Shipping routes linked to plastic waste on remote Fuerteventura shores
Researchers examining marine litter found on Fuerteventura say international shipping is a significant source of plastic reaching remote parts of the coast.
International shipping is a significant source of plastic waste reaching remote parts of Fuerteventura’s coast, researchers have concluded after examining litter collected on the island and at sea.
The study, published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, analysed around half a million pieces of waste collected between 2021 and 2023. It found that plastic was not confined to areas used by tourists and residents: some of the worst-affected locations were remote and difficult to reach.
Bárbara Abaroa, director of the Observatorio de Basuras Marinas, began investigating the source after repeatedly finding distinctive waste at coastal sites including Jacomar and Punta de Jandía. At Punta del Mal Rayo, bottles bearing labels from distant countries were found alongside safety boots, construction helmets and freight-container labels.
What the bottles revealed
Of the 21,229 bottles collected during the study period, 62.9% had legible labels that could be associated with foreign markets. Researchers examined the labels alongside the condition of the plastic and used ocean-current models to investigate how the objects might have reached the island.
Some bottles associated with Morocco showed a visible film of biological material and other deposits, suggesting they could have travelled from the African coast. By contrast, bottles linked to Asian markets and other items showed little obvious degradation, leading the team to propose a source closer to Fuerteventura: international shipping routes.
Abaroa said the researchers modelled the likely movement of waste backwards from beach-cleaning dates. The results showed that debris could reach the coast from shipping routes in 10 to 15 days, under conditions with or without wind.
Calls for closer inspections
Abaroa said waste-classification methods should take account of degradation and the origin indicated by legible labels. Treating every bottle as waste from tourism and leisure, she argued, would produce a misleading result in places where shipping is also a source.
She called for stronger surveillance, including inspections of large vessels in port. The international MARPOL agreement prohibits the disposal of plastics at sea; the researchers’ findings point to repeated breaches of that prohibition.
The research team included specialists from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the University of Alcalá.