Marine Debris Action Plan

The Connecticut and New York Sea Grant programs, with support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program and NOAA National Sea Grant, published a five-year Long Island Sound Marine Debris Action Plan for mitigation actions and strategies to be implemented from 2022-2027. Over two years more than 50 academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, trade organizations, advocacy groups, and county, state, and federal agencies collaborated to plan and develop the document.

Volunteer partners are working to implement actions outlined for each goal of the plan, which facilitates old and new partnerships and collaborations to support ongoing and new actions.

Annual progress reports provide a comprehensive picture of what was achieved through:

• Prevention, education, and outreach.
• Research assessment, attention to wildlife impacts, and monitoring.
• Proper disposal and infrastructure.
• Removal and/or source reduction.
• Policy and management.

While there were already many organizations, agencies, and individuals addressing marine debris in Long Island Sound, this plan represents a comprehensive framework of discussions and strategic actions to mitigate the impacts of marine debris. Associated tracking and monitoring have enabled partners to assess collective progress towards achieving the identified goals.

Since the final plan was announced in 2022, partners have reported on progress and meet periodically to discuss plans and actions to date.

Some of the activities taken thus far include beach cleanups, social media campaigns and outreach activities promoting alternatives to single-use plastics and discouraging balloon releases, art exhibits incorporating marine debris, recovery and disposal of abandoned fishing gear, classroom lessons for P-12 students about microplastics, microfibers, source reduction and prevention of consumer debris and single-use plastics.