Mississippi Marine Debris Removal and Prevention Project

The Mississippi Marine Debris Removal and Prevention Project is supported by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources in an effort to “increase awareness of marine debris impact on coastal ecosystems and foster improved stewardship of coastal habitats.”  This program will take place on Deer Island south of Biloxi, Mississippi over a period of 3 years, and there will be four designated clean-up sites along the island.  We need your help to restore and conserve our islands and to educate others of the importance of proper trash disposal.  The Mississippi Marine Debris Removal and Prevention Project will foster community involvement in the prevention and remediation of litter threatening Mississippi’s marine habitats.  We need volunteers of all ages to participate to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the importance of ocean sciences, conservation and technologies.  Those participants will foster awareness to others and will lead to a cleaner earth for future generations.

This project involves members of the community in the removal of debris from Deer Island and creates an educated cadre of citizens to better understand the importance of marine debris prevention.  In accordance with our outreach efforts, we held our first two-day marine debris workshops in July 2011.   We collected 427.80 lbs of trash, which the majority of it was plastics and fireworks.  We did the beach clean up on July 8th, 2011 on Deer Island near Biloxi, MS.  I had a really great group of teachers, who went above and beyond during the workshop and I was thrilled to have had them be my first participants!

            We really stressed the importance of educating others on how we are all interconnected, that what a person throws away in Ohio still ends up in the Gulf one day.  I think that this is the greatest misconception; I have noticed that people don't grasp the concept that no matter where you live, your decisions affect the marine ecosystem.  Since it is a global problem, no one thinks that the small things will really make a difference.  However, if everyone did the small things, like shopped with reusable bags when they could and picked up trash they saw lying on the ground, they would become a force strong enough to make a major impact.  It's not just a problem of being uneducated but also being misled by those with the power to do so.



            The workshop consisted of two days; the first was a day full of marine debris activities, introduction to marine debris, the problem on the Gulf Coast and the repercussions of it all.  Day two was the clean-up day.  We spent over the amount of time expected cleaning up Deer Island.  We got to the island at 9am and didn't get back until after 2pm.  There was so much trash on the island that we ran out of bags.  We resorted to using plastic bags left there by campers.  It was very ironic to see how many people brought trash bags onto the island with them but failed to take them back when they left.  We brought the trash back to the lab, loaded it on the truck (which took two loads), sorted it, weighed it and recorded it.  We recycled what we could, but much of the trash collected was not accepted at our local recycling center.