The NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) participated in the Teen Marine Debris Summit - a two-day workshop for students to find solutions for preventing marine debris from entering our oceans.

The workshop was held from June 13-15, 2014, at Mystic Aquarium. The summit, organized by the aquarium's Youth Conservation Corps, brought together high-school students from across the New England region, to understand the breadth of the problem and ways to find solutions. In two-days teams were tasked to come up with public education and outreach table-top presentations. To inspire participants to start thinking about solutions, the Youth Conservation Corps organized a beach cleanup and a series of talks, including a presentation by the MDP focusing on marine debris impacts to animals and ocean habitats.

At the end of the two days, teams came up with table-top presentations to educate the public on marine debris sources, types, impacts, and solutions, and presented them to the public on Father's Day. Throughout this summer, students will continue to refine, re-frame, and rework their projects into final marine debris interpretive guides for Mystic and Maritime Aquarium, in Norwalk, Connecticut, as part of the Teen Marine Debris Initiative, an education and outreach grant funded by the NOAA MDP.

For more information about the Teen Marine Debris Summit, contact Asma.Mahdi@noaa.gov.

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