Water Quality during the Recreational High Season for a Macrotidal Beach (Ajuruteua, Pará, Brazil)

Federal conservation units in the Brazilian amazon coastal zone: An adequate approach to control recreational activities?

“…Extreme hydrodynamic conditions are recorded primarily during the high equinoctial spring tides, that is, in March-April and September-October, a period that coincides with public holidays such as Easter and Independence Day. The lowest hydrodynamic are recorded during low tide, primarily in June and July, which coincides with the school vacation (Sousa et al, 2011;Pessoa et al, 2016).…”

“…At Pesqueiro beach, however, the water was not contaminated by thermotolerant coliforms because cesspits are prohibited in the intertidal zone. At Ajuruteua, by contrast, cesspits contribute to the contamination of the water, and thermotolerant coliform concentrations exceeded the CONAMA threshold during the school vacation period and dry season public holidays, when the numbers of beachgoers peak (Oliveira et al, 2011;Pessoa et al, 2016). Norat-Ramirez et al (2019) showed that high levels of contamination also are found in marine reserves in Puerto Rico.…”

“…Recreational activities in Pará beaches involve sunbathing, aquatic activities (such as bathing, swimming, surfing, wind surf, and ride with banana boat and jet ski), cultural events, ecotourism and fishing practices (Bentes et al, 2012;Almeida and Jardim, 2018;Pereira et al, 2018), and they mostly concentrate during weekends of July (scholar vacation period) and bank holidays, mainly during the dry season (Pessoa et al, 2016;Sousa et al, 2017). It is important to note that recreational activities in Pará sandy beaches is a relatively recent use (around 3-4 decades ago) in comparison with the rest of the Brazilian coast, and it was driven by the construction of roads connecting largest cities to the coastline.…”