Marine debris comes in different sizes and poses a range of threats to parks, including damage to coastal habitats and risks to animals from entanglement or ingestion, as well as potential impacts from toxic contamination.

Researchers have uncovered the highest-ever concentration of microplastics on the seafloor. According to a new study in the journal Science, scientists recently found 1.9 million pieces in an area of about 11 square feet in the Mediterranean Sea. Over 10 million tons of plastic waste enter oceans each year - but the visible floating plastic that has led to anti-straw and anti-plastic bag movements accounts for less than 1% of the ocean's total plastic.

If civilizations are remembered for what they leave behind, our time might be labeled the Plastic Age. Plastic can endure for centuries. It's everywhere, even in our clothes, from polyester leisure suits to fleece jackets. A Silicon Valley startup is trying to get the plastic out of clothing and put something else in: biopolymers.

Scientists Accidentally Discovered A Plastic Eating Enzyme That Could Revolutionize Recycling: An international team of scientists have accidentally enhanced a plastic eating enzyme in a discovery that could change our relationship with plastic forever. The breakthrough, if scaled up, could lead to plastic being broken down into its original components and formed into plastic items again, removing the need for making more of the material.

With the help of our Community Scientists we will learn where plastic is accumulating and quantify how much is being found and how quickly it is settling. This information will help with other projects in the future and inform how Louisiana and the Gulf States approach this problem in our region.

This resource provides data (including charts) on a variety of plastic pollution topics, such as "cumulative global plastics production, decomposition rates of marine debris items, plastic waste generated by coastal populations, surface plastic particles by ocean basin," and much more.

Researchers in France said this week that they found thousands and thousands of microplastic particles raining down on a secluded spot in the Pyrenees, 75 miles from the nearest city. Their study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggests that microplastics - long known as a source of water pollution - may also travel by air, spreading their ill effects far from dense population centers.

Anchovies are known more as a pickled pizza topping than for their crucial place in the marine food chain. Now scientists have confirmed a disturbing new behavior by these tiny forage fish that could have larger implications for human health: anchovies are eating tiny pieces of ocean plastic, and because they, in turn, are eaten by larger fish, the toxins in those microplastics could be transferred to fish consumed by humans.

Nurdles are the tiny, factory-made pellets that form the raw material for every plastic product that we use, from toys to toothbrushes. And while they look pretty harmless on land, they can really wreak havoc on our oceans. Kim Preshoff details the nurdles' quest for ocean domination, shedding light on the particular features that allow these pervasive polluters to persist for entire generations.

Nurdles are small plastic pellets that are causing a big problem. But citizen scientists are fighting back. In this episode, we talk with Jace Tunnell, Director of the Mission Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, about how the Nurdle Patrol is taking on these problematic pellets, and how you can get involved.