This year’s meeting was hosted virtually by the Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA). More than 80 people attended the meeting, representing a diverse set of local, state, and federal governments, nonprofits, academic institutions, and industry partners across the Gulf of Mexico. 

The goal of this workshop was to strengthen regional effectiveness by bringing the GOMA Marine Debris Cross-Team Initiative community together to work on regional marine debris actions that address both everyday marine debris and debris generated by severe weather. To do this, working groups focused on three areas — prevention, research, and removal of debris — met to discuss current and future work, gaps that need to be addressed, and successful projects that could be expanded to other areas of the Gulf. This meeting built on the work of past meetings to facilitate and track marine debris activities across the Gulf of Mexico, as well as provide a focused direction to tackle marine debris issues on local, state, and regional scales.