Salvaging Solutions: ADV Policies and Info Hub Reflections

Salvaging Solutions to Abandoned and Derelict Vessels (ADVs) is a monthly online webinar series hosted by the NOAA Marine Debris Program. The goal of the series is to help communities through sharing perspectives from across the country on common abandoned and derelict vessel issues and solutions. Each webinar features experts from federal, state, and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, universities, and industry, who discuss topics about communications, funding, policy, and successes and challenges under blue skies and storm conditions. To learn more and see our full series of webinars, please visit the Salvaging Solutions to Abandoned and Derelict Vessels Webinar Series webpage.

Salvaging Solutions: ADV Policies and Info Hub Reflections

While ADVs have long been an issue in Virginia's coastal and inland waters, a concentrated effort to address the threat they pose to public safety and to the natural environment only recently began in December 2020. This undertaking was as part of an inter-organizational effort to update the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan to better align with NOAA's Mid-Atlantic Marine Debris Action Plan. 

Led by Katie Register and Jeff Flood, a group of diverse stakeholders have worked diligently to better define the ADV issue and propose a series of policy recommendations to increase funding, regulatory authority, and removal capacity, as well as to strategize future public outreach to prevent additional occurrences of ADV. This collaborative presentation will provide a concise recap of the group's efforts to date, lessons learned, and next steps.

Speakers

Katie Register, Executive Director - Clean Virginia Waterways of Longwood University; Co-founder – Virginia Plastic Pollution Prevention Network
Katie works extensively on preventing water pollution, focusing mainly on land-based sources of plastic pollution. She has done extensive research on the impacts of cigarette litter, convenience food packaging, helium-filled balloon litter, abandoned boats, and influencing behavior change. Katie has consulted with the National Geographic Society, the US Environmental Protection Agency, NOAA, and works closely with the Ocean Conservancy, and the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program.

Jefferson Flood, Coastal Planner - Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program
Jeff works with several state agencies as well as regional and local governments to administer enforceable policies that protect coastal resources and foster sustainable development in the coastal areas of the Commonwealth. His principal duties include program review, policy formulation, grant proposal writing and administration, and providing technical assistance to local governments. Since December 2020, Jeff has served as a co-facilitator of the Virginia ADV Work Group alongside Katie, conducting research, compiling data, interviewing other states’ ADV programs, and managing stakeholder engagement throughout the process. Jeff and Katie will co-author the Work Group’s final report, to be released later this fall.

Salvaging Solutions Team - NOAA Marine Debris Program
The Salvaging Solutions webinar team provided a general overview of the NOAA ADV Info Hub, and solicited feedback on how best to update this platform to best address ADVs nationwide.