Celebrating 41 Years of the International Coastal Cleanup®

This fall, Ocean Conservancy is celebrating its 41st annual International Coastal Cleanup^® (ICC), once again bringing together volunteers to protect the beaches and waterways we all love. Ocean Conservancy recently hosted flagship events in Long Beach and Washington, D.C. that celebrated this global movement close to home.

Over the past four decades, nearly 20 million volunteers have rolled up their sleeves to remove more than 405 million pounds of trash from beaches and waterways around the world. And their impact extends far beyond what they collect. ICC volunteers have documented nearly 440 million individual items, creating the world’s largest marine debris database and providing invaluable information that helps Ocean Conservancy and others better understand—and tackle—ocean plastic pollution.

This year’s celebration continued that incredible legacy. At Alamitos Beach in Southern California, more than 150 volunteers gathered on September 19 and removed 1,109 pounds of trash, alongside members of Team USA Artistic Swimming and Olympic and Paralympic athletes. In Washington, D.C., 439 volunteers gathered on September 26 to remove 2,182 pounds of trash from Anacostia Park along the Anacostia River.

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“I am so grateful to all of the volunteers who came out today for our ocean—and every volunteer who has made the last 41 years of impact possible,” said Ocean Conservancy’s Senior Director of Conservation Cleanups, Allison Schutes. “Every piece of plastic collected helps protect marine animals and habitats and contributes to research and advocacy.”

And the impact doesn’t stop when the cleanup ends. During International Coastal Cleanup events, volunteers do more than remove trash: They document what they find, helping build a clearer picture of the plastic pollution threatening our waterways and wildlife. Through the Clean Swell^® app or paper data sheets, ICC volunteers contribute to Ocean Conservancy’s online, open-access database, the world’s largest repository of marine debris data. These records help scientists, conservation groups and governments understand pollution trends and identify solutions.

That data can also drive meaningful policy change. ICC data were recently used in a peer-reviewed study showing that plastic bag bans lead to reduced plastic bag pollution. The data have also helped advance policies ranging from California’s SB 54 to Florida’s balloon release ban and the federal Farewell to Foam Act. From a neighborhood cleanup to statewide action, every piece of documented trash helps build the evidence needed to tackle plastic pollution at its source.

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Want to get involved?

Whether you join a local cleanup, record the trash you find using the Clean Swell app, or take action to reduce plastic pollution, you can be part of this incredible collective effort to protect our ocean. Here are a few ways to make an impact:

• Find a cleanup near you.
• Download our Clean Swell app to easily record the trash you collect.
• Take action to reduce plastic pollution.
• Explore our Wildlife Impact Calculator to estimate the potential benefits of your cleanup for marine wildlife.
• Donate today to Ocean Conservancy to help us fight plastic pollution for years to come!

The post Celebrating 41 Years of the International Coastal Cleanup® appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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Could You Really Be Swallowed by a Whale?

For generations, stories of people being swallowed by enormous sea creatures have painted awe-inspiring tales of human survival and perseverance. From the biblical account of Jonah to the legendary battle of Hercules and Cetus to the timeless story of Pinocchio, these legendary tales have captivated people since time immemorial.

But all these stories raise the question: Could someone really be swallowed by a whale? With the premiere of the film Whalefall on October 16, 2026, you may find yourself in conversations about this very situation. Based on the bestselling 2023 thriller authored by Daniel Kraus, the film tells the story of a scuba diver who is accidentally gobbled up by a sperm whale while searching for the remains of his late father. With only an hour of oxygen left in his tank, the diver must fight to escape the whale’s gut before time runs out.

The answer to whether it’s anatomically possible for a whale to swallow a person is actually a bit more complicated than you might think.

First, let’s start with what’s not possible. There are about 90 whale species known to science today, and they are split into two different groups: toothed whales, such as sperm whales, and baleen whales, such as humpback whales and blue whales. Instead of teeth, baleen whales have massive rows of specially designed bristles that act as filters. When feeding, these whales take big gulps of water, filtering through massive amounts of tiny krill and plankton. This is why baleen whales are known as filter feeders.

