Posts tagged with

Pacific Northwest

Washington Marine Debris Action Plan Released

Posted Wed, 09/05/2018 - 09:21

Nir Barnea, Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

Washington Marine Debris Action Plan cover.

The NOAA Marine Debris Program is pleased to share the Washington Marine Debris Action Plan. This document is the result of a productive and collaborative effort between the NOAA Marine Debris Program and regional partners, including over 50 workshop participants, and represents a partner-led effort to guide Washington’s actions on marine debris for the next six years.

Tags

Pacific Northwest

50 Cleanups and Counting: A Celebration of Community Dedication

Posted Thu, 05/17/2018 - 11:00

By: Nir Barnea, Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

On April 21, 2018, Earth Day was celebrated with beach cleanups in many places, but for the Grassroots Garbage Gang in Washington State’s Long Beach Peninsula, it was an especially important day— a celebration of the 50th Grassroots Garbage Gang community-organized beach cleanup, representing a remarkable achievement. Beach cleanups on the Long Beach Peninsula began in 1971, when the Pacific Northwest Four Wheel Drive Association, along with support by state agencies and local organizations, started their Shore Patrol and marine debris removal. Around the year 2000, community volunteers formed the Grassroots Garbage Gang and joined the effort to clean up the beautiful Long Beach Peninsula beaches. Organizing three cleanups a year— in January, April (Earth Day), and July 5th– the dedicated volunteers of the Grassroots Garbage Gang have removed hundreds of tons of marine debris over the years. In addition, the group has reached out to the community and visitors with a strong message to prevent marine debris and help reduce it.

Tags

cleanups

Pacific Northwest

Marine Debris Work with West Coast Native Communities krista.e.stegemann Mon, 11/13/2017 - 11:00

Derelict crab pots removed by the Quileute Indian Tribes. (Photo Credit: NOAA)

In celebration of National Native American Heritage Month, the NOAA Office of Response and Restoration’s Marine Debris Program and Assessment and Restoration Division are highlighting collaboration with native communities, nations, and peoples.

Many native communities in the Western United States are tied to the ocean, depending on its resources for economic well-being and cultural identity. The NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) is proud to have worked with native communities on the West Coast to protect these resources by preventing and removing marine debris.

Tags

Pacific Northwest

Derelict Fishing Gear in the Pacific Northwest krista.e.stegemann Thu, 04/13/2017 - 11:30

By: Nir Barnea, Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

To most residents and visitors in the Pacific Northwest, marine debris is what they see on the beautiful beaches of Oregon and Washington: items such as plastic consumer debris, commercial packaging, and even balloons. Luckily, agencies and NGOs including CoastSavers, Grassroots Garbage Gang, Oregon SOLVE, and the Oregon Marine Debris Team have collaborated together and with the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) for years to prevent and remove this debris, much of it arriving from around the Pacific to the sparsely-populated Pacific Northwest coast. Another form of marine debris, derelict fishing gear, is less visible, but still harmful to the environment, commerce, and navigation. Derelict crab pots, shrimp traps, and lost nets and lines can entangle marine wildlife, harm the sea floor upon which they rest, pose a risk to navigation, and even threaten human safety.

Tags

Pacific Northwest

derelict fishing gear

Addressing Marine Debris in the Pacific Northwest: Harnessing the Power of Art krista.e.stegemann Tue, 04/11/2017 - 11:30

A sculpture of a parrotfish made of marine debris.

Like the rest of the country, the Pacific Northwest is unfortunately not immune to the impacts of marine debris. Luckily, there are many efforts in this region to address the marine debris issue, one of which focuses on the power of art.

Washed Ashore, an organization based in Oregon, works to prevent marine debris by raising awareness through art. After collecting debris on beaches and then cleaning and sorting it by color, the Washed Ashore group creates large and intricate sculptures made exclusively of marine debris. By building and displaying these sculptures, which mostly feature animals impacted by debris, this project aims to reach a broad audience to raise awareness of our connection to the debris issue and to inspire changes in our habits as consumers. Many of these sculptures now travel around the country as part of traveling exhibits, reaching broad audiences throughout the nation.

