Nancy Wallace, Marine Debris Program director, chaired a conference plenary session on marine debris science and research that included summaries and perspectives of marine debris research and findings of four panelists from Chile, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, and Sweden. Program staff attending the conference overall led 11 technical sessions and gave 14 presentations on sessions that covered a wide range of topics in eight of the nine conference tracks, or themes. NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad provided a recorded welcome message at the conference’s opening plenary.

NOAA staff also provided support to the conference’s co-hosts of Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the United Nations Environment Programme over the past two years in planning this event. This year's conference was the first to be hosted by another government entity than NOAA, and the first time it has been held outside the U.S. The conference was attended by approximately 800 in-person attendees and an additional almost 200 joined virtually.