Because baleen whales eat such small organisms in large amounts, they don’t physically require much space to swallow their food. The opening in their throat that leads to their esophagus is shockingly small—it’s only about the size of a grapefruit! It’s probably obvious by now, but scientifically, it is entirely impossible for a baleen whale to swallow a person. While a few news stories have recounted oceangoers like kayakers accidentally ending up in or around the mouths of humpback whales, they’ve been spit out or released within seconds. If you were a whale, this would feel like trying to eat a handful of M&Ms and accidentally realizing an entire rotisserie chicken was in your mouth!

Toothed whale anatomy, however, is where this answer gets a bit more nuanced. Toothed cetaceans eat creatures like fish, sharks and squid. Because toothed whales need to chew their food, their digestive anatomy varies from that of their baleen counterparts, and they have notably larger gullets.

However, even amidst the more than 70 known species of toothed whales, only one species is anatomically capable of swallowing a person whole: the sperm whale.

Sperm whales are massive creatures and can grow to be up to 60 feet long. Because of their size, their prey tend to be on the larger side, too. A sperm whale’s esophagus isn’t particularly huge, but it has the elasticity to stretch to fit large prey such as giant squid, which can grow to be more than 20 feet long (not including their appendages). So, if a sperm whale can swallow a giant squid … could they potentially swallow a human?

Technically yes, but it’s so highly improbable that it’s nearly inconceivable. First, the likelihood that a human encounters a sperm whale is negligible on its own. Unlike whale species like humpbacks, sperm whales prefer to hang out in the deep water columns and underwater canyons of the open ocean, often diving down to close to 10,000 feet in search of food. So a person’s chances of seeing a sperm whale at any point in their life are actually very, very small.

Even if a sperm whale did somehow manage to swallow a person, the circumstances would likely not be what you’d expect. Project CETI whale biologist Shane Gero told Popular Science that it’s not necessarily impossible, but highly unlikely, and would have to involve the “biggest sperm whale ever” to be feasible. Even if it did happen, Gero noted that the initial rush of water or even the whale trying to “cough” to expel the person would likely be enough impact to kill a person before an actual digestive process could.

To date, there is no documented case of a whale actually swallowing a person. The only animal on Earth known to have successfully swallowed a person whole is the longest snake species in the world: the reticulated python.

So, while the thriller Whalefall may be deeply unsettling to watch, you can rest easy knowing just how unlikely—if not impossible—this situation actually is. You need not be afraid of sperm whales … however, if you were a sperm whale, you might be afraid of humans!

These marine mammals are regularly threatened by dangers like vessel strikes, noise pollution and entanglement in lost or discarded fishing gear, otherwise known as “ghost gear”. They are a protected species under the Endangered Species Act, and we should see them not as a threat, but as a captivating species worth protecting. Help Ocean Conservancy protect animals like sperm whales today by taking action in support of the Endangered Species Act.

The post Could You Really Be Swallowed by a Whale? appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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Could You Really Be Swallowed by a Whale?

For generations, stories of people being swallowed by enormous sea creatures have painted awe-inspiring tales of human survival and perseverance. From the biblical account of Jonah to the legendary battle of Hercules and Cetus to the timeless story of Pinocchio, these legendary tales have captivated people since time immemorial.

But all these stories raise the question: Could someone really be swallowed by a whale? With the premiere of the film Whalefall on October 16, 2026, you may find yourself in conversations about this very situation. Based on the bestselling 2023 thriller authored by Daniel Kraus, the film tells the story of a scuba diver who is accidentally gobbled up by a sperm whale while searching for the remains of his late father. With only an hour of oxygen left in his tank, the diver must fight to escape the whale’s gut before time runs out.

The answer to whether it’s anatomically possible for a whale to swallow a person is actually a bit more complicated than you might think.

