Anchorage Daily News

KODIAK -- Alaskans are gathering to plan an all-out war on marine debris that is befouling coastlines from Ketchikan to Barrow.

"There is a growing recognition that it poses a threat to fish and wildlife, threats of entanglement to seals and marine mammals, and it's a problem to humans as well," said Bob King, program coordinator for the MCA Foundation, co-sponsor with Alaska Sea Grant of a two-day workshop at the Alaska Forum for the Environment next month in Anchorage.

"There are a lot of community efforts going on. The idea is to bring everyone together, to better coordinate and to talk about some of the broader issues such as recycling these materials," King said.

The Alaska Brewing Co., for example, contributes 1 percent of all Alaska IPA beer sales to a program called Coastal CODE (Clean Oceans Depend on Everyone), and sends cash and "brew crews" to help clean up local coastlines.

"Whenever a local nonprofit is interested in a cleanup, we like to be involved as much as we can," said project manager Heather Conlin at the Juneau brewery. The crews helped remove 150 tons of debris last year and it has expanded its program to California, Conlin added.

The MCA Foundation projects picked up 171 tons of debris last year from Southeast to Norton Sound, King said.

"In Dutch Harbor the landfill has some 10,000 tons of old nets, and it accumulates by another 1,000 tons each year," he said.

King said the upcoming workshop will look at recycling alternatives, such as converting the plastic nets back into their petroleum base, then burning them as diesel fuel. Meanwhile, he says marine debris is drawing national headlines.

"Like the famous North Pacific garbage patch where all this material gets caught in oceanic gyres and accumulates in the middle of the ocean. It is so big it is even a hazard to navigation," he said.

The Marine Debris in Alaska Workshop is set for Feb. 14-15 at the Egan Center and is open to the public. Get more information at www.alaskaseagrant.org or www.mcafoundation.org.

Laine Welch is a Kodiak-based fisheries journalist. Her Fish Radio programs can be heard on stations around the state. Her information column appears every other Sunday. This material is protected by copyright. For information on reprinting or placing on your Web site or newsletter, contact msfish@alaska.com.

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