Coast
Strong

A standing program (MSU Extension + Mississippi Marine Debris Task Force), and part of Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup — every item logged becomes global data. All 9 of its 2026 sites are beach/harbor frontage. It runs its own events on its own schedule; Coast Strong makes no call for its sites.

Best first move: If you take part in the official program, register and get your site details directly from its official event page. Nothing on this page signs you up for it or calls you to one of its sites.

Staffed by the U.S. Coast Guard, 24/7 — the single federal point of contact for spills and sudden threats to water. A report here is relayed to the predesignated on-scene coordinator: EPA inland, Coast Guard in the coastal zone. This is how a big incident gets the fastest, best-coordinated help.

Best first move: Use it when there's an active discharge, sheen, chemical smell, or immediate danger — and log the call in the Community Log.

The federal environmental agency for Mississippi: water pollution, illegal dumping, and wetland protection under Clean Water Act §404.

Best first move: File the violation form alongside your city report, and note it in the Community Log so the crew can follow along.

The federal marine-debris tracker. The Marine Debris Tracker app logs debris with GPS and photos straight into NOAA's national dataset — the federal mirror of the global Ocean Trash Index.

Best first move: Log the Bayou Bernard find in the Tracker app with photos and GPS so it's in the federal dataset, not just ours.

Stated plainly, because honesty is the whole brand: FEMA does not clean bayous. FEMA money moves only after a presidential disaster declaration requested by the governor, plus hazard-mitigation grants governments apply for. Routine dumping isn't its mission — the pollution chain runs NRC → EPA/Coast Guard coordinator → MEMA. If a storm ever scatters debris coast-wide, FEMA enters through MEMA then.

Best first move: None for a dump site — file with NRC/EPA/MDEQ instead. Keep this card handy so every report goes straight to the folks who can act on it.

State lead on water quality, pollution control, and illegal dumping into state waters. Its public monitoring focuses on beach bacteria — which is exactly why neighbors logging what they see in the bayous is such a help to everyone.

Best first move: Call the report in, get a name or ticket number, and log it the same day.

The state partner for the Sound and the bayous, based in Biloxi, and co-organizer of the Mississippi Coastal Cleanup with the Marine Debris Task Force. Its Seafood Technology Bureau is the water-testing lane — what lives in this water ends up as Mississippi seafood.

Best first move: Report the debris, and ask DMR to log the bayou site so it is on the record. Outreach letter drafted — not sent

State coordination: runs the State Emergency Operations Center and links county EMAs to state and federal help. MEMA coordinates; it doesn't do environmental enforcement — but its 24/7 line is the fastest route to MDEQ's emergency team.

Best first move: Hazmat-scale incident only — otherwise MDEQ and 311 are your first calls.

Fastest first call for a specific dump site inside city limits. The city's own guidance: report dumpers through 311 and photograph the vehicle and license plate.

Best first move: File the 311 report the day you see it — city, county, state, and federal reports go in parallel, all logged. City support letter drafted — not sent

For trash and debris complaints in unincorporated county areas — the county side of the line when a dump site sits outside city limits.

Best first move: Use the county complaint route for county land; the zoning form has an explicit Trash/Debris category.

The Mississippi Coastal Cleanup is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, running since 1986. Data logged through the Clean Swell app uploads instantly to the Ocean Trash Index, the world's largest marine-debris database.

Best first move: Share the documented Bayou Bernard find with the cleanup team, so the bayou debris is counted in the same data as the beaches. Drafted — not sent

Built its name on stopping plastic in rivers before it reaches the ocean. Bayou Bernard drains to the Mississippi Sound — the tap is still running in America's bayous, and here's a community turning it off by hand.

Best first move: The master outreach letter, global variant, with the documented Bayou Bernard find attached. Drafted — not sent

A grassroots chapter network built for exactly this: local water, local people, clean-water testing and advocacy.

Best first move: Ask whether a Mississippi Gulf Coast chapter or regional contact exists, and how a Gulfport crew plugs into their network. Drafted — not sent

Runs the Great Global Cleanup. A documented local cleanup with photos and pound counts is their native currency.

Best first move: Share the standing Bayou Bernard watch with the Great Global Cleanup network, with the documented find and reports as they build. Drafted — not sent

A cleanup company with a huge public audience; partnerships are their front door. Amplification, not money, is the ask.

Best first move: Partnerships email — a working crew in Gulfport with real numbers, asking to be amplified. Drafted — not sent

A global alliance of 1,300+ organizations. Groups can apply to join — which puts Gulfport's name on a global roster.

Best first move: Coalition application plus a short note to the press inbox with the public statement attached. Drafted — not sent

The UN's global anti-plastic campaign — and the Mississippi River Basin itself has joined Clean Seas, so the Gulf Coast is already inside this story. Honest note: Clean Seas takes pledges from governments, companies, and organizations — there is no citizen tip inbox, and we won't pretend otherwise.

Best first move: Public alignment — post the Gulfport facts under #CleanSeas and let the orgs above carry it upward.

The Gulf's own clean-water coalition, New Orleans-based, with a long Mississippi organizing history. Clean water and healthy marshes are their home turf — and we're glad they're on this water.

Best first move: Call, don't email. Tell them about Bayou Bernard, ask who their Mississippi person is now, and offer the community log as it builds, and ask how Coast Strong can support their work. Drafted — not sent

Runs a public “Report an Incident” channel with photo upload, built for citizens who find pollution. Their patrol ground is the lower Mississippi River in Louisiana — Bayou Bernard is outside it, but they're the closest Waterkeeper and a referral costs nothing.

Best first move: File the Bayou Bernard find through the incident form with photos, and ask plainly which Waterkeeper covers the Mississippi Sound. Drafted — not sent

Protects Mississippi coastal marsh, including the Pascagoula system, with a coastal office in Ocean Springs — one county over from the bayou.

Best first move: A short letter to the Mississippi chapter — neighbors cleaning the marsh, asking to be connected to their coastal team. Drafted — not sent

Mississippi's coast is bird nursery ground — debris in the marsh is habitat damage, and Audubon Delta staff already work Gulfport-area sites.

Best first move: One page to the Policy Director: the find and the ask — who on the coastal team should receive Bayou Watch updates? Drafted — not sent

The organized community presence already on our home watershed: Turkey Creek residents protecting their creek's natural and cultural resources, assisted by the Land Trust — which also holds the Turkey Creek Greenway. Bernard Bayou has no dedicated friends-of group yet. That's a seat Coast Strong can grow into, standing next to the neighbors who've done it longest.

Best first move: Introduce Coast Strong as a neighbor, not a rival — offer help watching the water, and ask what the watershed veterans wish someone had told them at the start.

The coast's own newsroom. A documented citizen cleanup — neighbors pitching in, with photos and results to share — is a story worth telling.

Best first move: Call the news desk with the documented find in hand.

AP's Jackson reporting feeds every paper in Mississippi. The media tip is written and paste-ready: who, what, when, why it matters, and photos of the documented find available.

Best first move: Share the documented find and the Bayou Watch reports as they build. Drafted — not sent