First, let’s start with what’s not possible. There are about 90 whale species known to science today, and they are split into two different groups: toothed whales, such as sperm whales, and baleen whales, such as humpback whales and blue whales. Instead of teeth, baleen whales have massive rows of specially designed bristles that act as filters. When feeding, these whales take big gulps of water, filtering through massive amounts of tiny krill and plankton. This is why baleen whales are known as filter feeders.

Because baleen whales eat such small organisms in large amounts, they don’t physically require much space to swallow their food. The opening in their throat that leads to their esophagus is shockingly small—it’s only about the size of a grapefruit! It’s probably obvious by now, but scientifically, it is entirely impossible for a baleen whale to swallow a person. While a few news stories have recounted oceangoers like kayakers accidentally ending up in or around the mouths of humpback whales, they’ve been spit out or released within seconds. If you were a whale, this would feel like trying to eat a handful of M&Ms and accidentally realizing an entire rotisserie chicken was in your mouth!

Toothed whale anatomy, however, is where this answer gets a bit more nuanced. Toothed cetaceans eat creatures like fish, sharks and squid. Because toothed whales need to chew their food, their digestive anatomy varies from that of their baleen counterparts, and they have notably larger gullets.

However, even amidst the more than 70 known species of toothed whales, only one species is anatomically capable of swallowing a person whole: the sperm whale.

Sperm whales are massive creatures and can grow to be up to 60 feet long. Because of their size, their prey tend to be on the larger side, too. A sperm whale’s esophagus isn’t particularly huge, but it has the elasticity to stretch to fit large prey such as giant squid, which can grow to be more than 20 feet long (not including their appendages). So, if a sperm whale can swallow a giant squid … could they potentially swallow a human?

Technically yes, but it’s so highly improbable that it’s nearly inconceivable. First, the likelihood that a human encounters a sperm whale is negligible on its own. Unlike whale species like humpbacks, sperm whales prefer to hang out in the deep water columns and underwater canyons of the open ocean, often diving down to close to 10,000 feet in search of food. So a person’s chances of seeing a sperm whale at any point in their life are actually very, very small.

Even if a sperm whale did somehow manage to swallow a person, the circumstances would likely not be what you’d expect. Project CETI whale biologist Shane Gero told Popular Science that it’s not necessarily impossible, but highly unlikely, and would have to involve the “biggest sperm whale ever” to be feasible. Even if it did happen, Gero noted that the initial rush of water or even the whale trying to “cough” to expel the person would likely be enough impact to kill a person before an actual digestive process could.

To date, there is no documented case of a whale actually swallowing a person. The only animal on Earth known to have successfully swallowed a person whole is the longest snake species in the world: the reticulated python.

So, while the thriller Whalefall may be deeply unsettling to watch, you can rest easy knowing just how unlikely—if not impossible—this situation actually is. You need not be afraid of sperm whales … however, if you were a sperm whale, you might be afraid of humans!

These marine mammals are regularly threatened by dangers like vessel strikes, noise pollution and entanglement in lost or discarded fishing gear, otherwise known as “ghost gear”. They are a protected species under the Endangered Species Act, and we should see them not as a threat, but as a captivating species worth protecting. Help Ocean Conservancy protect animals like sperm whales today by taking action in support of the Endangered Species Act.

The post Could You Really Be Swallowed by a Whale? appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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What Can We Learn From 50 Years of Fishery Management?

United States ocean waters are home to diverse species of fish that feed families, anchor economies and draw millions of recreational anglers to the coasts year after year. Our fisheries support vibrant coastal communities and Indigenous cultures, while also sustaining a vast web of marine life, from the tiniest plankton to dolphins, sea turtles and whales.

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA)

But fish populations are not inexhaustible. Overfishing has historically driven iconic fish populations like cod, red snapper and rockfish into serious decline or collapse. This is why in 1976, when faced with rapidly disappearing fish stocks that had once been abundant, Congress, scientists and fishermen worked together to establish a management system that would support fishing for the long term. This effort became the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, or MSA.

