Types

Marine debris comes in all shapes and sizes. It can vary from large trawl nets, accidentally discarded or lost at sea, to plastic pieces smaller than a grain of rice that float throughout the water column.

Additional Photo Categories

Sources
Solutions
Research
Prevention
Impacts

All resources that are credited to NOAA are in the public domain and are free to use; however, we would appreciate you listing us as your source. For use of resources credited to other organizations, permission should be obtained from that organization.

A dive crew transporting derelict fishing gear back to shore after a removal expedition.

Naguabo fishing vessel returning to shore to offload derelict fishing gear.

A sunken vessel is viewed underwater and is located in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Three boats have run aground in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A derelict vessel in Panama City, Florida after Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Florence debris collected in the coastal marshes of North Carolina.

A person bends down to pick up some lumber in a pile that was created by a hurricane in North Carolina.

Removing dock debris, with large construction equipment, left in the wake of Hurricane Florence.

A sailboat, left in the wake of Hurricane Irma, being lifted out of the marsh and maritime forest edge in Charleston Harbor.

The South Beach of Gore Point on the Kenai Peninsula, a noted “catcher” beach for marine debris.