research

Where does marine debris originate, and how does it make its way to the ocean? There are many possible avenues for land-based trash to become marine debris. In Southern California, San Diego State University (SDSU)  is working to find the answers. This multi-departmental project at SDSU is quantifying marine debris in the highly urbanized San Diego River and working to better understand how it travels through our waterways. 

The Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States is a large, dynamic, and diverse place. Home to over 10,000 miles of coastline and spanning from Virginia to New York, it features major metropolitan areas, iconic coastal bays and estuaries, and an incredible array of wildlife and habitats. Unfortunately, seemingly everywhere we turn, marine debris can also be found. Debris litters the Mid-Atlantic waterways and coastlines, entangles and captures wildlife, scars habitats, and harms the regional economy.

Plastic particles less than 5mm in size, known as microplastics, are found everywhere that scientists have looked, including in the coastal waters of New England. The eastern oyster is an important commercial aquaculture species that has been shown to eat microplastics. In partnership with the NOAA Marine Debris Program, marine scientists at the University of Connecticut sampled oysters in the field and performed a series of selection experiments in the laboratory to determine what types of microplastics oysters prefer to eat or reject and how that relates to what is in the natural environment.

Much of San Francisco’s beauty comes from its stunning location, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. San Francisco is also the second-most densely populated city in the United States and one of the country’s most-visited destinations. With so many people near so much water, the marine environment is especially vulnerable to all forms of human-made pollution, including cigarette butts, the most littered item in San Francisco and around the world.

About 70% of Californians believe their ocean and beaches are very important to California’s future and report that plastics and marine debris are a big problem on a coast near them. As a result, organizations, individuals, and volunteers from across the state are contributing an enormous and noble amount of time and energy to make California a national leader on addressing and preventing marine debris.

The Great Lakes region, with its beautiful coastlines, diverse wildlife, and stunning vistas is not immune to marine debris concerns. Fortunately, our numerous partners in the region are hard at work addressing the issues of plastics, fishing gear, abandoned and derelict vessels, and other debris that impact the environment.

The Hawai‘i Marine Debris Action Plan (Action Plan) was the first community-based marine debris action plan in the nation facilitated by the NOAA Marine Debris Program. Established in 2010 and updated four times, it is a comprehensive framework for strategic action to reduce the ecological, health and safety, and economic impacts of marine debris in Hawai‘i by 2020. This report provides a history of the Action Plan and celebrates the accomplishments of the community. The NOAA Marine Debris Program is proud of the Hawai'i Marine Debris Action Plan community and to present the 2010-2020 Accomplishments Report.

Following a highly competitive review process, the NOAA Marine Debris Program is pleased to announce the 25 recipients of our 2021 Removal, Research, and North America Marine Debris Prevention and Removal Grant awards totaling approximately $7.3 million in federal funds. Federal funding is matched by non-federal contributions, bringing the total investment of these marine debris projects to approximately $14.7 million.

Since 1992, the NOAA Great Lakes Mussel Watch Program (GLMWP) has collected invasive zebra and quagga mussels from sites in the Great Lakes as part of its national contaminant monitoring program. Zebra and quagga mussels store contaminants in their bodies, a quality that suggests they may be useful as water quality biomonitors. Because they are stationary filter feeders, are abundant, and are relatively resistant to chemicals, their body tissues can be tested to reveal pollution where they live. In 2018, a team of marine scientists from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, NOAA GLMWP, and Loyola University Chicago joined forces to ask whether these invasive mussels take in microplastics along with chemical pollutants, and might they be indicators of microplastic pollution in the Great Lakes?

Located about 2,500 miles to the southwest of Hawai‘i, the U.S. unincorporated territory of American Samoa lies only a hundred miles and a jump across the international dateline from its cultural neighbor, the nation of Samoa. However, both islands share a fate similar to many Pacific island nations. Over the past few decades, problems with solid waste management have been exacerbated by limited space and a steadily increasing amount of imported goods and materials. Arizona State University, in collaboration with partners in American Samoa, received a grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program to quantify the amount of microplastics and associated contaminants in American Samoa’s marine waters and marine organisms to better understand the potential risks to ecosystems and human health.