The Surfrider Foundation does Important Work on Long Island

“The seas are rising and so are we,” Surfrider Foundation.

-Photo Credit: Surfrider

The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental group with roots all over the world. Their mission is to preserve the world’s oceans and beaches with a focus on sustaining marine ecosystems. While they are headquartered in California, the Surfrider Foundation utilizes a grassroots approach. There are 80 chapters across the world, with two of them being on Long Island. The organization has a membership amounting to over 50,000.

There are several notable programs that the Surfrider Foundation has created. A major focus of the Eastern and Central Long Island chapters is trash removal from beaches. Between the two chapters, over 100 beach cleanups have been completed, with over 2000 volunteers taking part. These efforts led to more than 16,000 pounds of trash removed from local beaches.

-Photo Credit: Surfrider

Another notable program is their “Blue Water Taskforce”, an important series of reports that test the water quality of Long Island beaches. The Eastern LI chapter partnered with the citizens of Montauk as well as the Peconic Baykeeper organization to monitor water quality. This is a year-round effort that takes place along 60 different sites on Eastern LI.

In 2019, over 1,377 water samples were collected, and their findings were summarized in a report on their website. Their findings were generally negative, with the report stating that certain recreational sites in Eastern LI undergo either periodical or chronic high levels of bacteria.

As noted by their report, this is important work and can help fuel decisions at a governmental level to deal with pollutants and runoff in our local waters. This is an issue that affects all of Long Island, with the Central Long Island chapter similarly emphasizing its importance. The Surfrider Organization as a whole believes people should keep up to date with the water quality reports of their local area both for health reasons as well as to make people aware of human impact on our beaches.

Data for the Blue Water Taskforce is updated regularly and can be found here. If you would like to take part in the Surfrider Foundation’s important work, visit their website where you can also find information on your local chapters, including their websites.