What Is The Surfrider Foundation?

There are a lot of organisations out there fighting the good fight for our oceans, coasts, wildlife and beaches every single day. Largely powered under the steam of volunteers desperate to ensure the survival of our glorious coastlines and ecosystems.

In this series we will look at who these groups are, what they do and why they do it.

We begin with a serious success story that goes by the name, Surfrider.

Who?

The Surfrider Foundation is an activist group with chapters and volunteers across the world.

It was formed in 1984 by a group of surfers from Malibu who took action after concerns about health and environmental issues at their local break. From that seed grew what has become one of the largest non-profit organisations in the world today. The birth of Surfrider has since seen vast expansion with Surfrider Foundations now also present in many areas including, Australia, Europe, Morocco, Argentina and Japan.

In the US alone, Surfrider have a strong track record of enabling positive change for the ocean and coasts with over 600 successful campaigns run since 2006.

What they do?

The mission statement reads as follows: ‘The Surfrider Foundation is dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves and beaches, for all people, through a powerful activist network.’

Surfrider are ‘boots on the ground’ with many active campaigns running at any one given time.  At the time of writing there are 151 active campaigns running across 11 areas of the USA. They consider a campaign to have reached a ‘victory’ stage once their actions have resulted in a governing body making a change that further protects coastal and ocean environments, or improves coastal access. In 2021 in the US, there have been 71 victories to date, covering a wide range of actions such as stopping sewage spills at local beaches, protecting dunes in Miami Beach, and a ban on seabed mining in Washington to name but a few.

The model Surfrider is built around is one of seeking change at a local level by engaging and cooperating with local cities and governments.

Main concerns?

The Surfrider Foundation fight on a number of ecological fronts.

• They want to see a reduction in plastic use.
• Defend the ecosystem of the ocean.
• Ensure everyone is given full and fair access to beaches.
• Preserve the coastline against ongoing threats.
• Ensure that the world has access to clean water.

Notable success stories?

In 1985 a federal court ruled in favour of Surfrider in their battle with the US Army about a proposed breakwater at Imperial Beach, San Diego.

1989 brought a landmark campaign success when Surfrider stopped a marina and mile-long breakwater being built at Huntington Beach, California.

In 2002 and after a ten-year fight, Surfrider won the battle to stop the Orange County Sanitation District Board discharging 240 million gallons of partially treated sewage per day just off Huntington Beach. This discharge had been occurred for the previous twenty years.

2008 and Trestles surfing beaches are saved from being lost under the development of a new toll road.

The work of Surfrider has saved many world-renowned surfing breaks including, Honolua Bay, Hawaii.

2016 saw the launch of the Ocean Friendly Restaurants programme. A campaign directly targeting the use of plastics, whilst highlighting how this is suffocating the ocean with over 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic present in our waters.

Ambassadors

Surfrider has some big names among its list of ambassadors. These include former Surfing World Champion, Shaun Tomson, three-time Women’s World champ, Carissa Moore, and big wave hero, Greg Long. Surfing Europe was founded by wave-riding legend, Tom Curren.