Conclusions

Get Involved

There Are Actions We Can Take to Begin to Make Our Beaches Healthier

As a concerned citizen:

Get informed. Do you sometimes wonder what is coming out of that pipe and onto the beach? Question your local officials. Find out who is watching over your beach and what their responsibilities are. Read the newspaper, listen to the news, visit your local library, surf the Internet, attend a class. Do what it takes to gain a better understanding of issues affecting the health of your beach and what you can do to improve the situation.
Take action. No one knows your local beach like you do. Put your local knowledge to work. If you are not already a member, join the Surfrider Foundation at: http://www.surfrider.org/join. Attend a local chapter meeting. If you live within a couple of hours' drive of the coast there's probably one near you. Visit our Web site to learn about a chapter near you: http://www.surfrider.org/chapters.asp

Your elected officials need to know that you care about the health of the coast and ocean, and that you care about the decisions they make. Attend a city council or county commission meeting, write or call your state and congressional representatives. Speak through your vote when the time comes. Set an example for others in your daily behavior. Check out our calls to action on the Surfrider Web site
Get connected. No one can do it alone. Just as you get together with a buddy when you go swimming or surfing or diving, you should join with boaters, kayakers, joggers, dog walkers, kite fliers, and others in your area with common interests and concerns about the health of your coastal recreation areas. Talk about how you can coordinate efforts and resources. Use the strength of numbers.

As a coastal manager:

Collect more information on beach health. Fill the data gaps that exist in your state for Surfrider's beach health indicators. At a minimum, all states should have accurate and up-to-date inventories of beach access sites, beach closures and advisories, storm drains and sewer outfalls, beach erosion "hotspots," beach fill projects, shoreline structures and beach ecology indicator species. Compiling this information may take considerable time and effort, but it should pay dividends in the long run by enabling a comprehensive statewide evaluation of coastal issues, which in turn will allow the development of policies and programs to address the issues. States should also have uniform ocean water quality standards, a comprehensive monitoring program with readily-available data, and prompt posting of beach closures.

Collect better information on beach health. States, nations, and non-governmental organizations are increasingly using environmental indicators to support sound decision-making and policy development. Identifying meaningful measures of beach health, and establishing guidelines and criteria for the collection and reporting of this vital information, will enable states and the federal government to evaluate ecosystem status, track changes, and determine program effectiveness. This will provide a sound basis for decision-making and policy development.

Work as a team. As a coastal manager or regulator it is easy to focus exclusively on your particular topic and territory. Communication and coordination - between agencies, across jurisdictional boundaries, and among the full range of organizations and individuals interested in the coast and ocean - can be difficult and time-consuming. But the approach makes sense and is consistent with recommendations of the Pew Oceans Commission report, the report by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, and summary recommendation by the Joint Ocean Commission. Special area management planning is one mechanism to engage stakeholders around regional issues. The reward of such efforts is not only improved efficiency, but also enhanced resource protection and economic opportunities.

Increase public awareness. For all interests to be equally represented it is essential that the decision-making process be fully participatory. Educating the public about the economic and cultural value of coastal and ocean resources, the complexity of these resource-related issues, and the intricacies of the decision-making process will help make this happen. States have a vital role in giving public education the attention it deserves. One thing they can do is to develop user-friendly information. States can also make this information more accessible by using advances in technology that make it easier to share.