California

Despite the fact that cigarette smoking is on a steep decline, cigarette butts remain the top littered item in San Francisco, and the most common item found on beaches around the world. They’re easy to miss, but once you see them, you’ll never “unsee” them. Surfrider San Francisco’s Hold on to Your Butt program has one ambitious goal: to end cigarette litter so we never have to see those butts again. Through volunteer power, the program works to bring awareness to the environmental impact of the cigarette flick.

California is not only home to beaches, super blooms, and stars, but is also home to 12% of the population of the United States, and the fifth largest economy in the world. With such concentrated human and economic activity, marine debris can be a serious problem. However, California is leading the way on waste reduction and marine debris prevention efforts.

By: Sherry Lippiatt, California Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

The NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) and California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) are pleased to announce the 2018 California Ocean Litter Prevention Strategy: Addressing Marine Debris from Source to Sea (Strategy). The Strategy identifies a broad range of actions aimed at preventing and reducing marine debris in California, and is the result of a wide range of input from government partners, non-governmental organizations, industry, and academics working to address the issue. The document provides a roadmap for action over the next six years, and is intended to increase collaboration and galvanize support for marine debris projects.

By: Sherry Lippiatt, California Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

Ever joined a beach cleanup or shoreline survey and wondered “where did all of this marine debris come from?" In reality, there are likely multiple sources including direct littering by beachgoers, wind, stormwater runoff, and the ocean itself. In California, the relative significance of these sources changes seasonally. California is unique in that we have distinct wet (October through March) and dry (April through September) weather seasons, which have a big influence on the amount of trash that travels through stormwater systems and eventually makes its way to our coastlines.

By: Sherry Lippiatt, California Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

The Channel Islands offshore of Southern California are a special place with tremendous biodiversity and cultural significance, and home to the Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS). The islands are situated within 60 miles of 18 million people, yet receive relatively few human visitors, harbor 175 miles of undeveloped coastline, and provide habitat for numerous marine mammals, threatened birds, and other species unique to the area. Unfortunately, due to their location and orientation, the Channel Islands are also a local sink for marine debris that enters the Santa Barbara Channel.

Meet Sherry Lippiatt, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s California Regional Coordinator! Reach out to Sherry at Sherry.Lippiatt@noaa.gov!

California is a state of mind, sun, good times, and unfortunately, marine debris. California’s beautiful coastline is often cluttered with trash and other items that don’t belong there. Luckily, there are several efforts currently underway to address marine debris in this beautiful region of the country. Check out some newly-established projects in the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s California region:

Focusing on the unique Channel Islands, California State University Channel Islands is working to monitor and remove debris from Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz Islands. 

By: Sherry Lippiatt, California Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

Over the years of the NOAA Marine Debris Program, there have been many efforts around the country to rid our waters and shores of marine debris. As part of our ten-year anniversary celebration, let’s take a look back at one of those efforts in our California region.

Back in 2008, the Port of San Diego, with funding through the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Community-based Marine Debris Removal grant program, initiated a three-phase project to remove marine debris from a former anchorage site and surrounding shorelines. By 2013, over 447 metric tons of debris had been removed!

California isn’t only the site of innovative marine debris removal projects, but is also where some really interesting and creative prevention projects are taking place! Here are two new projects that the NOAA Marine Debris Program is proud to be a part of:

ReThink Disposable is a project by the Clean Water Fund that works to combat the use of single-use items in restaurants. This project works directly with restaurants to help them make the transition to reusable items, reducing their waste and saving them money over time. Educational materials are also provided and displayed in order to educate customers and encourage them to make choices to reduce their contribution to marine debris. For more on this project, check out the project profile on our website.

Marine debris is a pervasive problem and unfortunately, our golden state on the west coast is not immune. However, the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) is supporting some innovative projects that are actively addressing this problem. To give you a cool example, California is the site of a nifty marine debris removal project that started last summer.

Led by the SeaDoc Society at the University of California, Davis and working with area fishermen, this project in Northern and Central California is working to fight a big debris problem: derelict crab traps. Derelict traps can cause all kinds of problems for marine life, recreational boaters, and for fishermen. Apart from losing expensive traps, the fishery suffers as derelict traps continue to capture crabs that could otherwise be caught by an active fisherman (a concept known as ghost fishing). To address this problem, commercial fishermen are going out during the closed crabbing season to recover lost pots.

By: Sherry Lippiatt, California Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

As we previously explored in this blog post, California’s coasts are consistently plagued with marine debris, so the state’s active and engaged environmental community has been working to build momentum and visibility on the issue. Recently, there has been response to this problem in the form on a new Trash Policy.

Curious about the buzz over this recently EPA-approved Trash Policy (aka Trash Amendments) in California? Check out this recent post from our partners at the California Coastal Commission for a non-wonky history of trash reduction policies in the state and what these new storm water regulations will do to reduce marine debris.