Saving Seafood

Sullivan, Whitehouse, Menendez, Peters, Bonamici & Gonzalez-Colón Seek to enhance effectiveness of Marine Debris Program

February 10, 2023 — U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan, Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), and Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.) and Jenniffer González-Colón (R-Puerto Rico), Thursday reintroduced legislation amending the 2020 Save Our Seas (SOS) 2.0 Act and the 2006 Marine Debris Act to provide the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with greater flexibility to deliver federal resources and enter into cooperative agreements to conduct marine debris prevention and clean-up.

The legislation also clarifies the function and responsibilities of the congressionally-chartered Marine Debris Foundation. The legislation passed the Senate by unanimous consent in the previous Congress.

Read the full article at KIFW

US Senate Passes Save Our Seas 2.0 Act

January 15, 2020 — The United States Senate last week unanimously passed the bipartisan Save Our Seas 2.0 Act to “to address the plastic debris crisis threatening coastal economies and harming marine life.”

According to a press release from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), who introduced the bill, the act is the “most comprehensive marine debris legislation ever to pass the U.S. Senate.”

The new legislation builds on the Save Our Seas Act of 2018, introduced by Sullivan and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). The bill is now before the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Save Our Seas 2.0 Act has three main goals, according to Sullivan’s office:

  • strengthening domestic marine debris response capability with a Marine Debris Foundation, a genius prize for innovation, and new research to tackle the issue;
  • enhancing global engagement to combat marine debris, including formalizing U.S. policy on international cooperation, enhancing federal agency outreach to other countries, and exploring the potential for a new international agreement on the challenge; and
  • improving domestic infrastructure to prevent marine debris through new grants for and studies of waste management and mitigation.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Save Our Seas 2.0 tackles global marine debris crisis

November 12, 2019 — We may have plenty of political differences, but we come from coastal states. That means we have a front-row seat to the peril of plastic waste and marine debris flowing into our oceans at the rate of around 8 million metric tons per year. We understand what it will mean for our fishing and tourism industries when the weight of plastic in our oceans equals the weight of fish in the sea — something projected to happen by mid-century. We don’t have a moment to lose in confronting this problem.

That’s why we built a coalition in Congress and gathered input from environmental and industry stakeholders alike. Despite a divided Washington, that work resulted in a bill that won broad, bipartisan support. When the Save Our Seas Act became law last October, it was a moment of bipartisan progress on a vital issue — one to be celebrated.

Before the president’s ink on Save Our Seas was dry, our bipartisan trio of senators began developing the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act. We sought to harness the momentum behind the first bill to up the ante on combatting the global marine debris crisis. Marine debris requires multifaceted, multisector solutions with a global reach, and the United States ought to be driving these solutions.

Read the full story at Roll Call