Marine Debris in Long Island Sound

Yale Professor Gaboury Benoit, center, and Peter Davis, New Haven Parks Department employee, collect trash at a site on the Mill River in the city's Cherry Ann Park.
Yale Professor Gaboury Benoit, center, and Peter Davis, New Haven Parks Department employee, collect trash at a site on the Mill River in the city's Cherry Ann Park. The collection is part of Benoit's CTSG-funded research project into the plastic trash cycle.

After a two-year planning process, the Long Island Sound Marine Debris Action Plan is approved and ready for implementation. The development of the five-year plan was co-led by the Connecticut and New York Sea Grant programs, with support from the NOAA Marine Debris Program and NOAA National Sea Grant. Individuals representing more than 50 academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, trade organizations, advocacy groups and county, state and federal agencies were actively involved in the planning, work groups and/or reviews.

The goals of the plan are to understand, prevent and mitigate the impacts of:

  • single-use plastic and other water/land-based consumer debris
  • abandoned and lost fishing/aquaculture gear
  • microplastics and microfibers

Between 2022 and 2027, volunteer partners will strive to implement actions outlined for each goal. The plan facilitates old and new partnerships and collaborations to support both ongoing and new actions, as resources are available. Annual progress reports will provide a comprehensive picture of the progress achieved through 1) prevention, education and outreach; 2) research assessment, attention to wildlife impacts and monitoring; 3) proper disposal and infrastructure; 4) removal and/or source reduction and 5) policy and management.

Trash including a portable chair left at a popular fishing spot on the Thames River is likely to get carried into Long Island Sound by a high tide or storm.
Trash including a portable chair left at a popular fishing spot on the Thames River is likely to get carried into Long Island Sound by a high tide or storm.

Marine Debris News

Plastic-free products found in by participants in the plastic-free week include, from left, compostable trash bags, anti-perspirant in a recyclable can, detergent sheets and powered detergent, a shampoo bar, body lotion in a recyclable can, biodegradable sandwich bags and reusable produce bags.

Taking a small step in a world awash in plastic

August 12, 2024

Trying to give up single-use plastics can seem like a fool’s errand, with nearly every imaginable product you can buy ensconced in plastic packaging. A few of us at CTSG decided to try anyway for a week last month, as part of the international Plastic-Free July initiative. This article, published in The Day and CT Hearst newspapers the week of Aug. 11, introduces the 8th annual #DontTrashLISound campaign that kicks off Aug. 17.

[Read More]
A balloon is fished out of the water by a wildlife tour boat crew member.

Article examines impact of balloons on Long Island Sound

May 31, 2024

Since 2017, Bill Lucey has served as the Long Island Soundkeeper, monitoring and advocating for the body of water. During the summertime, he rides his boat out three to four times a week and often finds balloons saying “Happy Graduation” or “Happy Birthday.”

[Read More]
The cleanup netted 110 pounds of trash, including a swath of carpet padding, a broken dock, a shovel handle and a car mat.

Volunteers rid 110 lbs. of trash from New Haven coastal area

August 15, 2023

Lisanne Winslow extended her trash grabber into a thicket of tall reeds to extract a partially concealed plastic soda bottle. She was one of 17 volunteers who helped rid a popular coastal walkway and adjoining nature preserve of as much trash as they could collect on a sunny morning on Aug. 12.

[Read More]

A cleaner city park means a cleaner Long Island Sound

August 16, 2022

Eighty-four pounds worth of the debris of modern civilization that would have polluted Long Island Sound instead ended up in trash bags on Aug. 15, when a small crew from CT Sea Grant and Save the Sound partnered on a two-hour cleanup at Seaside Park in Bridgeport.

[Read More]

LIS Marine Debris Action Plan Team:

Connecticut Sea Grant: 

Nancy Balcom, CT Sea Grant co-lead: nancy.balcom@uconn.edu
Juliana Barrett
Judy Benson
Sylvain De Guise
Syma Ebbin
Diana Payne
Judy Preston

New York Sea Grant:

Kathy Bunting-Howarth, NY Sea Grant co-lead:keb264@cornell.edu; www.nyseagrant.org/marinedebris
Kathleen Fallon
Paul Focazio
Jimena Beatriz Perez-Vascasillas
Rebecca Shuford

NOAA Marine Debris Program:

Northeast Regional  and Mid-Atlantic Regional coordinators

A young woman picks up trash at a public park on Long Island Sound.

For more information on the NOAA Marine Debris Program:

Northeast region

Mid-Atlantic region