Marine debris emergency response planning in the north-central Gulf of Mexico

"This document is a response to the need identified by Gulf region stakeholders. Its goal is to assist in the planning, assessment, removal, and disposal or recycling of marine debris. It provides guidelines, information, and resources to deal with marine debris dispersion in marine areas outside of major shipping channels, and it incorporates experience and lessons learned from the post-Katrina and Rita marine debris survey and removal efforts. The document does not attempt to provide a fully detailed plan nor serve as a regulatory requirement. Rather, it is a simple, informal, and hopefully useful tool to assist managers at the Federal, State, and local levels to be better prepared to deal with marine debris the next time a powerful storm creates a major marine debris problem. Because the document is largely based on the experience and operations conducted in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it should apply only to these States -- referred to as the north-central Gulf region -- but the general approach may be a useful model for other coastal states and territories that anticipate significant marine debris events from storms and other natural disasters"--Intro. Nir Barnea, Jacqui Michel, Brendan Bray, Zachary Nixon, Gretchen Imahori, and Crescent Moegling. "June 2009." Mode of access: World Wide Web. System requirements: Internet browser; Adobe Acrobat Reader.