NOAA Addresses the Marine Debris Problem

Sea Technology, Sep 2008 by Bamford, Holly A, McElwee, Kris, Morishige, Carey

Creating Partnerships and Innovative Solutions to an Ocean and Coastal Threat

In 2005, the receding iloodwaters of Hurricane Katrina deposited tons of material offshore, creating a marine debris problem hazardous to fishing and boating activities. Thousands of mi les away i n the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, more than 50 tons of derelict fishing gear accumulates in the shallow waters of these remote islands each year, damaging coral reefs and entangling endangered Hawaiian monk seals. North of the Hawaiian Islands in the open Pacific Ocean, vast amounts of small plastic debris concentrate in certain areas and may be eaten by sea turtles, seabirds or other marine life, with potentially life-threatening effects. Closer to shore in areas such as the Chesapeake Bay and the California coast, derelict fishing gear continues to "ghost fish," a term for when lost or abandoned fishing gear continues to catch prey without being retrieved by fishermen to harvest.

In all parts of the world, marine debris continues to present a hazard to marine ecosystems and safe navigation. The problem of marine debris requires a continued effort to establish sustainable programs, partnerships and innovative technologies to remove, reduce and prevent this form of marine pollution from impacting the ocean environment.

To improve efforts to address marine debris, in 2005 the U.S. Congress created the Marine Debris Program (MDP) within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA program was formalized in 2006, when President George W. Bush signed the Marine Debris Research, Prevention and Reduction Act into law. This act established a centralized program within NOAA to organize, strengthen and enhance marine debris efforts within the agency, with its partners and the public.

NOAA's Marine Debris Program

The NOAA MDP is a national program that supports both nationwide and international efforts focused on identifying, preventing and reducing the occurrence of marine debris. These efforts protect the United States' natural resources, oceans and coastal waterways from the impacts of marine debris. The type of marine debris the program addresses is persistent, solid material that is disposed of or abandoned in the marine environment.

The MDP operates out of the NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring, but has a handful of program coordinators located around the coastal United States who support regional projects. While program coordinators lead a number of projects, a majority of their time is spent coordinating with other NOAA programs and nonfederal partners who implement projects funded by the MDP. These projects are awarded to the partners through three competitive proposal processes developed by the MDP. This partnership approach allows for the broadest reach of marine debris reduction and prevention activities tailored to regional debris problems.

Due to the diversity of the ocean and coastal environments, marine debris projects vary widely from region to region and require innovative solutions to address each unique challenge. Since 2005, the MDP has funded more than 100 projects across the nation in partnership with others to address identified needs in marine debris research, prevention and monitoring. Many projects require recasting or creating technologies and methods to successfully carry out the goals of the work. For example, proven technologies such as side scan sonar and manned submersibles have been implemented in various marine debris projects. Several of these projects and their methods are discussed below.

Selected U.S. Projects

Ghost Fishing in Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay is home to one of the nation's largest blue crab fisheries. In the bay, crab traps are the primary harvesting method used. Estimates suggest that, historically, as many as 500,000 crab traps (pots) were set within the bay on a typical day during the fishery's peak season. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office (NCBO) has conducted routine benthic habitat surveys and discovered a large number of derelict crab traps lying within blue crab habitat. To investigate this finding, NCBO implemented the derelict fishing gear identification, mapping and assessment project to quantify "ghost traps" in various areas of the bay. To do this, NCBO and its research partners use side scan sonar to locate, identify and count derelict traps. Scientists then check how well the side scan sonar detects derelict traps by ground-truthing the findings using underwater video cameras, grappling devices and divers. Project researchers have also conducted experiments to estimate the effects of these ghost fishing derelict traps on the populations of blue crab and other bycatch species.

Survey results from this study, which began three years ago, show ghost trap densities in surveyed areas range from 10 to 690 traps per square kilometer. The overall number of lost crab traps in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay is approximately 40,000. Further research and analysis will refine these numbers and the NCBO's understanding of how derelict crab traps affect living resources in the Chesapeake Bay.