Fifty years have passed since the MSA was enacted into law, becoming the primary law governing the management of fisheries in U.S. federal ocean waters. Over time, through reauthorization and changes to implementation, the law has evolved to support a management system built on science and adapted to the distinct needs of each fishery and region. The law’s central goal is to prevent overfishing while achieving levels of fishing that provide the greatest overall benefit to the nation. This means managing fishing to keep fish populations healthy, abundant and productive for the long term.

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What’s changed in the last 50 years

However, so much has changed for the ocean in the last 50 years, and new challenges are developing that will push our fisheries to their limits.

1. Failure to rebuild many overfished stocks: Overfishing, climate change and unsuccessful management approaches have left many fish stocks at low population sizes.
2. High demand from recreational fisheries: Despite the small-scale impact of each individual angler, millions of fishing trips and the many fish tossed overboard to die are adding up to big problems for our fish stocks.
3. Persistent bycatch: Progress has stalled on minimizing the unintentional catch of non-target fish and other wildlife, putting threatened species at risk and jeopardizing the income of small communities and the food security of Indigenous fishers.
4. Lack of investment in science, data and traditional knowledge: Aging systems, outmoded approaches and lack of scientific capacity are eroding our science-based management system, and new opportunities are being missed to upgrade our approaches and integrate traditional knowledge.
5. Habitat loss and ecosystem degradation: Coastal development, industrial activity, climate change and current fishing habits threaten fish habitats and marine ecosystems.
6. Changing ocean conditions and more frequent disasters: Fisheries management is not adapting fast enough as climate change causes fish stocks to shift their ranges and increases their vulnerability to stress, disease and collapse.
7. Economic vulnerability of fishing communities: Fishing-dependent communities face uncertain futures, cheap foreign imports and food insecurity.
8. Deregulation and poor governance: Conservation measures that have brought species back from the brink are being rolled back.

It’s clear that business as usual is not enough to guarantee abundant fish populations that can support coastal communities and fisheries. The future of fishing—and the health of our ocean—for the next five decades depends on tackling the challenges we face today.

The good news is that solutions are readily available. Ocean Conservancy experts have identified the most pressing problems and promising solutions to right this ship and make sure that everyone can fish for generations to come. With this information, governmental leaders can create smart policy, fishermen can consider new techniques, and we can all commit to valuing the protections that ensure there are plenty of fish, both in the sea and on our plates.  

Drifting Off Course

Ocean Conservancy’s report, Drifting Off Course: Challenges in U.S. Fisheries Management and Charting the Path Forward, highlights several important issues that face fisheries and offers solutions to help address them.

Read the Report

The post What Can We Learn From 50 Years of Fishery Management? appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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How Beluga Whales Ended Up in Canada’s Rivers

If you spend some time on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, you just might catch a flash of white beneath the surface. A whale. A beluga whale.

You don’t typically expect to find whales in a river, but, sure enough, whales swim here, year-round, in a river hundreds of miles from the open ocean. Small, ivory-colored beluga navigate the same freshwater corridors as cargo ships and kayaks. The story of Arctic whales making a home in a Canadian river doesn’t begin with water but with ice.

A sea that no longer exists

About 15,000 years ago, the enormous Wisconsin glacier that had covered much of North America began its slow retreat. As it melted, it left behind a profound geographical mark. The glacier’s weight compressed the land it sat on for millennia, inviting seawater from the Atlantic to flood the resulting low basin. A vast inland sea, the Champlain, stretched from the Atlantic coast westward toward the Great Lakes and what is now New York.

Whales, walruses, narwhals, humpbacks and seals all roamed in what would become the St. Lawrence lowlands. Their fossils have been found between Quebec City and the Ottawa Valley. Researchers have found the remains of porpoises, humpback whales, fin whales, bowhead whales, and multiple seal and walrus species buried under the sediment of what are now farms, fields and suburban lots. In 2001, the Université du Québec à Montréal recovered a beluga fossil more than 10,000 years old.

