Marine debris

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Marine debris usually applies to floating waste such as bottles, cans, styrofoam, cruise ship waste, offshore oil and gas exploration and production facilities pollution, and fishing paraphernalia from professional and recreational boaters. Marine debris is also called litter. It can enter the water directly through dumping into bodies of water or indirectly through runoff via rivers and streams. Marine debris threatens both marine life and coastal human habitations.

In the United States, the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH) of 2000 was enacted to help reduce the risk of diseases for users of the nation's coastal waters. The act authorizes the EPA to award program development and implementation grants to eligible states, territories, tribes, and local governments to support microbiological testing and monitoring of coastal recreational waters that are adjacent to beaches or similar points of access used by the public. The only inland bodies of water the BEACH Act includes are the Great Lakes.<ref>http://www.epa.gov/ost/beaches/beachbill.pdf</ref> Other legislative initiatives and activities are underway to reduce pollution from marine debris^{[citation needed]}.

NOAA scientists are studying the amount of marine debris. Using satellite data, likely aggregations of debris in the subtropical convergence zone in the north Pacific ocean were identified. From a plane, 2,000 individual pieces were identified within three days. These included at least 100 that were identified as fishing nets or pieces of net. A number were balls of net up to 10 meters (30 feet) across. Although scientists were surprised by the amount of material found in the convergence zone, it is unclear whether convergence zones are more efficient at trapping debris than predicted or whether there is much more material floating free and available for capture than suspected.