threat, the perception that chance encounters between marine 

 animals and debris would be unlikely, and an absence of large 

 numbers of marine animals being found on beaches or at sea 

 strangled, drowned, starved, or choked by marine debris. It 

 is becoming apparent, however, that plastic debris may be 

 concentrated through disposal patterns, winds, and ocean 

 currents in coastal areas where marine mammals and other 

 species are most likely to occur. In addition, many species 

 actively seek out marine debris because of the associated 

 prey species attracted by the cover it provides, because it 

 represents an object of play, or because the debris itself 

 may resemble natural prey. Thus, encounters between certain 

 marine species and marine debris may be relatively common. 

 At the same time, however, evidence of such encounters may 

 not be readily apparent because animals affected at sea may 

 be consumed by predators, sink, or be widely scattered. 



The potential magnitude of these effects became apparent 

 as a result of an International Workshop on the Fate and 

 Impact of Marine Debris held on 27-29 November 1984 in Honolulu, 

 Hawaii. As noted in previous Annual Reports, this Workshop 

 was convened under the direction of National Marine Fisheries 

 Service at the recommendation of the Marine Mammal Commission. 

 To help organize the Workshop, the Commission also provided 

 the Service with terms of reference and seed money for its 

 organization and planning. The results of the Workshop, 

 which the Service published in a Proceedings volume, identified 

 an urgent need for: educating vessel operators and others about 

 the marine debris problem; regulating the deliberate disposal 

 of synthetic materials; and developing better quantitative 

 data to assess related impacts on living marine resources. 



In response to concerns identified during the Workshop, 

 Congress appropriated funds to the Service in Fiscal Year 

 1985 to initiate a responsive research and management program. 

 Congressional support for this Program has been carried forward 

 since then. In addition, other Federal agencies have become 

 increasingly involved in addressing related aspects of the 

 problem. For example, the Coast Guard and the State Department 

 have pursued efforts to ratify and implement Annex V of the 

 1978 Protocol Relating to the Convention for the Prevention 

 of Pollution from Ships, which, among other things, would 

 prohibit the disposal of plastics from ships at sea; the 

 Environmental Protection Agency has supported a study to 

 assess the nature and extent of problems created by plastic 

 pollution in the marine environment; and the National Marine 

 Pollution Program Office has factored the problem of plastic 

 pollution into its Federal Plan for Ocean Pollution Research, 

 Development, and Monitoring. 



The Commission has assisted these efforts while also taking 

 steps to support related research and increase international 



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