Earlier this week, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced the 2019 Request for Proposals from the Fishing for Energy Partnership. The NOAA Marine Debris Program is pleased to be part of this collaboration, along with NFWF and Covanta Energy Corporation, to support the availability of up to $1 million in grant funding to support strategies that reduce the impacts of derelict fishing gear on marine and coastal environments and navigational safety. The deadline for full proposals is Thursday, April 25, 2019.

Today is World Water Day, a day to recognize that water is our most precious resource, needed by every single living thing on earth. In the Great Lakes, over 40 million people depend directly on HOMES (Lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior) for drinking water. These lakes are the largest freshwater system on Earth and contain a fifth of the world’s water, adding up to more than 6 quadrillion gallons. Unfortunately, marine debris not only exists in our ocean, but can also be found in the Great Lakes and affect the quality of the water that we are drinking. Tiny plastics less than 5mm in size, called microplastics, dominate the waters of the Great Lakes. We don’t yet know how microplastics in our drinking water can affect human health, but we do know that preventing marine debris is a crucial step in improving the water quality of the Great Lakes.

Spring is just around the corner. Warmer weather often inspires us to throw open the windows and clean out our hibernation caves. Spring cleaning is a time-honored tradition, but it can also generate huge amounts of waste. Clothes that don’t fit anymore, old trinkets, or anything else that does not spark joy can end up in a landfill. The more waste we produce, the more likely it is that some of our discarded items will end up escaping a garbage truck or landfill and end up in our waterways. As you clean, think about these questions to keep our ocean and Great Lakes clean as well.

The Pearl River is one of the most biologically diverse river systems in the Southeast with over 140 fish species and 28 mussel species, making it a high priority for conservation. Overtime the Pearl River, just upstream of Bogalusa, became blocked by an over accumulation of woody debris resulting in part by land use changes and then accelerated through recent hurricanes and flooding events. This project, funded through a NOAA Marine Debris Community-based Removal grant, combines efforts across multiple federal, state, and local agencies, NGOs, corporations, and local communities to restore hydrologic function for important fish species to be able to travel freely upstream to spawn

Thousands of miles of rivers east of the Rocky Mountains flow down the continental US and empty into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Debris from as far away as Minnesota and Pennsylvania can end up in the waters off the Louisiana or Alabama coast. Preventing and removing debris in the Gulf States can be a huge challenge, but the Marine Debris Program’s partners in the region are up to the task.

By Laura Stone, Mobile Baykeeper

It’s that time of year again… Mardi Gras parades and king cakes, which means Mobile Baykeeper is launching its second year of the Litter-Free Mardi Gras campaign!  

Ecosystems are complex and fragile. When a non-native species is added to an established ecosystem, sometimes the ecosystem adjusts and sometimes havoc is wrought. When an introduced species upsets the balance of an ecosystem, we call those invasive species. Evidence has shown that marine debris can carry organisms across the ocean. As more species travel to previously inaccessible areas on rafts made of our trash, it becomes more likely that some of these species may start to disrupt the ecosystems they colonize.

By Capt. Neill Holland, President, Ocean Aid 360

In 2018, our Florida-based nonprofit, Ocean Aid 360, was awarded a one-year NOAA MDP Community-based Marine Debris Removal Grant to test our innovative Ghost Trap Rodeo project, designed in partnership with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida. To the casual observer, this gathering of shallow draft vessels and local fishing families might look like any other well-attended inshore fishing tournament familiar to area residents, but the goal of the project is to remove no less than 15,000 pounds of debris from Tampa Bay, Florida’s largest open water estuary, which includes Essential Fish Habitat and protected marine zones, while also promoting a community stewardship and conservation ethic for NOAA Trust Resources