Marine Debris Issues
Surfrider Monterey has been seriously involved in the fight to eliminate or reduce the consumption of single use disposable plastics, such as Styrofoam to-go containers and plastic bags. This translates into direct debris removal from our shores and roadways, as well as, legislative action and involvement coupled with education and outreach. Here are some of the ways we do it:
Monthly Beach Cleanups and Adopt a Highway Program
We love our Beaches and we take care of them! On the Second Saturday of every month Surfrider hosts a Beach CleanUp at one of our local beaches. On the third Sunday of every month, we gather at the Haute Enchilada in Moss Landing before heading to our stretch of freeway where we collect the trash before it makes it to our beaches and waterways. Watch our website and your email for reminders. Contact our fantastic cleanup coordinator, Alison Goss, with questions and comments at 831-238-3356 or aligoss@gmail.com
We are a founding member of the Central Coast Sanctuary Alliance, whose aim is to ban single use plastic bags in every city and county in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. Currently Monterey, Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz are the cities in the forefront of this fight. We have also been battling Styrofoam usage and recently won a major victory in Salinas!
Is your business or organization interested in signing on to support the Central Coast Sanctuary Alliance? If so, please contact Ximena Waissbluth at xw@surfrider.org
Styro Sticker Campaign
Our stellar volunteer, Oren Frey, is heading up a joint project with Sustainable Pacific Grove He has a number of people trained and the project is going wonderfully. If you are a restaurant owner in Monterey County which is Styrofoam free and would like a sticker please contact Oren at orenfrey@gmail.com.
Education
Surfrider works hard to bring to the forefront public awareness of the various important marine health issues. This is done through interfacing with students in our local schools as well as tabling various public events. If you would like your school, business or organization to receive a Rise Above Plastics presentation, tailored to your interests, please contact the wonderful Ximena Waissbluth at 831-402-2571 or xw@surfrider.org
Water Issues
Surfrider is all about Water! Its about ensuring that we have clean accessible waves.Your Monterey Chapter is working towards this in a few ways:
This project looks at water reduction and fertilizer reduction in our landscaping by the use of climate adjusted native plants and thus creating less runoff and cleaner oceans. This project is full of promise but has yet to really get going. We have an individual who has deep knowledge of this program and is interested in picking up and running with it in the near future. If you are interested in helping out with this project please contact Vicci East, our dynamite Volunteer Coordinator, at montereysurfridersecretary@gmail.com.
Have you been sick after swimming? If you are lucky and have not gotten ill than you are likely to at least know someone who has. Surfrider is working to institute some water quality monitoring and alerts for our bay. There are details to consider, equipment to locate and it may take a while to get this started but we have had some interested and skilled individuals show interest in taking on the challenge of getting us started. If you would like thelp out, drop an email to montereysurfridersecretary@gmail.com and our Volunteer Coordinator will get you going.
On Our Watch List
There are always causes to champion in our stewardship of the sea. As such, we have our eyes and ears open and are watching a number of local issues. These include Beach Access, Regional Water Project, PG Reservoir, Coastal Development/Erosion
