Marine Debris Program Participates in Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum Oceans and Fisheries Working Group Meeting
March 1, 2021 — On February 24-25, Marine Debris Program (MDP) staff served on the U.S. delegation to the Sixteenth Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Oceans and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG) meeting, held virtually by the Government of New Zealand.
APEC and its member economies continue to focus on addressing marine debris, and the organization is an important venue to promote international collaboration on the topic in the Asia-Pacific region. During the meeting, MDP staff provided a presentation on a project the MDP is leading, in collaboration with the Department of State, to develop a marine debris monitoring decision framework document.
This tool will help improve the capacity in the APEC region to undertake shoreline monitoring for debris and will ultimately increase the knowledge of the scope and scale of the issue in the region. The MDP, through the U.S. delegation, is also leading in the implementation of APEC’s Roadmap on Marine Debris Implementation Plan, which is guiding APEC’s work on the issue in the coming years.
For more information, please contact Steve.Morrison@noaa.gov.