Environmental Protection Agency

Marine Debris in the North Pacific

Marine debris degrades ocean habitats, endangers marine and coastal wildlife, causes navigation hazards, results in economic losses to industry and governments, and threatens human health and safety.  EPA Pacific Southwest (Region 9) is tapping existing programs and resources to advance the prevention, reduction and clean-up of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean.  EPA Pacific Southwest activities build upon specific recommendations of the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee by targeting threats and sources of debris and responding to debris impacts.  EPA is initiating a three-pronged effort to reduce sources of marine debris, prevent trash from entering the oceans, and assess the human and ecosystem impacts and potential for cleanup.

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Download the full report with references in PDF format: Marine Debris in the North Pacific: A Summary of Existing Information and Identification of Data Gaps (PDF)
  November 2011 (23 pp, 700K)
• Discussions about Marine Debris  (podcasts)
• Download a copy of the Marine Debris & Plastic Source Reduction Toolkit (PDF) (90 pp, 5.5MB)  and the Toolkit Fact Sheet (PDF) (1 pp, 178K)