Marine Debris

This is the 11th in a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s featured scientist is Marine Debris Program Great Lakes Regional Coordinator Sarah Lowe.

Imagine you’ve planned a big day at the beach with your family and friends, loaded up the car with supplies, and traveled out to your favorite spot, only to find a beach littered with plastic beverage bottles, stray fishing line, chip bags, cigarette butts, and other debris. Would you stay and play, or be on your way? This is the choice that many face when heading to their local beaches.

For many, the first thing that comes to mind when they think of oil spills is an image of great big oil sheens in the middle of the ocean, tarballs washing up on beaches, and photos of oiled wildlife on the internet. Marine pollution on the whole might also bring to mind an image of sandy beaches littered with plastic bottles and other marine debris — or perhaps even a “garbage island” floating out in open sea.

This is the fourth blog in a week-long series to highlight the importance of disaster preparedness. Follow us this week as we take a look at how NOAA prepares for natural and human-made disasters, and how you can prepare for the 2018 hurricane season. Share your #DisasterPreparedness strategy by commenting on our blog, or replying to our Twitter and Facebook.

This is the ninth in a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s profile is on Marine Debris Program Pacific Island Regional Coordinator Mark Manuel.

This is the seventh in a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). This month’s profile is on Marine Debris Program Chief Scientist Amy Uhrin.

Earth Day dates back to 1970, when Senator Gaylord Nelson implemented it as a day to recognize the need for environmental protection. That same year in December, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency. NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration gained its first recognition in environmental issues six years later when the Argo Merchant tanker vessel grounded near Nantucket Shoals in Massachusetts, spilling nearly 8 million gallons of oil ... 

Marine debris and plastic pollution first appeared in scientific literature in the 1970s, and have since become highly published topics. Debris can be found in a variety of marine environments — from coasts and remote beaches, to Arctic and Antarctic regions — throughout the open ocean and all the way down to the deepest depths of the sea floor.

Another year has come and gone, and we’re starting the new year off right with a list of resolutions to make this one as great (if not better) than the last.

With a record number of incident responses and ongoing pollution response to an above-average hurricane season, 2017 was a busy year. We accomplished quite a bit last year, and while we always hope the new year will bring fewer oil spills and disasters than the year before, it’s our job to be prepared for whatever 2018 throws our way.