By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Tons of marine debris washed up annually on Alaska's shores are the target of a growing number of entities concerned about its damaging effects on the health of people and wildlife.

In 2007 alone, through efforts of the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation's marine debris program, more than 150 metric tons of marine debris was removed from the shores of portions of the Bering Sea, Southeast Alaska, the Gulf of Alaska and the Arctic Yukon region. That's compared to nearly 75 metric tons removed from the same regions in 2006.

The program, which foundation marine debris coordinator Bob King hopes to expand, began with efforts to clean areas of the Bering Sea region from 2003 through 2005.

“Marine debris is one of the most pervasive problems facing our coastline,” King told the Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference at its annual gathering in Anchorage Feb. 1. It is a killer in many respects, one that threatens wildlife and habitat as well as human health, he said.

“Marine debris is a huge problem throughout the state of Alaska. What can you do about it? The first thing is not to add to it,” he said.

The debris washing up on Alaska's shorelines runs the gamut from commercial fishing gear to brightly colored plastics, which birds may ingest thinking they are food, only to have their digestive tracts clogged by the plastics, he said.

In the Aleutian and Pribilof islands it is almost all fisheries-related debris, and the majority of this debris is from foreign countries, he said. In the five years that the foundation has worked with residents of St. Paul Island on cleanup, about 10 tons of debris has been removed annually, he said. On St. George Island, the effort has been to remove debris from fur seal rookeries.

Nationally, more than half of marine debris comes from shoreside recreation and one-third is from smoking, with cigarette butts the No. 1 item picked up off beaches, according to the Nature Conservancy. Ocean waterway activities, dumping, and medical and personal hygiene items comprise the rest of the trash.

In rural Alaska, however, the shorelines are more often littered with nets, lines, buoys and other derelict fishing gear.

King said the foundation hopes to expand its work in the coming year, to aid more communities like Port Heiden, where erosion is moving trash from an old landfill out to sea.

At the same time, the foundation keeps going back to assist with programs elsewhere around the state because trash keeps showing up, King said. “We keep going back to the same beaches to see what washes ashore every year.”

While the foundation can't assist with major equipment purchases, it can help organize and pay for cleanup programs around the state, using funds made available from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“We can help with personnel, transportation, supplies and disposal fees, but not hazardous materials or old vessels,” he said.

The foundation promotes conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources in the North Pacific through support of research and public education. In addition to its cooperative research program, the foundation oversees one of the largest marine debris cleanup programs in the nation.

The foundation was established in 2003 as the nonprofit arm of the Marine Conservation Alliance, an Alaska-based fishing industry association. Its membership includes most of the seafood processors that operate in Alaska, owners of numerous groundfish and crab vessels in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska, fishing communities and the support industry.

More information on the foundation's efforts is at its Web site at www.mcafoundation.org.