To kick off the meeting, the program provided a presentation on the process, structure, benefits, and lessons learned from the development of the region’s other plans, the Gulf of Maine Marine Debris Action Plan, originally published in 2019, and the Long Island Sound Marine Debris Action Plan, published in 2022. Four regional partners then provided lightning round presentations on fishing gear recycling and reuse, marine debris impacts on wildlife, and marine debris law and policy research. More than 30 partners representing nonprofit organizations, academia, state government, federal government, and industry attended the workshop.

The new Southern New England Marine Debris Action Plan will coordinate partners working on the coasts and waters of Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts. Through a series of workshops, to be continued through the spring, partners will develop overarching objectives under agreed upon goals and methods to track metrics under each.