About the Program
NOAA Marine Debris Program | Program Mission | Program Background | Contact Us | Downloadable Materials
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NOAA Marine Debris Program
The NOAA Marine Debris Program serves as a centralized marine debris capability within NOAA in order to coordinate, strengthen, and increase the visibility of marine debris issues and efforts within the agency, its partners, and the public. This Program is undertaking a national and international effort focusing on identifying, reducing, and preventing debris in the marine environment. Additionally, the MDP supports and works closely with various partners across the U.S. to fulfill the Program’s mission.
The NOAA Marine Debris Program has staff located in regions across the nation.
Program Mission
To support a national and international effort focused on preventing, identifying, and reducing the occurrence of marine debris and to protect and conserve our nation’s natural resources, oceans, and coastal waterways from the impacts of marine debris.
Program Background
NOAA Marine Debris Program
The NOAA Marine Debris Program was launched in 2005 after the NOAA National Ocean Service's Office of Response and Restoration received a budget line titled “Marine Debris” for $5M. On December 22, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act, which legally establishes the NOAA Marine Debris Program.
To date, the program has (1) reviewed and inventoried existing debris projects in NOAA; (2) conducted two workshops with internal and external partners focused on the activities and needs of NOAA and the marine debris community; (3) developed a two-year implementation plan; (4) established bi-weekly marine debris meetings with representatives from over ten offices across five NOAA line offices; (5) identified regional coordinators to promote the program’s objectives; (6) established an outreach program; and (7) created three competitive grant programs for distributing funds.
The implementation plan sets the focus areas for the program and is used to direct the three grant programs, internal and external partnerships the program is engaged in, and general program activities.
History of Programs Within NOAA
From 1985 to 1996, NOAA administered the Marine Entanglement Research Program, a marine debris research and management program that was created in response to growing public concern over the impacts of marine debris on wildlife. Since then, NOAA has continued to support marine debris clean-up and prevention activities, such as the debris assessment and removal project in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, the use of satellite and aerial remote sensing to locate and track oceanographic features likely to accumulate floating marine debris, and support for the development and testing protocols for removing derelict fishing gear from coastal waters.
Contact Us
To contact us send us an email at marinedebris.web@noaa.gov or visit our Staff Page for individual email addresses.
Downloadable Materials
NOAA Marine Debris Program 1-pager (
539KB)
NOAA Marine Debris Program's 2007-2008 Accomplishments Report ( 4MB)
