Collaborative action is required to understand sources, impacts and solution reduce and prevent pollution by trash and other contaminants, and to ensure that California communities, environments, and economies remain productive and resilient. This project takes collaborative action to understand sources, impacts and solution reduce and prevent pollution by trash and other contaminants, and to ensure that California communities, environments, and economies remain productive and resilient.
California Sea Grant Extension Fellow Torres is based at the NOAA Marine Debris Program with the west coast regional coordinator of the program. She will continue her work ensuring the implementation of the 2018 California Ocean Litter Strategy, a NOAA-CA Ocean Protection Council (OPC)-California Sea Grant jointly developed plan that outlines actions that stakeholders and OPC can take from 2018 through 2024 to prevent and reduce ocean litter in California. Torres will drive implementation of the plan through coordination of goal-specific workgroups, research to assess the effectiveness of existing bans, policies, and reduction programs, assistance with outreach efforts and development of teacher trainings, and securing funding for some of the implementation efforts, including those aimed at recycling fishing gear. She will continue as an active member of the California Water Quality Monitoring Council’s Trash Monitoring Workgroup which, among other activities, conducts datathons to compile the plethora trash data collected from around the state each year. Torres will also continue leading an effort internal to NOAA Marine Debris Program to assess past awards and identify strategies to better support underserved communities, in addition to contributing to the program’s strategic planning.
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California Ocean Litter Strategy