NOAA offices respond to a container spills on both coasts

This incident impacted many NOAA trust resources, habitats, and sanctuaries. Channel Islands are isolated protected areas that serve as a habitat for endangered birds, four species of pinnipeds (California sea lions, northern fur seals, harbor seals, and northern elephant seals), and endemic island foxes that do not live anywhere else in the world. Their location and rocky cliff topography make removals incredibly complex. While doing the spill clean-up, the contractors used this opportunity to clean up other consumers and single-use plastic items.

Early in the cotton bale discovery, MBNMS coordinated with NOAA Fisheries to provide best management practices to California State Parks on removal of cotton bales from pupping beaches of elephant seals. Further MBNMS coordinated with leading scientists in black abalone recovery and restoration on appropriate methods for removal of loose cotton from the intertidal and black abalone critical habitat. These best practices for response on marine mammal pupping beaches and black abalone critical habitat were shared with the spill response contractor and other state and federal agencies. MBNMS posted a Superintendent's Statement on their website and shared it with interested media requesting the public to report and not disturb cotton bales that have washed up recently on local beaches.

Another NOAA approach was led by OR&R to provide spill and debris resources. The OR&R team was led by the Marine Debris Program's Christy Kehoe, Emergency Response Division's Jordan Stout, and the Assessment and Restoration Division's Kaitlin Leib. The OR&R team attended regular calls to coordinate recovery activities and, assisted with the development of removal best management practices (BMPs). OR&R's Marine Debris Program provided references and contacts for microfibers, potentially relevant spill incidents, container ship reports, and research ideas from other areas of the US. OR&R continues to support ONMS partners in their response efforts and participate and share any lessons learned or resources across NOAA partners.

Please visit the ONMS MBNMS website to learn more.