Garbage Patches

Hawai‘i Marine Animal Response (HMAR) produced these resources as a part of “A Community Approach to Addressing and Preventing Derelict Recreational Fishing Gear,” a project supp

The classroom activity package Winged Ambassadors – Ocean Literacy through the Eyes of Albatross is available free online courtesy of Oikonos, in partnership with NOAA’s Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and

Learn more about garbage patches including what they are and how we can help.

Developed as a means to educate the next generation about ocean trash and, most importantly, how we all can prevent it. Created through an educational partnership between Ocean Conservancy and the NOAA Marine Debris Program. Flexible curriculum, appropriate for all ages.

Students will draw connections between land-based debris and its travel to the ocean through exploration and understanding of watersheds. Through these activities, students will:

In this lesson, students will collect debris on their school grounds,“x” number of miles from the ocean and compare the quantity of plastic in the sample with a similar sample at the mouth of the river, where it empties into the ocean.

There is a great deal of information and misinformation about how much marine debris exists in the open ocean and how it is distributed. We often hear that “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas”, but what exactly does that mean? Students will read and discuss the article “Pacific Ocean 'garbage patch' exaggerated, new analysis asserts”.

Students will learn about what happens to floating marine debris (surface, near surface, and in the water column) that doesn’t get collected during beach cleanups. They will apply knowledge of oceanic water movement to understand why trash gets trapped in specific areas in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Students will interpret maps published in news articles.