Online References and Helpful Links
There is a wealth of information on marine debris available online. Below are some of our favorite links and reference websites.
If you have a paper, article or website that you’d like to add, email us at firstname.lastname@example.org . Click on the yellow headings below for links.
Houston- Galveston Area Links
Back the Bay aims to improve the environmental quality of Galveston Bay by increasing awareness about the Bay’s value among the public. The campaign educates citizens in the Houston-Galveston region and focuses on three main goals:
1. Improving water quality
2. Conserving water
3. Protecting critical fish and wildlife habitats
In addition, Back the Bay seeks to involve local governments, businesses and industry in voluntary measures to conserve natural resources and build community resilience.
The Galveston Bay Report Card provides the public with citizen-driven, science-based measures to assess the health of the bay. The Report Card website discusses topics such as the status of key habitats, fish and wildlife populations, trends in water quality of local bayous and the bay, and impacts of coastal change and sea level rise.
Every year, thousands of volunteers gather along Texas waterways to do their part in cleaning up the environment by participating in the largest, single-day waterway cleanup in the state of Texas, the River, Lakes, Bays 'N Bayous Trash Bash®.
In 2018, Trash Bash will celebrate its 25th consecutive cleanup, an accomplishment that dedicated volunteers should be proud of.
Texas Area Links
For more than 28 years, Don't mess with Texas® has been dedicated to educating Texans about the real cost of litter.
Trash is a pervasive problem for aesthetic, economic, and ecological impacts. The Texas coastline is bombarded by trash coming from several outlets of rivers. The Adopt-A-Spot Online Mapping Tool Project was created by a diverse group of stakeholders within the river basin with the goal of fostering a litter-free environment in the Trinity River Basin by enabling community leaders to promote and track trash removal activities in their region.
The goal of the EPA Trash-Free Waters Webinar Series was to promote increased knowledge and understanding of the sources, distribution and impacts of plastics and microplastics in the environment. The featured presenters are experienced researchers in this field.
The mission of the NOAA Marine Debris Program is to investigate and prevent the adverse impacts of marine debris. This online blog is updated regularly with events, reports and funding opportunities.
Journal Articles and Research Reports
Dias, BF de S. "Marine debris: understanding, preventing and mitigating the significant adverse impacts on marine and coastal biodiversity." CBD Technical Series 83 (2016).
Littering behavior in America: results of a national study, KA Beautiful - San Marcos, CA: Action Research, 2009.
Jambeck, Jenna R., et al. "Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean." Science 347.6223 (2015): 768-771.
Morgan, Anita M., and Wen Y. Lee. Sources and distribution of debris in the Galveston Bay Estuary. Galveston Bay National Estuary Program, 1993.
Texans for Clean Water. The Cost of Litter and Illegal Dumping in Texas: A Study of Nine Cities Across the State. Burns McDonnell, 2017.