Marine Debris

The Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R) provides critical scientific support to protect our coastal communities following natural disasters and other incidents that result in marine pollution. Within OR&R, the Emergency Response Division (ERD) provides scientific expertise and services to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) on everything from running oil spill trajectories that model where the spill may spread, to identifying possible effects on wildlife and fisheries, and estimating how long the oil may impact coastal communities and ecology. Additionally, the Marine Debris Program (MDP) supports national and international partners to respond to large debris caused by major disasters within communities at risk of and responding to impacts from severe weather. At the end of each year, we reflect on the response events and activities that OR&R supported.

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).

NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration is providing important information to aid in tracking the path of wind turbine parts after the offshore wind energy company, Vineyard Wind, noticed a broken blade on one of its wind turbines offshore of Martha’s Vineyard.

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.

As new and more intense forms of marine pollution threaten coastal ecosystems, economies, and communities, scientists from NOAA OR&R collaborate with leading experts on topics like marine debris, environmental economics, endangered species, environmental chemistry, and many other subjects that intersect with pollution science. This blog highlights some recently published scientific advances supporting pollution response and assessment.

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.

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.