Tags

prevention

Pacific Northwest

Oregon Marine Debris Action Plan Released krista.e.stegemann Mon, 04/10/2017 - 11:00

By: Nir Barnea, Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

Over the years, Oregon’s agencies, NGOs, and industry have done remarkable work to prevent and remove marine debris along the Oregon coast, rivers, and nearshore areas. In order to address marine debris in Oregon even more effectively, Oregon marine debris stakeholders got together to create the Oregon Marine Debris Action Plan, and within a year, completed it.

The Oregon Marine Debris Action Plan, a collaborative effort of federal and state agencies, tribes, local governments, non-governmental organizations, academia, and industry, is a compilation of recommended strategies and actions to prevent, research, and remove marine debris in Oregon. Bringing together the Oregon entities working on marine debris, the Plan will increase coordination and collaboration in executing on-going and future actions, and help track progress over time.

Tags

report

Pacific Northwest

The Removal of the F/V Western

Posted Wed, 01/04/2017 - 13:23

On December 21st, the F/V Western was pulled out of the water near the Empire Dock in Coos Bay, Oregon. The sunken vessel was brought to land and later disposed of, thus ending a long journey that started 82 years earlier. Unlike some abandoned and derelict vessels (ADVs), we know a lot about the F/V Western’s history thanks to Toni Mirosevich, a Professor at San Francisco State University and the daughter of Anthony Mirosevich, the captain and owner of the F/V Western for twenty years.

In 1934, when the world was gripped by the Great Depression, a graceful, wood hulled, 69-foot long boat was launched in Tacoma, Washington. The vessel was purchased by the Mirosevich family from Everett, WA in 1945, named Western Maid, and set sail for salmon fishing in Alaska. In 1965, after Anthony Mirosevich passed away, his family sold the boat. At some point, it was converted to a crab fishing vessel and its name was changed to Western.

Tags

removal

ADVs

Pacific Northwest

Balloon Marine Debris on the Washington Coast

Posted Thu, 04/07/2016 - 11:43

Mylar balloons on the beach, found at the Long Beach Peninsula.

By: Nir Barnea, Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator, and Emma Tonge, Intern, with the NOAA Marine Debris Program

Many thanks go out to Russ Lewis, Heidi Pedersen, and Dana Wu for the balloon reports.

I was on a phone interview with Glenn Farley, a reporter with King 5 TV in Seattle who was preparing a report on balloons that become marine debris, when he asked, “So, how many balloons have been found along the Washington coast?” Unfortunately, I didn’t have an answer for him. “I find balloons occasionally during marine debris cleanups, and I know that others do too, but I don’t have a number for you,” I told him. Obviously, this was one of those situations where “I’ll get back to you later” was in order.

His question made me curious, and I wanted to have a better idea of the scale of this problem. How many balloons? What type? How do we get this information? It was clear that a full scale, scientific study on the number of balloons arriving on the Washington coast would take much time and effort. But, could we possibly get current anecdotal information to give us an idea of how many balloons are found?

Tags

Pacific Northwest

balloons

“Washed Ashore” Art and Education

Posted Mon, 09/28/2015 - 12:46

A large fish sculpture created with marine debris.

By: Nir Barnea, Pacific Northwest Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program

The first thing you see as you approach the Washed Ashore gallery in Bandon, Oregon, is a creation of plastic pieces and nets: Henry the Fish. When you enter the gallery and look up, an ocean gyre is above you. It is made of a bluish fishing net, and plastic pieces of different shapes and colors “float” within it. A whale bone structure made of white plastic containers is in the center. Although they are colorful, nothing is painted: there is plenty of marine debris in all shapes and colors available to give the sculptures any color in the rainbow, highlighting the message that marine debris is a prevalent problem we must address.

Tags

Subscribe to Pacific Northwest