NOAA’s Marine Debris Program

In September, OR&R provided scientific support for 19 marine pollution and coastal emergencies—including Hurricane Helene, which came ashore in Florida, but ultimately affected six states (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia).

Dr. Madison Willert, a 2023 Knauss Fellow from Georgia Tech, shares her experience as the Marine Debris Coordinator in NOAA’s Marine Debris Program and the National Sea Grant Office.

Hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, and tsunamis are among nature's most powerful and destructive events, and when these natural disasters strike, they can create massive amounts of debris. That’s why NOAA's Marine Debris Program, within the Office of Response and Restoration, is participating in National Preparedness Month and highlighting NOAA technology, tools, and resources created to help prevent and respond to disaster-generated marine debris. 

In this Q&A series, NOAA intern Abisola Ajayi interviews three scientists in NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration. In this second interview, she talks with OR&R Marine Debris Program California Sea Grant Extension Fellow Tanya Torres.

Just like people who travel around the world, our trash travels and it can go pretty far! Even if it’s dropped in an inland location, litter can easily become marine debris. Then it can move around the ocean, being pushed around by wind and currents, and traveling to far off locations, from remote islands to the depths of the ocean.

This past year has certainly been a busy one for OR&R's Marine Debris Program as it moved forward under the guidance of a new 2021-2025 Strategic Plan and six program pillars—prevention, removal, research, monitoring and detection, response, and coordination. Here’s a closer look at a few of the major accomplishments from the Marine Debris Program and our partners this past fiscal year.

On Wednesday, September 22, the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center’s Marine Debris Project team, joined by the non-profit Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project, marked the completion of their marine debris removal mission in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (monument). The team arrived at Pearl Harbor aboard the charter vessel IMUA along with the nearly 124,000 pounds of marine debris removed during the 30-day mission.