An aerial image of river tributaries flowing into the ocean.

Plastic bottles and other marine debris cover a rocky beach in Curacao.

Marine Plastics Overview

Are you a student researching marine plastic or someone looking to learn more about marine plastic? This overview dives into everything to know.

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Featured Content

An oil drilling platform in oil-free water two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Overview

Gulf Oil Spill

Midway Atoll, where these photos were taken, is more than 2,000 miles from the nearest land.

Slideshow

Laysan Albatrosses’ Plastic Problem

Underwater WWII Wrecks – Pollution or Cultural Heritage?

Fish swim around the wreck of the HMT Bedfordshire, an Arctic fishing trawler that was converted into an anti-submarine warship during World War II, and sunk off the coast of North Carolina.

January 2013

How Jellyfish Break Down Oil After a Spill

Jellyfish produce mucus, especially when stressed, which can interact with oil and break it down. This moon jellyfish is sloughing off mucus that has mixed with droplets of oil.

July 2015

Fish Get Risky Around Oil

On coral reefs fish are important links in the food chain that sustains higher-order predators (including humans) and keeps everything in balance.

September 2017

Are You An Educator?

At Smithsonian Ocean, we have lesson plans, activities, and resources to help you engage your students in the wonders of our oceans.

see all lesson plans see pollution lesson plans

Pollution Articles

Turning Ocean Trash to Treasure

The colorful parrotfish sculpture is made entirely of ocean plastic trash.

June 2016

Midway Atoll, where these photos were taken, is more than 2,000 miles from the nearest land.

Slideshow

Laysan Albatrosses’ Plastic Problem

A screenshot from the video showing a large marlin sculpture made of ocean plastic.

Video

The Making of a Marlin

A screen shot from video "From Despair to Repair" showing a black and white image of a coral reef in 1975.

Video

From Despair to Repair

A thin layer of oil on the water's surface, reflecting rainbow colors

Timeline

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Milestones

a pelican covered in oil

Video

Lessons from the Panama Oil Spill

Let's Get Our Hands Dirty This Women's History Month

A view of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill as seen from a NOAA research aircraft, June 2010.

March 2015

Do You Have The Answer? Sharing Big Data in the Gulf of Mexico

A screenshot of a GIF showing Bart Simpson exclaiming "I have the answer!"

March 2016

Building a Better Dispersant

A C-130 Hercules from the Air Force Reserve Command deploys dispersant into the Gulf of Mexico May 5, 2010, as part of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill response effort.

January 2015

Ocean Trash Plaguing Our Sea

The currents of the North Pacific gyre collect trash—mostly bits of microscopic plastic—into what are known as "garbage patches."

September 2011

State of Emergency in the Gulf

Satellite view of the Gulf Coast oil spill off of Louisiana, April 29, 2010.

April 2010

Underwater WWII Wrecks – Pollution or Cultural Heritage?

Fish swim around the wreck of the HMT Bedfordshire, an Arctic fishing trawler that was converted into an anti-submarine warship during World War II, and sunk off the coast of North Carolina.

January 2013