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PIRATE is coming to Faial with a question: is there a time of year when we find more litter on our beaches?

A beach may look clean one day and very different the next. But is it just chance?

To investigate this, the PIRATE team analysed beach litter records from Porto Pim and Conceição beaches, collected between 2012 and 2026, comparing data from the same months across different years. The results revealed a seasonal pattern, with one time of year when more litter is found on average on the beaches studied.

When does it happen? The answer is waiting to be discovered in a flyer that will be appearing at different locations across Faial over the coming weeks.

When you find the flyer, simply open it to discover how years of observations helped identify this pattern, when the peak season for beach litter occurs on the beaches studied, and how this knowledge can help improve marine litter monitoring and management.

If you come across a PIRATE flyer, take a photo, tag @micro2Sea and tell us where you found it!