When the ice age ended, the land rebounded and the Champlain Sea drained. The St. Lawrence River remained, containing a population of belugas that stayed. As the glacier withdrew and dry land emerged, beluga whales took up residence in the estuary that formed. The population that stayed became genetically isolated from all other beluga groups in northern Canada, Russia and Alaska. 

The St. Lawrence River is the only home their lineage has known for longer than recorded human history. Over thousands of years, they adapted. Their behaviors are in tune with the river’s rhythms. Their seasonal patterns are distinct from their Arctic counterparts. Having been present in the St. Lawrence River for 10,000 years, belugas have adapted to an extreme and changing environment. They play a role in their ecosystems. For many Indigenous communities, they have served as a subsistence resource as well as a source of food security and culture.

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A population under pressure

The St. Lawrence belugas are now listed as endangered. There were an estimated 10,000 whales at the turn of the 20th century, but now roughly 1,800 belugas remain. Recent surveys suggest the number may be closer to 900. The population was severely reduced by hunting, which continued until 1979. High contaminant loads, vessel traffic and industrialization of the surrounding watershed have prevented recovery even after hunting was restricted.

And now climate change is compounding the pressure from a direction these whales have never faced before: A warming Arctic is pushing new species into old territories. As climate change continues to warm the Arctic and reduce sea ice, orcas have been spotted in beluga whale habitats, introducing a major predator of all three Arctic whale species. Less ice means less refuge. More open water means more ship traffic, more noise and more disruption of the acoustic communication belugas depend on to feed and reproduce.

Every year around the third week of September, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center announce the Arctic sea ice minimum, the point at which summer melt has reached its furthest extent before winter refreezing begins. The last 19 September extents, from 2007 to 2025, represent the 19 lowest on record. The trend line, measured across nearly five decades of satellite data, moves in only one direction.

For the St. Lawrence belugas, this number is extremely consequential. The glacier that created the Champlain Sea and stranded their ancestors in a river changed their world irrevocably. The warming that is now shrinking sea ice is doing the same thing, on a faster timeline than any glacier melt.

The St. Lawrence belugas aren’t the only beluga population in trouble. Cook Inlet belugas in Alaska are also endangered, and other Canadian populations are of serious conservation concern. Ocean Conservancy works to protect these distinct populations through support for ecosystems and biodiversity. Groups of belugas in places like the St. Lawrence River and the Arctic have been separated for such long periods that they highlight the importance of genetic diversity when it comes to climate resilience. Losing one species, like the St. Lawrence population, cannot simply be offset with lots of belugas in another part of our world. They represent thousands of years of history and adaptation.

The beluga in the St. Lawrence is a living record of what the ocean once was and a signal of what it is becoming. Our ocean shapes life in ways that travel further inland and last far longer than we expect.

Chart a New Course for Whales

The Whale CHARTS Act would reduce ship strikes by amending NOAA’s near-real-time monitoring and mitigation program for large cetaceans to improve our understanding of the location and extent of baleen and sperm whale migration routes and feeding, mating and calving grounds.

Take Action for Whales

The post How Beluga Whales Ended Up in Canada’s Rivers appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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Cuts to Integrated Ocean Observing System Puts Ocean at Risk

Most Americans have likely never heard of the United States Integrated Ocean Observing System, or IOOS. Yet if you have ever checked conditions before heading to the beach, relied on a hurricane forecast, eaten American seafood or bought a car, a new phone or a pair of shoes that arrived through a U.S. port, you have benefited from the kind of ocean information this system helps provide.

Every day, a network of buoys, underwater gliders, high-frequency radar, water-level stations and other observing technologies keeps watch over our ocean, coasts and Great Lakes. IOOS, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), brings together observations from federal agencies, universities, state and local governments and 11 regional associations, then makes that information available to the people who need it.

