East Coast
This past April, the Surfrider Foundation's Topsail Island Chapter
held its first annual "One Board" surf contest." The contest, which was developed
as a fund raiser for the chapter, was more of an expression session than
a traditional contest. The chapter put a unique spin on the event; each competitor
rode a similar board (9' epoxy longboards, which were donated by NSP Surfboards
and On Shore Surf Shop). Additionally, there were no age brackets. Mostly
sunny skies and fun 2 to 3 foot surf made for a fun event. Best of all, the
Topsail Island Chapter banked some cash to fund chapter programs. The event
was organized by local shaper and shop owner, George Howard. Top honors went
to Kyle Sumer, Josh Bradley, and PJ Watkins, with Randy Howe leading the
pack. "Now with two successful events behind us we can plan to do a few beach
clean-ups," said chapter Chairman, Mike Gallant. "Hopefully we can
keep the momentum going!"
Jersey Shore Chapter representative Bill Rosenblatt met with
Asbury Park Council Members Kate Mellina and John La Freida who stated they
never knew that Surfrider Foundation offered to put together a surfing recreation
program for Asbury Park. The program, developed by the chapter in an effort
to open beach access and educate local children on coastal issues was rejected
by the Recreation Department.
In this most recent meeting, both councilpersons agreed to support designating
surfing beaches during the summer lifeguard hours if the chapter offered
the recreational program again. The chapter is moving forward with the preparation
needed to implement the program.
During the past few decades, numerous wells have been drilled throughout
Florida for the purpose of injecting various fluids into the aquifer, including
partially treated sewage. Activists from Surfrider Foundation's Palm Beach
Chapter believe that these aquifer injections for disposal purposes present
a real threat to Florida's natural ecosystems. The chapter's preliminary
estimates show that approximately 300 deep injection wells and 900 shallow
injection wells along the Florida coastlines are used to inject partially
treated sewage. The total injectate volume for these wells is approximately
one billion gallons per day. Chapter activist's cite recent scientific studies
to support their position that contaminated fluids injected into the aquifer
are entering Florida's near shore coastal waters and surface waters. In response
to this issue, the chapter has implemented a campaign calling for the State
of Florida and the Federal Government to immediately halt the funding, permitting
and construction of all new aquifer injection wells, as well as any requests
to increase injections into existing wells, and to initiate aquifer-remediation
activities to protect Florida's coastal environment, other surface waters
and humans from contaminants already injected.
At the request of the Surfrider Foundation's Delaware Chapter, Mayor
Sam Cooper and the City Council of Rehoboth Beach unanimously approved designating
the beach at the north end of the city limits of Rehoboth as a "Surfing Only
Beach."
Many thanks are due Mr. Kent Buckson, Captain of the Rehoboth Beach Life
Guard Patrol who testified before the Rehoboth City Council regarding the
beach conditions at this location, claiming that the beach would be ideal
for "surfers". The chapter would also like to thank Mayor Sam Cooper, Mr.
Richard Sargent and Ms. Cathy McGinnis as well as the entire City Council
regarding this important "Surf Access" issue.
Members from the Surfrider Foundation's Capitol Chapter braved the
cold and the rain to participate in the 15th Annual Potomac Watershed Cleanup
in early April. On hand were Chapter Chair Darryl Hatheway and activists
Jen Seggel, Ryan Carroll, Darcy Anurca, Ed Eads
and David Doherty. The Capitol Chapter wishes to thank Patagonia's
Georgetown store for their continued support.
Surfrider Foundation's Grand Strand Chapter (A.K.A Myrtle Beach, SC.)
have partnered with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Control's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) in the Adopt-A-Beach
program.
Chapter Chair Jared Hendrix and the rest of the Grand Strand crew
are looking for civic clubs, businesses, school groups, neighborhood associations
and other organizations to adopt a stretch of beach. The chapter will help
you find an area to adopt and also publicize your group or organization by
posting a sign near your adopted beach to tell everyone that your group is
in charge of keeping this stretch of beach clean. To get involved, contact
Bruxanne at 215-7658 or e-mail bruxanne@yahoo.com.
