The Marine Debris Action Plan (MDAP) team has been hosting annual Great Mangrove Cleanups since 2018 at sites across the US Virgin Islands. The most recent cleanup on St. Thomas took place on April 24th, 2021 along the National Park Road in Red Hook. The event was a success, bringing together 54 members of the community and resulted in the removal of 1,707 lbs of marine debris!

Our islands are vulnerable to marine debris. Marine debris affects our everyday life, from the awful sight of it on our beaches, to the economic toll that it can take on our tourism industry. In the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), approximately 90% of marine debris comes from land-based sources. It is up to us to prevent and reduce the amount of marine debris that ends up on our shorelines.

The University of the Virgin Islands Receives $100k in Funding from the NOAA Marine Debris Program to Remove Hurricane Debris from Mangrove Shorelines and Create a new Marine Debris Action Plan for the Territory

The 2nd Annual Great Mangrove Cleanup of the St. Thomas East End Reserves (STEER), took place Saturday, April 13. STEER is a vital marine protected area on the east end of St. Thomas. One hundred and fifteen volunteers, ages 9-70, removed 1,786 pounds of debris from mangrove shorelines in kayak-based and land-based cleanups of mangrove shorelines.