National Sea Grant College Program

NOAA Sea Grant programs (located at universities in every coastal and Great Lakes state) join with a variety of federal, state, and local organizations to enhance existing local marine debris clean-up programs and implement education and outreach programs to foster marine debris prevention.

Sea Grant programs are engaged in many types of marine debris activities throughout the Gulf, Pacific, Great Lakes, and Atlantic regions.

Specific Sea Grant Marine Debris Projects and Publications

Gulf Region

Gulf/Puerto Rico Sea Grant Programs

Guide to Reducing Derelict Fishing Gear and Other Marine Debris (pdf, 420kb)

Texas Sea Grant

Texas Monofilament Recovery & Recycling Program

Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant

Clean Marina Program

Louisiana Sea Grant

Facts About Marine Litter

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Pacific Region

Hawaii Sea Grant

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Great Lakes Region

Ohio Sea Grant

Clean Marinas Program

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Atlantic Region

University of Delaware Sea Grant Boater Education

Plastic Pollution in the Marine Environment

South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium

Beach Sweep/River Sweep

Virginia Sea Grant

Litter Guide for Kids

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Sea Grant Programs Involved in Marine Debris

The following are a few of the many Sea Grant programs involved in marine debris:

Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant - This program engages volunteers to remove marine debris from coastal waters and other watershed locations. Volunteers in Alabama have removed 83,615 pounds of debris from the beaches and waterways. More than 4,500 volunteers collected nearly 73,000 pounds of trash along 223 miles of Mississippi Gulf Coast and barrier islands waterways.

Hawaii Sea Grant - This program is active in marine debris research and mitigation, and was instrumental in facilitating the first multi-agency marine debris mitigation task force and the first ever large-scale, multi-agency marine debris removal effort in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in partnership with NOAA Fisheries.

Ohio Sea Grant - This program initiated a semi-annual underwater clean up in partnership with Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and local vendors. Using local SCUBA clubs and land volunteers, they removed approximately 10 tons of trash from the Put-in-Bay Harbor since the first event in 1992. These activities serve the public through:

Education and public outreach programs that teach new generations about the negative impact marine debris has on the coastal environment.
Community-based marine debris cleanup efforts that provide opportunities for environmental stewardship by local citizens and increase the awareness of the issue in those inclined to contribute to the marine debris problem.
Reducing marine debris through behavior changes that will improve the quality of life for coastal residents and decrease the negative impact on the environment.

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