Gallery Exhibit: Current Findings

Each year hundreds of students and faculty perform ecological monitoring and interdisciplinary research at the Santa Rosa Island Research Station, managed by California State University Channel Islands. The marine debris project is a cornerstone program of the research station, which monitors and collects waste from beaches on Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands. Marine debris is a global pollution problem that endangers wildlife, marine ecosystems, and impacts human health and safety. Since 2016, the program has removed and catalogued over 21,000 pounds of marine debris. The debris is then recycled and repurposed into undergraduate art projects.

Throughout the exhibition, viewers can find installations that include lobster buoys, mylar balloons, spectroscopy graphs, and transect maps that creatively represent the collaborative work of the marine debris project funded by the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program.