By: Asma Mahdi, Outreach and Communications Specialist, NOAA Marine Debris Program
Marine debris is an everyday problem around the world—but you can make a global impact locally.
With support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, Ocean Conservancy has launched “Keep the Coast Clear,” an online platform dedicated to community involvement, sharing ideas and delivering quick tips on how to reduce and prevent marine debris.
So, the next time you are online, do your part and organize a cleanup, check out your trash impact, cause a Rippl effect and learn how to be more sustainable in just one minute with just one click: www.keepthecoastclear.org.
Can you picture a place untouched by man? I picture a place with pristine beaches and bright blue water lapping at the shore. I believed Midway Atoll, a tiny island that is part of the Paphānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, to be one of those places.
I was fortunate enough to get the chance to go to Midway as part of a conservation biology course offered at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. I was working towards my master’s in coastal environmental management and knew I would never get this opportunity again.
Midway is truly inspiring—a special place that I feel honored to have experienced. But, there are aspects of Midway that chill me to the core. Like me, when most people think of Midway, they think of an island in the middle of the ocean untouched by man, but that is far from true.
Albatross nest on the sand inches away from marine debris (to the right). Photo Credit: Danielle Crain
Marine debris litters the beach and stacks high on the island’s unused airplane hangar. New debris washes up daily, ranging in form from tennis ball sized fishing floats up to boats. Lighters and bottle caps litter the area around the albatross nests – a clear sign the birds mistakenly brought plastic back to feed their young. For a place so special and distant from civilization, Midway is struggling to keep up with all the debris.
The people working on the island told us stories of birds dying from all the plastic they ate, of chicks never reaching adulthood because parents didn’t realize the bright bits of plastic were not fish, of seals swimming hopelessly tangled in fishing line, of debris piling so high they can’t possibly clean it all up.
While on the island, my class and I helped to clean up some of Midway. We hauled away three truckloads of marine debris within only a mile and a half of beach. We found glass bottles, laundry baskets, more lighters than we could count, fishing nets – one so large it took five of us to pull out from under the sand – shoes, and countless other items that you never would have guessed would end up on a beach in the middle of the Pacific.
My experience at Midway showed me that even the most remote location can be affected by humans. I think about Midway every day. It changed my life, and it taught me to never take lightly what I throw away because it might end up in some of the last pristine places on earth.
Editor’s note: Caitlyn Zimmerman holds a master’s in coastal environmental management from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment with a focus in science communication. She is currently an Outreach Specialist at NOAA’s Coastal Services Center. For more information, contact Caitlyn at Caitlyn.Zim@gmail.com.
The HMS Bounty featured in Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest as the Edinburgh Trader at the Tall Ships Challenge in Savannah, GA.
By: Asma Mahdi, Outreach and Communications Specialist, NOAA Marine Debris Program
Last weekend at the Tall Ships Challenge in Savannah, GA, I had the opportunity to climb aboard the HMS Bounty, also known as the Edinburgh Trader from Disney’s famed, action-packed blockbuster series Pirates of the Caribbean. You may better remember it as the first ship from Dead Man’s Chest where Captain Davey Jones summoned the Kraken, the legendary sea giant, to destroy and sink the Edinburgh Trader, a merchant vessel Captained by Bellamy. Okay, I’ll admit to having watched every Pirates of the Caribbean installment and even having shamelessly stood in line on opening nights. Summon the Kraken!
The Tall Ships Challenge took place over four days at the Savannah Riverfront. Thousands of people had a chance to board fourteen sailing vessels from around the world, interact with crew members and experience, for a moment, life aboard ship.
While touring some of the historical ships, I realized that sometimes we forget that abandoned and derelict vessels (ADVs) are marine debris. Coastal regions with active boating communities, like Florida, Washington and Georgia, are more likely to see this type of debris first hand. These vessels can threaten the marine environment by damaging sensitive marine habitats such as coral reefs and harming marine life. If they lie within a navigational path, abandoned vessels can also pose a threat to other ships.
Why are vessels abandoned in the first place? There are several reasons ranging from natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes, which often plague the southeast, to a lack of upkeep and maintenance. In 2009, New York Times columnist David Streitfeld explained how the economy has left some boat owners with no choice other than to “abandon ship”—turning ports and marinas into default “dumping grounds.”
With increasing public concern, the MDP coordinated the first state-level workshop on ADVs to discuss challenges and successes in addressing this issue. Federal agencies, states, and territories participated, including the host state of the Tall Ships Challenge, Georgia.
Abandoned ship on the coast of American Samoa.
The MDP continues to partner with other stakeholders on the strategic outputs from the workshop, with a particular focus on ADV legislation and the development, population, and maintenance of an ADV database—Georgia is an important contributor to this specific discussion.
Being down in Savannah and seeing the tall ships reminded me that maritime culture is one to be celebrated, not one we should “abandon.” Today’s abandoned vessels are not the result of encounters with mythical sea beasts, as was the fate of the Edinburgh Trader. Abandoned vessels are a detrimental form of debris, and we must all work together to keep our seas free of all types of debris!
