Faculty of Natural Sciences, Lúrio University, P.O. Box 958, Pemba, Mozambique.
Oceanographic Institute of Mozambique, P.O. Box 4603, Maputo, Mozambique.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2023 Nov;196:115615. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115615. Epub 2023 Oct 5.
In this study, we conducted the first assessment of the litter abundance, diversity and predictors in Mozambique, by collecting approximately 2 tons of litter along six beaches across the country. We tested whether population, touristic industry, fishing, and recreation activities predict the quantity of macro litter for each of the 11 types and 141 subtypes of litter. Overall, we found that plastics made up 60.1 % of the items across all sampled beaches. Following plastics, clothing objects accounted for the second most weight (20.4 %) while foam objects were the second most abundant (15.7 %). More importantly, our results show that the tourism industry is a strong predictor for lower levels of litter across most types of litter while population density and fishing activity were strong predictors for higher levels. Our findings suggest that the tourism industry plays a crucial role in the country by maintaining the beaches clean.
在这项研究中，我们通过在全国六条海滩收集约 2 吨垃圾，首次评估了莫桑比克的垃圾丰度、多样性和预测因子。我们测试了人口、旅游产业、渔业和娱乐活动是否可以预测 11 种和 141 种垃圾类型中每种垃圾的数量。总体而言，我们发现所有抽样海滩的物品中塑料占 60.1%。其次是服装物品，占比 20.4%，而泡沫物品则是第二丰富的（15.7%）。更重要的是，我们的结果表明，旅游业是大多数垃圾类型中降低垃圾水平的重要预测因素，而人口密度和渔业活动是增加垃圾水平的重要预测因素。我们的研究结果表明，旅游业在保持海滩清洁方面发挥了至关重要的作用。