It is an enormous amount of science and technology working quietly in the background of American life. But right now, federal investment that supports this system and other critical NOAA services is under threat.

What does watching our ocean actually do for us?

Imagine someone is missing in the water. Search-and-rescue crews need to understand where currents may have carried that person, and near-real-time surface-current information can help them narrow the search area. Picture a cargo ship approaching one of America’s busy ports carrying cars, clothing, electronics, food and other goods headed to communities across the country. Safe and efficient navigation depends on knowing what the water is doing, including currents, water levels, waves and other conditions.

Ocean observations also help scientists and communities monitor harmful algal blooms that can threaten seafood, recreation and public health. They give fishermen and boaters better information about conditions on the water, help emergency managers understand coastal flooding and storms and build the long-term records scientists need to understand how the ocean and climate are changing.

This year offers an especially important example. El Niño is strengthening in the tropical Pacific, and there is a greater than 90% chance it will become a very strong event during fall and winter 2026–27. NOAA’s global observing and forecasting systems help scientists identify and track El Niño itself, while IOOS provides another critical piece of the picture: helping us understand how large-scale changes in the Pacific show up in coastal waters where people live, work and recreate.

Along the U.S. West Coast, IOOS regional observing systems measure water temperature, currents, waves, sea levels and other changing ocean conditions. Those observations can help scientists see how El Niño interacts with already unusually warm ocean waters and how those conditions may affect coastal ecosystems, fisheries, harmful algal blooms, flooding and other concerns in the months ahead. NOAA scientists are already watching for potential effects from the developing 2026–27 El Niño along the California Current.

That is why ocean observing is not simply a science program; it is public infrastructure. Some infrastructure carries cars, electricity or drinking water. IOOS carries information, and that information helps people make decisions that can protect lives, livelihoods and communities.

What happens if we stop watching our ocean?

Cutting ocean observations does not make the hazards disappear. Hurricanes will still cross the ocean. Coastal waters will still flood. Harmful algal blooms will still occur. Ships will still enter ports, fishermen will still head to sea, and people will still need rescuing from the water. We will simply know less about what is happening and have less information to prepare us.

Without reliable observations, forecasts rely on less information. Search-and-rescue teams can have a less complete picture of where currents are moving. Businesses and mariners can face greater uncertainty and communities can have fewer tools to anticipate changing conditions.

When long-running observations end, some of what disappears cannot simply be recovered by turning a sensor back on several years later. Continuous records allow scientists to distinguish short-term shifts from long-term changes and recognize trends that become visible only over decades. As ocean conditions change rapidly, gaps in those records leave gaps in our understanding.

This matters to people far beyond those who live along the coast. Our ocean and Great Lakes support shipping, fishing, tourism, recreation, culture and countless businesses. Products moving through American ports eventually reach stores and homes hundreds of miles inland. Weather and climate patterns, shaped by the ocean, affect farms, businesses and communities across the country.

America has spent decades building an extraordinary capacity to observe and understand our ocean. Walking away from that capacity would not make us safer or save us from the changes already underway. It would simply leave the people making important decisions with less information when they may need it most.

The ocean never stops changing. We can’t afford to stop watching.

Help protect NOAA and America’s ocean observing system

Ocean Conservancy is working with partners, communities and policymakers to defend the NOAA programs and ocean science that Americans rely on every day. We urge Congress to maintain strong federal investment in NOAA and the observing systems that protect lives, support coastal communities and keep our economy moving.

You can help. Tell your elected officials that America cannot afford to stop watching our ocean and to prioritize our ocean in the Fiscal Year 2027 appropriations process.

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This blog was written by Rachel Brittin, former NOAA deputy director of External Affairs. She founded and leads Vireo Communications and brings more than 25 years of communications experience in climate, ocean, conservation and science.

The post Cuts to Integrated Ocean Observing System Puts Ocean at Risk appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

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