A Systematic Approach to Marine Debris Reduction Efforts and Education in New Hampshire

Description

A recent focus of marine debris research is to identify and target pollution sources so that solutions to the problem can be developed through policy and education. This project hopes to expand upon this focus by also examining public attitudes toward marine debris and using this information with cleanup data to systematically implement and test community mitigation techniques. The objectives of this project are to:

1. Examine current community marine debris cleanup and reduction efforts in New Hampshire (as a baseline) by analyzing beach cleanup data and evaluating people's behavior,
   
   
2. Implement new community marine debris reduction efforts specifically targeted to issues revealed in the first objective, and
   
   
3. Evaluate the efforts in objective two by measuring impacts and outcomes.

Through the objectives outlined above, this project will help to make community marine debris reduction efforts more efficient in New Hampshire's Seacoast as well as the Great Bay National Research Reserve (NERR). These cleanup efforts help to restore the beaches, protect both marine life and people's health, conserve NH's coastal resources and enhance coastal and marine habitats which contain ecosystems that sustain populations of living marine resources (LMR) under NOAA stewardship. The marine debris prevention activities outlined in this proposal will be measured and monitored through the systematic method developed. These methods will be able to comprehensively evaluate accumulation rates and correlate them with multiple potential influencing factors. The more effectively community marine debris reduction and prevention activities can be implemented will maximize benefits to LMR in the New Hampshire Seacoast area.

Project Implementation Area

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News

Adopt-A-Beach Program Seeks Caretakers
Portsmouth Herald
01.28.07

Principal Investigators

Jenna R. Jambeck, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Civil/Environmental Engineering
University of New Hampshire
Gregg Hall
Durham, NH 03824
603.862.4023
jenna.jambeck@unh.edu

Jen Kennedy, Director
Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation
Gov. John Langdon House
143 Pleasant Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801
jen@blueoceansociety.org

Funding Agency

NOAA Fisheries

Project Partners

Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation