Citizen science program and contamination by anthropogenic marine debris in the coastal marine zone – Huanchaco

Authors

Cárdenas-Farfán, Sara Amada

Purca Cuicapusa, Sara

Effio-Quezada, Wilberto

Abstract

Anthropogenic Marine Debris (AMD) has been recognized as a serious environmental, economic, human health and aesthetic problem throughout the world. In this investigation we determined the density of AMD in the coastal marine zone of Huanchaco using citizen science, for which the citizen science program "Detectives del mar" was proposed, which consisted of two stages, first in a virtual training the level of knowledge about AMD and the level of environmental awareness of the university students who participated (n=50) through a questionnaire and a survey, respectively. Second, a face-to-face workshop was held where AMD was trained and subsequently monitored on the Huanchaco beach. It was determined that the Huanchaco beach has an AMD density of 2.35 items x m2 and that 78% of the waste is plastic. While the results on the level of environmental awareness and knowledge of the subject, showed that 60% of students have a Good level of environmental awareness and that 70% of students have a Good level of knowledge about AMD contamination.