ANCHORAGE – On June 7, an international team of scientists, artists and educators launch an expedition to study marine debris in southwest Alaska. Howard Ferren of the Alaska SeaLife Center leads the expedition, along with scientist Carl Safina, the founding president of Blue Ocean Institute based  in Stony Brook, N. Y. 

The expedition also includes representatives from the Smithsonian Institution, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Nation-al Geographic, Alaska Marine Stewardship Foundation, Anchorage Museum and Ocean Conservancy. 

The R/V Norseman leaves June 7 from Seward and travels west from Resurrection Bay along the Kenai Peninsula coast, then crosses the Kennedy Entrance channel to Shuyak and Afognak islands. Along the way, the crew will stop to observe, document and collect shoreline trash. 

The expedition ends with an intensive cleanup of Hallo Bay in Katmai National Park, a remote area seeing an influx of debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami.