Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment: Recommendations for Monitoring Debris Trends in the Marine Environment

The NOAA Marine Debris Program has developed standardized, statistically valid methodologies for conducting rapid assessments of the debris material type and quantity present in a monitored location. The monitoring guidelines in this document focus on abundance, types, and concentration rather than analyzing by potential source, as in many cases it is very difficult to connect a debris item to a specific debris-generating activity. These techniques are intended to be widely applicable to enable comparisons across regional and global scales. Citation: Lippiatt, S., Opfer, S., and Arthur, C. 2013. Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS-OR&R-46.