Marine Debris Program Presents at the Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management

DEC. 20, 2021 — Last month, Peter Murphy, Alaska Regional Coordinator for the NOAA Marine Debris Program, participated in a session focused on the issue of marine debris as part of the Alaska Tribal Conference on Environmental Management (ATCEM).

A slideshow image highlighting Alaska Marine Debris.
Peter Murphy, Alaska Regional Coordinator for the Marine Debris Program, presented on marine debris issues in Alaska. Image credit: NOAA.

This annual conference, which is put on by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, is designed to bring native and tribal stakeholders together with non-profits and state and federal agencies for conversations about important and impactful topics. This year, marine debris was a requested topic by organizers, with curiosity and concern on issues ranging from microplastics to fishing gear disposal.


The NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) gave the initial presentation in session that included talks across many facets of the marine debris issue. The MDP talk focused on the history, challenges, and opportunities of the unique marine debris situation in Alaska. Following presentations, many from long term MDP partners, touched on community driven prevention and recycling and disposal, plus a presentation from Senator Sullivan’s office on the recently passed Save Our Seas 2.0 Act.


For more information, please contact Peter.Murphy@noaa.gov.

Last updated Tuesday, November 8, 2022 1:40pm PST