New Hampshire has a good beach water quality monitoring and reporting program for their limited (3 month) swimming season. Beach access is fair to good, and a Coastal Public Access Map was recently published which is available online. Erosion information, policies regarding shoreline structures, and inventories of shoreline structures are difficult to find. Some threats to surfing areas exist from polluted water, difficult access and antiquated laws.

Indicators

(+) Effective July 1, 2008 under the New Shoreland Protection Act Standards, a state shoreland permit is required for construction, excavation or filling activities not included in the exemptions detailed in the law, within 250 feet of the reference line. For coastal waters the reference line is the highest observable tide line.
(+) The New Hampshire Coastal Program has updated their Coastal Access Map. The updated map, which is accessible in pdf format on the NH Coastal Program Web site, includes coastal boat access points and hiking trails, fishing and wildlife viewing locations as well as points of interest like science and education centers.
(+) The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) monitors coastal waters to determine the suitability of beaches for swimming. The NHDES monitors water quality at 16 marine beaches and 164 inland freshwater beaches. There are at least two local agencies and one federal agency that also monitor beaches. The NHDES posts a sign at the beach to notify the public of advisories.
(+) New Hampshire's coastal waters were recently designated as a No Discharge Area. While boating in a No Discharge Area, marine sanitation devices must be secured to ensure overboard discharge is not occurring.
(+) In a 1997 survey by the University of New Hampshire, about 82 percent of respondents considered the protection or improvement of water quality in rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds a “high” priority.

(0) New Hampshire expanded its NOAA-approved coastal zone management area by 700% and increased wetland and shoreland enforcement personnel in the coastal zone by 25%.

(-) Very little publicly-available information exists regarding shoreline structure policy and inventory. The same is true for coastal erosion data.
(-) Budget cuts at the federal level for 2005 will decrease funding for Nonpoint Source Pollution implementation grants.

Victories

New Hampshire Beach Monitoring Program Extended into Fall & Spring The New Hampshire beach monitoring program has been extended beyond the typical summer season. This important victory can be attributed to the energy and motivation of the newly formed New Hampshire Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation.
With support from local Surfrider members as well as concerned citizens, the Town of Rye recently passed a Bylaw regulating surfing in a reasonable manner. The Town had been considering a total ban and local surfers were very pleased with that this ban did not succeed.

For a list of Surfrider Foundation's latest coastal victories, go here.