New York Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide: A New Comprehensive Guide for the State emma.tonge Tue, 05/09/2023 - 22:53

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Marine Debris Program is pleased to release the “New York Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide”. The Guide is a product of a collaborative process with state and federal agencies. The Guide aims to improve preparedness for responding to marine debris after hurricanes and other disasters in New York’s coastal areas, including the Great Lakes region.

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Tags emergency response Mid-Atlantic Great Lakes

Mapping, Marking, and Mobilizing to Remove Derelict Fishing Gear from Delaware’s Inland Bays neil.mccoy Mon, 12/12/2022 - 11:00

The shallow, protected habitats of Delaware’s Inland Bays make for one of the most popular areas in the state for residents and tourists to try their hands at catching blue crabs. In boats or on the shore, recreational crabbers use all kinds of gear, from hand lines, to trot lines, to small traps with collapsible sides, and the Chesapeake style crab pot. Unfortunately, thousands of derelict crab pots have been left behind or lost, and are littered beneath the surface of the Inland Bays. The University of Delaware and Delaware Sea Grant, with funding from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, worked to address the issue by teaming up with recreational crabbers to remove derelict pots.

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Tags Mid-Atlantic removal derelict crab pots derelict fishing gear

Capturing Debris and Inspiring Action Along the Anacostia River Posted Thu, 12/08/2022 - 11:00

The Anacostia River has a long and important history. Today, the Anacostia River watershed is home to more than 800,000 people, encompassing portions of Washington, DC, and Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties in Maryland. Unfortunately, each year hundreds of tons of trash from surrounding lands makes its way into the river. Nearby communities have been working hard to address this problem, and help guide overall reductions in trash and litter entering the river.

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Tags Mid-Atlantic prevention removal education

Making Progress on Marine Debris in the Mid-Atlantic neil.mccoy Thu, 12/01/2022 - 11:00

The Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States is a large, dynamic, and diverse place. Home to over 10,000 miles of coastline and spanning from Virginia to New York, it features major metropolitan areas, iconic coastal bays and estuaries, and an incredible array of wildlife and habitats. Unfortunately, seemingly everywhere we turn, marine debris can also be found. Debris litters the Mid-Atlantic waterways and coastlines, entangles and captures wildlife, scars habitats, and harms the regional economy.

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New Jersey Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide: A New Comprehensive Guide for the State Posted Thu, 10/14/2021 - 11:30

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program is pleased to release the New Jersey Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide: Comprehensive Guidance Document (Guide). The Guide is a product of collaboration among state and federal agencies and will improve preparedness for response and recovery operations following any natural disaster or event that generates large amounts of marine debris in New Jersey.

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2021 Mid-Atlantic Marine Debris Action Plan Released neil.mccoy Thu, 05/20/2021 - 11:00

The NOAA Marine Debris Program is pleased to share the 2021 Mid-Atlantic Marine Debris Action Plan. This document is the result of a collaborative effort between the Marine Debris Program and local, state, and federal governments, nonprofits, industry, and academic institutions, and represents a partner-led effort to guide marine debris actions in the Mid-Atlantic for the next five years.

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Awaiting Rescue in Delaware – Recovering Derelict Crab Pots from Delaware’s Inland Bays Posted Tue, 05/18/2021 - 11:00

Up to 20,000 pots from Delaware’s recreational blue crab fishery may sit on the murky bottom of Delaware’s Inland Bays, getting swept around by the currents and mired in the mud. There, they await rescue – inadvertently scraping across the bottom, getting in the way of boats, and continuing to ghost fish by trapping crabs, fish, and other wildlife. A new project, led by the University of Delaware and Delaware Sea Grant, is using side-scan and live sonar to identify and recover derelict crab pots lost and abandoned in Delaware’s Indian River Bay.

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Tags Mid-Atlantic removal derelict crab pots derelict fishing gear

Mobilizing Against Marine Debris in the Mid-Atlantic Region Posted Mon, 05/17/2021 - 11:00

The Mid-Atlantic region is home to diverse industries, large urban cities, and beaches popular for tourism. Our partners are working hard to keep the coast clean to conserve all that we love about the Mid-Atlantic. Seven prevention and removal projects supported by the NOAA Marine Debris Program are currently underway in the Mid-Atlantic, spanning issues from single-use plastics and consumer debris, to abandoned and derelict fishing gear and vessels.

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The Economic Benefits of Marine Debris Prevention and Removal Posted Tue, 07/07/2020 - 11:32

Marine debris can be dangerous for wildlife, damage sensitive habitats, and create safety and navigation hazards. But did you know that marine debris can also hurt the economies of coastal communities and decrease commercial fishing revenue? Marine debris can keep tourists away from beaches, compete with active fishing gear and reduce commercial catches, and cost small businesses money.

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Tags Great Lakes ghost fishing derelict fishing gear prevention removal Mid-Atlantic Alaska Southeast California Gulf of Mexico

Delaware Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide: A New Comprehensive Guide for the State jennifer.simms Mon, 06/15/2020 - 09:25

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program is pleased to release the “Delaware Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide: Comprehensive Guidance Document”. The Guide is a product of a collaborative process with state, local, and federal agencies.

