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The sunken crane-topped barge being prepared for its extraction in January 2025 (Photo Credit: Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management).
With support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management completed the removal of a sunken crane-topped barge from the Providence River in Rhode Island. The 114 foot-long steel-hulled barge sat on the river bottom since 2017, hindering navigation, limiting recreational and economic activities for the neighboring residents and community, and presenting concerns about potential long-term pollution impacts. Retrieved material from the barge is being repurposed into an art installation by The Steel Yard. The riverfront has a new clean view of the horizon without this eyesore!
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Verna A II vessel at Salmon Creek State Beach in Sonoma, California (Photo Credit: NOAA).
With support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, California State Parks, and the Greater Farallones and Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuaries removed the Verna A II from Salmon Creek State Beach on California’s Sonoma Coast in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Battered by high surf and dramatic tides, the 54-foot derelict vessel broke into large, hazardous pieces, plaguing the intertidal zone. Parking Diving Service, the vessel retrieval and cleanup company, used three excavators and faced 16-foot surf to drag the unwieldy boat remains from the public shoreline to recycle and discard – no easy feat. This successful removal is great news for beach users and wildlife alike.
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Volunteer divers and field crew recover large tires from Lake Superior (Photo Credit: Superior Watershed Partnership).
Superior Watershed Partnership (SWP), with support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program, removed over 24,000 pounds of marine debris from historic industrial sites, commercial fishing waterfronts, and tribal communities along Lake Superior’s northern shore. Superior Watershed Partnership led removal events in cooperation with project partners from the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Bay Mills Indian Community, City of Marquette, and over 300 community volunteers. Volunteers conducted over 76 shoreline marine debris surveys at 47 sites, covering more than 200 miles of Lake Superior coastline. Data on 1,686 marine debris items was entered into the NOAA Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project’s database.
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Scouts participate in a beach cleanup (Photo Credit: Scouting America).
This spring, we established our partnership with Scouting America for an ongoing initiative called Scouting for Clean Waterways. Alongside the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, the NOAA Marine Debris Program is pleased to support Scouts of all ages to address the growing issue of marine debris. Together with the help of everyone from Cub Scouts to Eagle Scouts - we will continue to clean up our waterways, shorelines, and communities nationwide. Read more about this new project!
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Derelict fishing gear can drag over coral reefs, causing mass destruction (Photo Credit: Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project).
Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project (PMDP) completed their first mission of 2025 in Papahānaumokuākea. The team set out to remove debris from the waters and shores of Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll, Pihemanu). The Papahānaumokuākea Marine Debris Project team is working diligently to solve the problem of marine debris within Papahānaumokuākea, one of the planet's largest fully protected marine conservation areas. To date, the team has removed over one million pounds of debris from this remote area. During PMDP’s mission to Kuaihelani, they removed over 50,000 pounds of plastics, nets, buoys and even boats from the island's shores and waters. This mission is the first of three in the 2025 season.
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Check out all available Emergency Response Guides!
Hurricane season begins June 1st, and we have resources to help our coastal communities better prepare for and respond to a hurricane’s debris impacts. The United States Emergency Response Guide is a nationwide resource designed for emergency responders, to improve response and recovery operations following any natural disaster or event that generates large amounts of marine debris. This document outlines existing response structures and agency authorities at the federal level to serve as a reference for all U.S. states and territories and support regional and national planning efforts. The Guide seeks to capture the most likely response structures and actions at the federal level, with the understanding that state and local agency involvement is a critical component of an effective response. Additional state and U.S. territory specific Guides can be found here.
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