Padre Island is a barrier island located on the southeastern coast of Texas.
Although similar in many ways to other National Seashores, PINS is atypical because of the large quantity of garbage that washes onto its shoreline. At times, the shoreline is inundated by as much as one ton of debris per linear mile. The primary reason for this large accumulation of debris in the convergent currents occurring off the park's coastline. Because of these currents, any item discarded into the Gulf of Mexico has the potential of washing onto the PINS shoreline. Marine debris represents the foremost natural resource management problem at the National Seashore and includes aesthetics and impacts to marine mammals, birds and reptiles from entanglement and ingestion.