In the Florida Keys, divers in 2020 cut tangled fishing gear loose from reefs and rocks, then used flotation bags to bring it to the surface. That careful work is one part of a much larger cleanup: since 2013, NOAA and its partners have removed more than 50 million pounds of bulky debris from U.S. oceans and the Great Lakes.
The debris can be far bigger than a bottle or a stray net. Abandoned vessels, barges, piers and other structures may sit underwater for decades. They can block boats, damage marine habitats and sometimes leak pollutants such as fuel, paint and heavy metals. Clearing them can make waterways safer, support fishing and tourism, and help communities recover after disasters. The work depends on the size and location of the debris, so crews use several different approaches.
For lost fishing gear, divers first free nets, traps and lines from reefs, kelp, rocks or other gear. They attach lift bags, which fill with air to raise the debris. In deeper water, remotely operated vehicles help crews find and retrieve gear beyond the divers’ reach. This matters because so-called ghost gear can keep trapping marine life after it has been lost or abandoned.
When the obstacle is a sunken vessel or a heavy piece of infrastructure, the cleanup may require cranes, salvage boats and engineers. In Neah Bay, Washington, a crane lifted a partly sunken bridge that had once floated near Seattle as part of Interstate 90. Such jobs can take months of planning because the structures may weigh hundreds of tons and break down in the water.
In places where large vessels cannot get close, people do the lifting by hand. Commercial fishers, divers and community partners retrieve traps, lines and netting. At Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Sanctuary in 2023, free divers removed a large net from the seafloor, cutting large sections smaller and hauling them aboard with lines and a pulley. A clump of tangled nets, called a net mass, typically weighs 1,000 pounds and takes four marine debris technicians about an hour and a half to remove. On remote shorelines near California’s Channel Islands, lobster fishers and volunteers have also used skiffs and surfboards to bring abandoned traps back to waiting boats.
For remote, sensitive coastlines, aircraft can move debris without dragging it across habitat. In June 2025, a Washington State Department of Natural Resources firefighting helicopter lifted a derelict vessel from Squaxin Island in Puget Sound. The crew airlifted the vessel to avoid nearby eelgrass and kelp. In Alaska in July 2025, helicopters lifted durable bags of collected debris, known as super sacks, and transported them to a barge offshore.
Each method solves a different problem, from freeing a single net to lifting a structure that once served as a bridge. The total removed so far shows what sustained work can achieve, while the range of tools offers a practical way to reach debris in busy waterways, deep water and hard-to-access coastlines.