This year was a significant one for Surfrider and the work we've led to protect our ocean, waves, and beaches. Marking 40 years of action on our coasts, 2024 saw enormous growth in our network and impact across the United States. We led successful campaigns to curb plastic pollution at the source, improve ocean water quality monitoring at beaches in need, and better protect our coasts against erosion and climate change. We built new programs while strengthening the ones we have been leading for decades.

Our network helped establish new marine protected areas, protecting millions of acres of ocean habitats, while working with Congress to keep new offshore oil drilling out of the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. We restored coastal ecosystems, monitored water quality on more beaches than any other organization in the world, and helped hundreds of restaurants and hotels transition away from single-use plastics. 

It is not just the end of any year — it is the end of 40 years of Surfrider leading the way for ocean protection. 

Here are some highlights in 2024: 

• 57 campaign victories that passed policies to protect our coasts and ocean
• >114,000 pounds of trash removed from beaches and coastal waterways
• 2.9 million acres of ocean habitats protected through new marine protected areas
• 47 restoration events to restore coastal ecosystems
• 55,000 volunteers engaged in on-the-ground conservation

Coasts and Climate

Surfrider’s Coasts and Climate Initiative grew exponentially with major impacts across the country. Our network achieved 16 campaign victories in 2024, with local wins to stop harmful coastal armoring in Oregon and advance better beach management on Oahu’s famous North Shore, an area suffering from chronic erosion issues.

Through state-level campaigns, we kept major development out of Florida’s treasured state parks and worked with the California Coastal Commission to make smarter decisions for the state’s coastline. At the federal level, Surfrider helped expand the Coastal Barriers Resources Act to protect 290,000 acres of coastal habitats from risky development and climate change driven hazards.

This year marked significant milestones to protect and adapt iconic shorelines and surf breaks in California to erosion and the impacts of climate change. Surfrider’s multi-decadal campaign at Surfers’ Point in Ventura broke ground on Phase II to relocate an eroding bike path and parking lot off the beach and make way for a natural dune habitat. At San Onofre State Beach, Surfrider launched an effort, with a new grant from California's State Coastal Conservancy, to lead a community-driven and nature-based project that protects this globally unique surfing and cultural site.   

In 2024 Surfrider officially launched its Climate Action Program, a first line of defense against the impacts of climate change and erosion on our coasts. Through the program, Surfrider’s network is getting their hands dirty and restoring coastal habitats across the country, including carbon-storing mangroves in Puerto Rico, beach dunes up and down the East Coast, and wetlands in California. In 2024, more than 2,260 Surfrider volunteers installed 14,472 native plants through 47 restoration events. This program harnesses nature-based solutions and the power of our volunteer network to help our coasts adapt to sea level rise, increasingly intense storms, and chronic erosion that are affecting so many of our beaches. 

Clean Water

In 2024 Surfrider won 10 policy campaigns that protect coastal water quality, ensure continued water quality monitoring to safeguard public health at the beach, and improve public notification when the water is polluted.

We continued to advocate for the solutions and funding needed to address the sewage crisis on San Diego County's US-Mexico border, one of the worst ongoing public health and environmental justice issues in the nation. Surfrider led an effort with Un Mar de Colores that officially declared the Tijuana River, which empties in to Imperial Beach, as one of America's most endangered rivers.  Surfrider's grassroots advocacy on the issue helped secure nearly $250 million for border sewage infrastructure improvements in 2024 through Congress and California’s Climate Bond.

In Hawaii, Surfrider led campaigns to improve water quality testing and public notification across the islands while advancing cesspool conversions through state-level advocacy. In Suffolk County, New York, Surfrider successfully advocated to establish a new revenue-stream to fund septic and sewer system upgrades on Long Island. Meanwhile, in Florida, Surfrider’s Miami Chapter supported a successful county-wide ordinance to reduce stormwater runoff and promote nature-based solutions. 

Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Gardens program grew in 2024, making an impact on beach water quality upstream - at homes, schools, community centers, and public property. Florida’s Space Coast Chapter installed four new Ocean Friendly Gardens that soak up and filter runoff before it flows into the Indian River Lagoon. In Southern California, the Los Angeles and Long Beach Chapters installed seven new gardens with partners at an elementary school, indigenous cultural center, city departments, and neighborhood associations. These garden projects provide opportunities for hands-on action to protect clean water and resilient communities.

Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force, the largest beach water quality testing program of its kind, continued to grow in 2024. With 60 labs across the country, volunteers performed over 9,500 tests at nearly 600 sampling sites. Surfrider’s data is helping people make informed decisions on where it is safe to surf, swim and play, while also driving important policy decisions to solve pollution issues. 

Plastic Pollution 

In 2024, Surfrider’s Beach Cleanup Program removed 110,222 pounds of trash, including single-use plastics, from beaches around the country. With the help of nearly 25,000 dedicated volunteers we led more than 1,000 cleanups that provided communities, youth, partner organizations, and companies a first-hand stewardship experience that protects our coasts. In addition to removing enormous amounts of waste from our beaches, these cleanups provide critical data that help pass policies to curb single-use plastic waste at the source. 

Meanwhile, Surfrider successfully led 13 policy campaigns that: strengthen bag bans in California and Folly Beach, South Carolina; prevent intentional balloon releases in Florida; stop harmful chemical recycling in New York; reduce construction site plastic waste locally in New Jersey; ban plastic bags in Annapolis, Maryland; and reduce restaurant single-use plastic waste, through a Skip the Stuff ordinance, in East Hampton, New York.  

Surfrider worked with businesses to help them transition away from single-use plastics in 2024. Our Ocean Friendly Restaurants now include more than 570 businesses that serve more than 38 million single-use plastic-free meals a year. Surfrider's Ocean Friendly Hotels, launched in September 2024, already includes 20 businesses that collectively reduce more than 620,000 plastic water bottles and 930,000 mini toiletry bottles in hotels.

In September, Surfrider, along with Heal the Bay, Sierra Club, and San Francisco Baykeeper, filed a lawsuit against the largest contributor of single-use plastic waste, ExxonMobile, for covering up the truth about the dangers of the single-use plastics it produces.

Ocean Protection

Surfrider won nine campaigns in 2024 that protect more than 25.6 million acres our ocean against offshore oil drilling, seabed mining, and other destructive human activities. After more than a decade of advocacy with the Northern Chumash Tribal Council and other partners, Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary was established, protecting 2.9 million acres of central California’s wild coastline. Surfrider helped strengthen protections for the 3.1 million-acre Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the coast of New England and played a critical role in management plan updates for Florida Keys and Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuaries. In Puerto Rico, a new marine reserve was also established, thanks to Surfrider’s grassroots leadership on the island. Vega Baja y Manati Marine Reserve protects 43,700 acres of Elkhorn coral, mangroves, and other key ecosystems.

While these new protected areas safeguard critical habitats, the threats from offshore oil drilling loom large along nearly all coasts. Surfrider continued to monitor efforts by Congress to open up offshore areas for new drilling. We were able to help stop a proposal that would have required the Department of the Interior to conduct oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska’s coast. Also, in 2024, with the help of Surfrider Hawaii joined California, Washington, and Oregon in banning destructive seabed mining in state waters. 

Beach Access

Critical to our ability to enjoy the ocean, waves, and beaches is open public access to the coast. In 2024 our network worked to restore public recreational beach access in Maine and Galveston, Texas, allow for more times to legally surf in Delaware, and improve beach access in Florida. We also reached the final steps in a campaign to preserve public coastal access at Lighthouse Beach in Coos Bay, Oregon.

At Southern California’s San Onofre State Beach, home to the iconic Trestles surf break, Surfrider embarked on a campaign to ensure California State Park’s continued management of the beach. A 50-year lease agreement between the Marine Corps and State Parks was set to expire this year, putting continued public access in question. At the eleventh hour and after months of advocacy by local ocean users, a 25-year agreement was reached ensuring continued public access to this globally important surfing and cultural resource.

While we can look back on our 40th year and reflect on the success that Surfrider has had in protecting coastlines across the United States, we know that there is much more work to be done. We staved off new oil drilling in 2024 but can expect there will be pressure to open up more areas in the years to come. We will continue to defend federal agency budgets that are critical for programs for our health and our coasts. Meanwhile, we will double down on our efforts to pass meaningful policies at the local and state levels that ensure clean, protected, and accessible waves and beaches for all. Lastly, Surfrider’s programs will continue to make an impact on the ground every day, as they have for 40 years.

If you have not yet supported this work in 2024, please do. Become a friend of the ocean and make a donation today.