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A partnership is turning routine vessel activity and lost crab trap removal into a new source of bathymetric data. In the Chesapeake Bay, the Nationwide Trap Removal, Assessment, and Prevention (TRAP) program equips commercial crabbers with side-scan sonar to locate abandoned traps. The same equipment used to clear marine debris simultaneously collects valuable mapping data about the seafloor.
Supporting Clean, Healthy Coasts and Economies
Prepare • Respond • Restore • Recover
OR&R Services
Disaster and Pollution
OR&R delivers critical services to address increasing impacts from disasters and from pollution due to oil, chemicals, and marine debris. Our pollution and disaster mandates provide the backbone for our mission to the changing nature of coastal threats and hazards, which impact our coastal communities and the economies on which they rely.
Oil and Chemical Spill Response
OR&R provides scientific support to over 150 oil and chemical spills in U.S. waters annually. Spills impact lives, property, and public natural resources, as well as disrupt marine transportation with widespread economic impacts.
Oil and Chemical Natural Resource Restoration
OR&R and partners assess the impacts of oil spill and industrial pollution incidents and reach legal settlements with those responsible to fund restoration. Over the past 30+ years, NOAA and co-trustees have helped recover $10.8 billion for restoration of injured resources across the country.
Marine Debris Prevention and Removal
OR&R investigates and prevents the adverse impacts of marine debris. Since 2006, we have supported over 260 marine debris removal projects and removed more than 38,000 metric tons of marine debris from our coasts and ocean.
Emergency and Disaster Preparedness
Through planning, training, exercises, disaster coordination, and continuous improvement, OR&R ensures the National Ocean Service and its partners have the tools and information necessary to plan for and respond to disasters so commerce, communities, and natural resources can recover as quickly as possible.
Featured News
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Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary protect some of California’s richest coastal and marine habitats. Keeping these remote areas free of marine debris requires extensive collaboration among volunteers, conservation organizations, and local lobster fishers who help recover debris from difficult-to-access shorelines.
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The Trustees for the Texas City Y Natural Resource Damage Assessment are seeking public review and input on a series of proposed restoration projects designed to restore resources injured by the 2014 Galveston Bay oil spill. Funding will come from a $15.3 million settlement(link is external) with Kirby Inland Marine Limited Partners (Kirby), which resolved federal and state natural resource damage claims under the Oil Pollution Act.
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From a train derailment in Oregon to extreme Pacific storms, the first quarter of 2026 has kept NOAA’s Office of Response and Restoration busy around the clock. In our latest blog, we look back at the 40 new incidents, including 34 oil spills and 3 hazardous material releases, that OR&R supported in the first quarter of the year. From predicting crude oil paths in the Gulf to advanced chemical hazard modeling, get an inside look at how we mitigate environmental disasters to protect both communities and trust resources across the country.