The Pacific coast of the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica is one of the most remote destinations in the country, and the whole of Central America. The peninsula, which is largely composed of the renowned Corcovado National Park, has the largest remaining tract of Pacific lowland wet forest in Mesoamerica, and harbors 2.5% of global terrestrial biodiversity. In late August of 2022, the sea turtle conservation team of Osa Conservation noticed a significant increase in ocean debris arriving on the beaches of Piro and Pejeperro. The debris accumulated in a short period of time, no more than several days. After this event, the rate of debris accumulation returned to more normal levels. An analysis of this debris determined that the majority of the items were water bottles manufactured in Asia within the last one to two years, however other unusual debris such as large pieces of melted plastic, a large (and fortunately, sealed) container of used motor oil, hiking boots, and a soccer ball were also found. Osa Peninsula beaches regularly receive flows of plastic water bottles and other debris, but rarely do the majority of them originate from outside of the Americas, furthermore it is rare for relatively clean and recently manufactured bottles to arrive in such a large quantity. The nature of these water bottles, their age, relative cleanliness, and point of origin suggest that they were dropped by a ship somewhere close enough where local currents could bring them ashore to the remote beaches of the peninsula.…This article was originally published on Mongabay
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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