composition and density to older breakwaters.
The study was published in the scientific journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, and Moisés Aguilera, from the Department of Sciences of the Faculty of Liberal Arts of the Adolfo Ibáñez University; Andrés Castro, from the School of Marine Biology of the University of Valparaíso; and Martin Thiel, from the Department of Marine Biology of the Universidad Católica del Norte, and part of the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands (ESMOI) and the Center for Advanced Studies in Arid Zones (CEAZA).
Debris on the coasts
The breakwaters are a source of anthropogenic garbage accumulation, especially plastic, paper and cardboard, which have a high density compared to the rocky platforms close to them. “Other objects such as clothing, glass and debris are also present, although in smaller quantities than the first. Although face masks were only found on the breakwaters during the 2022 surveys, at much lower densities than the other objects, the total number of objects recorded on the breakwaters was consistently higher than on the natural platforms,” explained Dr. Moisés. Aerie.
In the study, they observed that the plastics registered in the reference breakwaters showed a tendency to increase during the summer and autumn, while in the winter there was an important and significant reduction. In contrast, no trends were recorded for natural rocky platforms, where plastic densities were significantly lower than breakwaters for all seasons considered. This situation highlights the need to establish effective measures for the handling and management of the waste that accumulates in the breakwaters and thus avoid its impact on the environment and marine biodiversity.
The experts explain that the accumulation of garbage on the breakwaters is a very rapid process related to their topographic structure and the willingness of people to dispose of anthropogenic garbage in the infrastructure. It is necessary to redesign the structure of the breakwater to reduce the accumulation of garbage on the coast and its impacts, they concluded.
