This collaborative webinar built off of previous NOAA Live! Events by partnering with NOAA National Ocean Serviceand National Marine Fisheries Service staff, as well as local teachers and students, to provide a collaborative presentation on the marine debris issue. Presenters covered a range of debris topics, from definitions and sources through to impacts and solutions.

The NOAA Live! Webinar series allows students to connect with real world science issues and the people working on them. Each webinar features different NOAA scientists and staff talking about their topic, how they came to work on it, and how people can engage with it. As the NOAA Live! Program has grown, it’s also integrated further collaboration with local or topical experts.

This webinar focused on why marine debris is an issue worldwide, how that issue is different in Alaska, and the great work people are doing to find, understand, and stop debris impacts in Alaska. In addition to Peter, who started out with an orientation to the issue worldwide and in Alaska, Kim Raum-Suryan with Fisheries presented on entanglement response and prevention efforts. Barb Lake followed with a presentation on the Ocean Guardian School program, which engages schools in learning about and addressing ocean issues. The webinar concluded with Rina Basaliso, a student in the Ocean Guardian program, who shared about her work at Thunder Mountain High School in Juneau. You can watch the webinar here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tO0QdS6hzE