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Understanding the Movement of Microplastics in River Plumes Posted Fri, 04/10/2020 - 11:31

Microplastics in the ocean are a growing concern to both the scientific community and to the public at large. Much of the attention is focused on the garbage patches that can be found in oceanic gyres and  are thousands of miles from their largely urban sources. However, the amount of microplastics is often significantly higher in urban waterways than in these remote garbage patches.

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Tags microplastics research Mid-Atlantic

Microplastics and Disease in Steelhead Trout Posted Fri, 04/03/2020 - 10:27

In the environment, animals may be exposed to many stressors at the same time, such as pollution, overfishing, and disease. Research suggests that animals exposed to microplastics and microfibers, or plastic pieces smaller than 5mm in size, may experience negative impacts to their immune system.

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Blue Crab Babies and Microplastics jennifer.simms Fri, 04/03/2020 - 09:19

Microplastics, or plastic pieces smaller than 5mm in size, are commonly found in our ocean and coastal waters. Do the microplastics that these larval crabs encounter while drifting in the ocean affect their survival and ability to return to estuaries? With support from a NOAA Marine Debris Program Research grant, a team of University of Delaware marine scientists have joined forces to study this question.

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Tags research Mid-Atlantic microplastics

Removing Marine Debris in New York’s Jamaica Bay Salt Marshes Posted Fri, 01/31/2020 - 07:39

Spanning over 18,000 acres, Jamaica Bay is one of New York City’s unique estuaries for conservation, as well as urban recreation. The Bay is almost equal to the size of Manhattan and is surrounded by the Rockaway Peninsula to the South, Brooklyn to the West, and Queens to the East. Abandoned boats and other mid- to large-scale debris are scattered throughout the Bay.

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Tags Mid-Atlantic removal

Removing Derelict Fishing Gear Across the Mid-Atlantic Region Posted Fri, 01/31/2020 - 07:05

The NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Mid-Atlantic region spans the states of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, and is home to the largest estuary in the United States, the Chesapeake Bay. Unfortunately, derelict fishing gear and lost crab pots can threaten these important resources by continuing to capture and kill wildlife, damage sensitive habitats, and even compete with and damage active fishing gear.

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Estimating the Effects of Marine Debris on Coastal Economies Posted Wed, 09/25/2019 - 13:14

Imagine you’ve planned a big trip to the beach with your family and friends, loaded up the car with supplies or jumped on a plane, and traveled to your vacation spot, only to find a beach littered with plastic beverage bottles, stray fishing line, chip bags, cigarette butts, and other debris. Would you stay and play, or be on your way? What if there were no debris, would you be more likely to return in the future? These are the kinds of questions we asked to better understand the relationship between marine debris and the coastal tourism economy.

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Tags California Mid-Atlantic Gulf of Mexico Great Lakes

Letting Students Lead the Way in Prince George’s County jennifer.simms Tue, 06/25/2019 - 08:55

Students in Prince George’s County, Maryland are leading the way in marine debris prevention and cleanup in their community. Through the Alice Ferguson Foundation’s Watershed Leadership Program (WLP), more than 400 students from seven local high schools have learned about plastic pollution and executed school-based action plans to prevent marine debris.

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Tags Mid-Atlantic education prevention

Making an Effort to Manage Marine Debris in the Mid-Atlantic jennifer.simms Fri, 06/21/2019 - 13:41

With over 400 miles of coastline and over 10,000 miles of tidal shoreline, the Mid-Atlantic region is bountiful in its cultural, social, and environmental diversity. The Mid-Atlantic region encompasses coastal states from New Jersey to Virginia, and is no stranger to the impacts of marine debris. Like many coastal areas around the country, this region is often inundated with debris ranging from derelict fishing gear to consumer debris items, like plastic bags, bottles, and food packaging. Fortunately, there are several great efforts currently underway to address marine debris in the Mid-Atlantic.

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Maryland Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide: A New Comprehensive Guide for the State Posted Fri, 05/03/2019 - 15:27

It’s Hurricane Preparedness Week! As we start preparing for hurricane season, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Marine Debris Program is pleased to release the “Maryland Marine Debris Emergency Response Guide: Comprehensive Guidance Document” (Maryland Guide). The Maryland Guide is a product of a collaborative process with local, state, and federal agencies. The Guide aims to improve preparedness for response and recovery operations following an acute waterway debris incident in coastal Maryland.

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Balloons and the Mid-Atlantic krista.e.stegemann Thu, 03/02/2017 - 11:00

Balloons are a type of marine debris that many people don’t think about. Often used for celebrations or to commemorate special events, balloons are frequently intentionally or accidentally released into the environment. Unfortunately, once they go up, they must also come down; balloons that are released into the air don’t just go away, they either get snagged on something such as tree branches or electrical wires, deflate and make their way back down, or rise until they pop and fall back to Earth where they can create a lot of problems. Balloon debris can be ingested by animals, many of which easily mistake it for real food, and can entangle wildlife, especially balloons with attached ribbons. Balloon debris can even have an economic impact on communities, contributing to dirty beaches which drive away tourists, or causing power outages from mylar balloons covered in metallic paint and their ribbons tangling in power lines. Balloon debris is a national issue and unfortunately, the Mid-Atlantic is not immune.

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Tags Mid-Atlantic balloons