It was announced on Thursday of last week by NOAA, that they had funded the Alaska’s Island Trails Network as one of the recipients of the Marine Debris Program’s community-based marine debris removal grants.

The program funded the Island Trails Network $128,510 to ” remove and analyze the composition of nearly 60,000 pounds of debris from remote Shuyak Island Park, part of the Kodiak Archipelago and one of the largest remaining marine debris deposits in the western Gulf of Alaska, NOAA said in their announcement.

Shuyak Island is the northern-most island in the Kodiak Island Archipeligo situated 54 air miles from the city of Kodiak. Shuyak is home to a State Park that encompasses almost 46,000 acres.

The grant to the Trails Network was one of 13 such grants to groups across the nation to remove marine debris from coastal areas. NOAA stated that the program was set up to ” remove large debris including derelict vessels, abandoned fishing gear, and other harmful marine debris from shorelines and coastal waters.”

This is the ninth year of the annual grant competition.

The NOAA Marine Debris Program says it is now accepting applications for the 2016 round of grants. The deadline for those applications is November 2. More information for that program can be seen here.

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  Alaska, cleanup, grant, island trails network, marine debris, noaa