2025 was another great year for Surfrider in California! Chapters and staff worked together to achieve 7 Coastal Victories that represent public policy decisions to help protect our coast.
California Surfrider chapters and student clubs were doing amazing things in their communities and collectively:
- Hosted 494 beach cleanups that engaged 19,128 volunteers and collected over 69,464 pounds of trash
- Led 22 Blue Water Task Force water testing labs that processed 2,400 water-quality samples.
- Removed 35.7k lbs of invasive species, and nearly 12 acres of habitat were restored by 900 volunteers through the Climate Action Program
- Installed 1,669 native plants, and 11,470 sq ft of grass lawn was transformed through 51 Ocean Friendly Gardens workdays
Check out our legislative recap and here’s a look at some more of our accomplishments in each of our five initiatives:
Beach Access
The Los Angeles Chapter’s One Watershed program is a beach access initiative that, in 2025, brought 120 youth from underrepresented communities in LA County to their local beach for surfing lessons with Aqua Surf, fun in the sun, and conversations in community watershed conservation. This past summer’s program carried a deeper emotional weight, as it was sponsored by Cooper Mayer’s memorial funds. Cooper was a Surfrider volunteer and surf instructor with AquaSurf, inspiring young people and showing them what was possible on a surfboard and beyond.
Other great projects introducing kids to the beach and ocean include ALAS Surf Camp (San Mateo County) and Surfworks Camp (Marin).
Clean Water
California chapters launched six new Blue Water Task Force labs, which continue to be the largest volunteer-led water quality monitoring program in the county. The new labs include: Camp Surf YMCA (San Diego), Kerkhoff Marine Lab (North OC), Gardena Willows Wetlands Preserve (South Bay), Monterey County, and San Francisco. Additionally, the Santa Cruz Chapter re-launched their water-testing program in 2025.
For the Los Angeles chapter, 2025 began unimaginably with multiple record-breaking wildfires, one in the Pacific Palisades and one in Altadena. Hear more about the LA chapter’s response through Ep 6 of the Surfrider podcast or check out their blogs on water testing and understanding water quality post-fire.
Coasts and Climate
Chapters across the coast were busy rolling up their sleeves and enhancing coastal resilience through dune restoration projects. Project highlights include: Trestles (South OC), Ocean Beach (San Francisco), and Port Hueneme (Ventura).
Phase Two of the Surfer’s Point nature-based solution project in Ventura neared completion in 2025! All that remains is to add native plants to help establish the dunes.
Check out the projects here on the Climate Action Dashboard
Ocean Protection
The Federal Administration’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management began the development of the 11th National Program for Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The draft plan released in November put the entire California coastline at risk. Chapters mobilized to gather opposition to the plan by doing outreach to local governments, businesses, and the public.
The Santa Barbara Chapter engaged with the Don’t Enable Sable coalition of groups working to stop the restart of the oil pipeline that went offline after the 2015 oil spill. The chapter organized a paddleout in May to mark the 10th anniversary of the devastating oil spill and participated at a number of hearings and meetings with the California Coastal Commission and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. We were able to work together to slow down reckless disregard for a proper restart of the oil pipeline and the final outcome remains to be seen.
Stewardship in Marine Protected Areas - There were 17 Surfrider events or activities in/adjacent to MPAs in 2025.
Plastic Pollution
Santa Cruz votes to ban the butt! In September, the City of Capitola passed an ordinance banning the retail sale of tobacco products with plastic filters or tips. Their ordinance copies local laws recently passed for the City of Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz County (unincorporated areas) that will take effect in 2027. With Capitola's adoption of this ordinance, the chapter now looks to other cities in Santa Cruz County to follow suit. Our goal is to create a unified approach to banning plastic cigarette filters across the region, amplifying the impact of this policy and encouraging broader adoption statewide.
San Diego helped pass two new plastic reduction ordinances, helping to reduce plastic pollution at the source. Coronado was the last coastal city in San Diego to pass a plastics ordinance, and Del Mar strengthened its pre-existing ordinances.
The LA Chapter continues to work with our long-standing Reusable LA coalition to advance reusable foodware for all dine-in restaurants. Our OFB team continues to grow and make an impact by bringing more businesses into the Ocean Friendly Restaurants and Ocean Friendly Hotels programs. A highlight from 2025: 45 Ocean Friendly Restaurants and 2 Ocean Friendly Hotels are now participating.
Additional Chapter Highlights
Surfrider LA co-hosted the 5th Annual Patagonia Film Festival with Patagonia Santa Monica, bringing together 300 community members for an evening of films, music, and art focused on water and conservation. A major highlight was Fish for the Future winning Best Overall Film, created by core volunteer Matt Benton, which follows goby fish rescue efforts with RCDSMM after the fires and reflects the strength of local partnerships working to protect vulnerable species and restore ecosystems.