ACTION PLANS

The NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) is helping to facilitate the draft Mid-Atlantic Marine Debris Action Plan (Action Plan). The Action Plan is a product of stakeholder feedback and input from the Mid-Atlantic marine debris community’s interested partners and leads. It is meant to be a comprehensive framework for strategic action to address marine debris in the region. The plan consists of four goal areas (Consumer Debris, Derelict Fishing Gear, Microplastics and Microfibers, and Vessels and related vessel debris) based on marine debris community input. Please reach out to NOAA MDP Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator Christy Kehoe (chrisy.kehoe@noaa.gov) to learn more.

The purpose of the Guide is to improve preparedness for response and recovery operations following any natural disaster or event that generates large amounts of marine debris in Delaware. This document outlines existing response structures at the state, local, and federal levels to facilitate a coordinated and timely response to marine debris in Delaware. It highlights individual organizations’ roles and responsibilities and includes an overview of permitting and compliance requirements that must be met before marine debris removal work begins. While roles and responsibilities can overlap or shift during a response, the Guide seeks to capture the most likely response structure and actions with the understanding that flexibility is an inherent component of an effective response.

The City of Annapolis partnered with Annapolis Green in summer 2019 to implement a campaign to reduce plastic pollution in Annapolis, Maryland. Annapolis Green established relationships with area restaurants with its “Don’t Suck. Sip Responsibly.” campaign to eliminate the use of plastic straws during Annapolis Restaurant Week in February of 2018. The campaign resulted in over thirty local restaurants, bars, and coffee shops and the area’s two major yacht clubs going plastic straw-free, offering straws upon request, or offering only biodegradable straws. Building off that success, this project is aimed at education regarding the problems associated with disposable plastic and behavior change through a campaign targeted at restaurant use and their customer use of disposable plastic. The data gathered will be used to identify how additional efforts should be targeted and will support the City’s current and future work to prevent waterway pollution.

https://annapolisgreen.com/cause/starts-with-a-straw/

Trash Free Maryland started a pilot program, in the fall of 2018, to help reduce litter in neighborhoods and throughout the city. The program has volunteers conduct weekly cleanings around their neighborhood and workspace over an eight week period. The volunteers would also post pictures of the litter on social media to raise awareness and educate the community on the issue. 

https://trashfreemaryland.org/lesslitterbmore/

The purpose of the Guide is to improve preparedness for response and recovery operations following an acute waterway debris incident in coastal Maryland. The term acute waterway debris incident is used to describe an incident—either natural or anthropogenic—that results in the release of large amounts of waterway debris.

This document outlines existing response structures at the local, state, and federal levels to facilitate a coordinated, well-managed, and immediate response to waterway debris incidents impacting coastal areas in the state of Maryland. It highlights individual organizations’ roles and responsibilities and includes an overview of permitting and compliance requirements that must be met before waterway debris removal work begins. While roles and responsibilities can overlap or shift during a response, the Guide seeks to capture the most likely response structure and actions with the understanding that flexibility is an inherent component of an effective response.

Last year the Ocean City Surfrider Foundation launched a citywide Strawless Summer Campaign demonstrating to city leaders the need and desire of area businesses (and individuals) to support single-use plastic source reduction strategies. Over 60 local businesses signed the pledge to reduce plastic straw use. The Mayor and City Council reached out to the Ocean City Green Team to take the Strawless Summer campaign to another level of source reduction for the plastic waste stream in Ocean City by encouraging/rewarding more businesses to go strawless, as well as motivate them to take further steps to reduce single-use plastics and other sources of waste. Building off that work, this project implemented a behavior change campaign with area restaurants throughout the summer of 2019 to reduce the amount of single-use plastic being provided and consumed in Ocean City.

https://mdcoastalbays.org/protect-our-sand-and-sea-by-making-a-pledge-or-more

Trash Free Maryland started a city-wide large-scale event to reduce the litter in the waterways of the City of Baltimore. The inagural event took place on September 8, 2018. Leading up to the event Trash Free Maryland recruited several non-profits and brewery partners to support the event and hopefully encourage others to commit to long-term litter prevention.

https://trashfreemaryland.org/solutions/solutions-cheers-to-clean-water/

This Field Reference Guide  accompanies the Virginia Marine Debris Emergency Response Comprehensive Guide and only includes the most pertinent information for quick reference in the field and during emergency response operations. Comprehensive and Field Guides from other states can be found on the NOAA Marine Debris website.

The purpose of this document is to improve preparedness for response and recovery operations following an acute waterway debris incident in Virginia. This document outlines existing response structures at the local, state, and federal levels to facilitate a coordinated, well-managed and immediate response to waterway debris incidents impacting coastal areas in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Additional state guidance documents can be found on the NOAA Marine Debris Website.

In order to strategically address marine debris through Virginia's policies and programs, the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program undertook a planning process from 2012 to 2014 that culminated in the development of the Virginia Marine Debris Reduction Plan.