Alaska Sea Grant, together with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, is pleased to announce seven recommended marine debris removal projects under the 2024 Community Marine Debris Removal Grant Program. These projects represent a $1.2 million investment in marine debris removal, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

With an extensive, rugged, and remote coastline, addressing marine debris in Alaska requires creative approaches and access to dedicated technical and financial resources. Island and coastal communities in Alaska are particularly susceptible to marine debris because accumulation along shorelines and in surrounding waters threatens important and productive feeding and breeding areas for marine mammals and seabirds, degrades habitat, and interferes with subsistence, cultural, and commercial resources. 

These projects will remove and dispose of marine debris and conduct community-focused education and outreach activities in order to provide tangible benefits to coastal and marine habitats, communities, and economies across Alaska. 

  Alaska, debris, marine, noaa, removal, uaf