From afar, the iconic sandy beaches of Santa Barbara, California, appeared pristine. Up close, students from Goleta Family School could see that the data they collected for the Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project (MDMAP) told a different story.
Students survey washed-up trash in Santa Barbara, California, using the Marine Debris Monitoring Toolkit. (Image credit: NOAA)
These students had been monitoring their beaches every month using the protocols laid out in NOAA’s Marine Debris Monitoring Toolkit. Developed through a partnership between NOAA Marine Debris Program and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, the toolkit enables teachers to work with their students to contribute to the MDMAP. This global citizen science project helps scientists and communities document the magnitude of the marine debris problem and set targets for addressing it.
The MDMAP and other assessments show that marine debris is one of the most widespread pollution problems facing the world's ocean and waterways. Huge amounts of consumer plastics, derelict fishing gear, vessels, and other lost or discarded items enter the marine environment every day. In Santa Barbara, the litter and detritus in one beachfront area started to show a pattern. The students from Goleta Family School observed and recorded the same items over and over again: plastic wrappers from toothpicks and mints.
The students realized that the plastic wrappers came from the same source, a local beachfront restaurant. So they talked to the owners and asked them to stop giving away individually packaged toothpicks and mints. The restaurant agreed, and as the students continued to monitor, they began to see tangible results. Over time, they documented fewer wrappers on the beach.
Marine debris is a pervasive problem that everyone plays a role in perpetuating. But as the students at Goleta Family School learned, anyone can be part of the solution. By teaching educators how to contribute to a rigorous citizen science project through the Marine Debris Monitoring Toolkit for Educators, they, in turn, empower their students to contribute to science and make a difference in their community.
Since the toolkit was released at the end of 2017, it has been downloaded by 300 educators and has been featured in NOAA’s award-winning Ocean Today video series. Data contribute to the worldwide MDMAP database where professional scientists can use the information to look at larger trends in marine debris around our shores. And as the students participating in the program have seen, it’s a powerful tool for tracking — and making — change.
This story was originally published in the Fiscal Year 2018 NOAA Education Accomplishments Report.
For more information, see the updated and corrected story from NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.