In other Grand Banks Chapter news, the chapter is keeping tabs on a planned
development near the south end of Springmaid Beach. Popular with both local
and visiting surfers, the area was created thirty years ago when surfing
was banned during the day in the city limits of Myrtle Beach. Now, the city-appointed
Beach Safety Committee is considering limiting or eliminating surfing at
Springmaid Beach. After vocal opposition from both the Surfrider Foundation's
Grand Strand Chapter and the local kayak community, a committee was formed
to search for alternatives to restricting surf access at Springmaid Beach.
At present, the committee addressing the surfing issue at Springmaid Beach
(Chapter Chair Jared Hendrix, Charlie Thompson, Jeff Cole and John Bailey)
made recommendations to the Beach Committee regarding Springmaid, including
parking issues and a new beach access, as well recommendations regarding
the current surfing/kayaking regulations within the MB city limits.
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West Coast
Surfrider Foundation's San Clemente and Laguna Beach Chapters
received a total of $10,000 from the South Coast Water District to set up
Blue Water Task Force testing labs at local schools. The San Clemente Chapter
will set up a lab at Shorecliffs Middle School, which will expand a chapter
project already in place at San Clemente High School. The Laguna Beach Chapter
will use the funding to continue the water-testing program they implemented
at Laguna Beach High School.
Rick Wilson, Chairman of the Laguna Beach Chapter stated, "The Laguna
Beach Chapter is grateful to the South Coast Water District and the San Diego
Regional Water Quality Control Board for funding another year of the Blue
Water Task Force program at Laguna Beach High School."
The funding was made possible from a legal settlement between South Coast
Water District and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board. District
officials were facing $136,000 in fines from the regional board for failure
to file complete or timely reports on sewage spills on four occasions. The
district offered to settle for $105,000, with $55,000 of the money earmarked
for local environmental programs. The Surfrider Foundation's program was
a natural choice for this funding because of the educational, volunteerism
and scientific components of the projects.
In 1998, Huntington/Seal Beach Chapter activist, Don Schulz
led Surfrider Foundation efforts in coordinating participation in a marine
environmental study directed by the Southern California Coastal Water Research
Project (SCCWRP). The project was the first marine research environmental
study conducted at SCCWRP, in which citizen volunteers were invited to participate.
Members from three Surfrider Foundation chapters assisted in the project
with about 10% of the microbiological data being supplied by volunteer-staffed
laboratories.
Because of the mutual advantages gained from this cooperative effort, The
Surfrider Foundation has been invited back to participate in the project's
2003 study. Don is currently coordinating Surfrider Foundation volunteer
involvement from Point Conception to south of the Mexico border. This phase
of the study will focus on shoreline-offshore bacterial levels, bacterial
indicator intercalibration and microbiological source tracking. This essentail
information provided by these studies will greatly benefit Surfrider Foundation
campaigns throughout Southern California.
On April 27th the Newport Beach Chapter organized a group of 40 volunteers,
including chapter activists Yvonne Lujan, Paul and Irma Mudge, Ray Halowski,
Rich Hidalgo, Julie Chou, Mary Carlyle, Silvia Rodriguez, Lisa Lawrence,
Bill Kyle, Ryan Dwight, Ray and Tracy Elder and Nancy Gardner, along
the bridge of the Santa Ana River to call attention to the chapter's Fifty
in Five Program. The program's goals are to reduce the amount of pollution
in the Santa River by 50% within 5 years. The rally was staged as an educational
outreach event to get the message to the media and increase public awareness
on the issue and potential solutions. The rally received front page coverage
and supporting articles in several local newspapers.
Hawaii
As part of the strategy to save Ma'alaea, Surfrider Foundation's Maui
Chapter is conducting an ongoing outreach program to raise awareness
of beach and coastal issues within the community. Since launching the effort
nearly two years ago, the chapter has made concerted efforts to make inroads
with local schools. Now it looks as if those efforts are paying off. The
chapter recently presented certificates of recognition to two Baldwin High
School juniors, Jennifer Huntley and Jenna Teshima, whose science
project "Are You Swimming in a Sewer?" won several awards at the local and
state science fairs. The pair utilized the chapter's Blue Water Task Force
lab in researching their project. Congratulations to both Jenna and Jennifer
on their success!
Send your chapter news, with accompanying high resolution digital images
to makingwaves@surfrider.org
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