The International Coastal Cleanup is coming up on Sept. 18, 2021, when volunteers around the world will be cleaning beaches and shorelines of the debris that has accumulated there. In addition to these organized events, there are also many people who generously take it upon themselves to pick up trash when they visit beaches or shorelines. So, what do these kind volunteers and beach-goers find? Lots of cigarette butts, food wrappers, and single-use water bottles, but also, some weird and interesting things.

NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration supports exercises throughout the country each year. Many of these exercises are in coordination with or hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard and industry partners to meet preparedness and readiness requirements. These include Coast Guard PREP exercises for oil spill response, industry led exercises, chemical releases, hurricane responses, weapons of mass destruction, biochemical and terrorist scenarios and even international exercises. Our latest support was part of a National Response Team initiative with Panama called Eco Canal to provide coordinated support to the Panama Canal Authority for incidents. 

This feature is part of a monthly series profiling scientists and technicians who provide exemplary contributions to the mission of NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R). In our latest "Minds Behind OR&R," meet Carlie Herring, a research analyst for the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

Every month our Emergency Response Division provides scientific expertise and services to the U.S. Coast Guard on everything from running oil spill trajectories to model where the spill may spread, to possible effects on wildlife and fisheries and estimates on how long the oil may stay in the environment. This month OR&R responded to 22 incidents in July, including oil discharges, grounded vessels, and other pollution-related incidents.  

In this guest blog from the Brandywine Conservancy by guest author Gerald McAdams Kauffman, director of the University of Delaware Water Resources Center, learn more about the restoration efforts that led to the return of the nation's founding fish to our most historic watershed. (This blog was originally published by the Brandywine Conservancy on June 6, 2020).