Thank you to our volunteers for another incredible year of hard work improving our waterways, coasts, and ocean in the Mid-Atlantic. Your dedication gets us closer to our goal of clean water and healthy beaches, for all to enjoy.
The nine volunteer-led Surfrider chapters in the Mid-Atlantic put in countless hours of their time, including organizing more than 50 beach cleanups, hundreds of water testing samples, four dunegrass plantings, and loads of other events. Thank you to our amazing volunteers!
COASTS AND CLIMATE
Surfrider’s Climate Action Program, which seeks to restore coastlines to make them more resilient in the face of climate change, continued to gain momentum nationally and in the Mid-Atlantic. The NYC Chapter hosted a massive dune planting in the Rockaways with partner RISE for NYC Climate Week, the Eastern Long Island Chapter hosted a dunegrass planting with Group For the East End, and the Jersey Shore Chapter hosted two dune plantings.
On the policy side of things, our four New York Chapters joined a small coalition for a lobby day in Albany supporting the Climate Resilient New York Act, which will prepare the State for multiple threats looming from climate change, including, more frequent flooding, storms, and storm surge.
PLASTIC
It was another big year of plastics policy and program work in the Mid-Atlantic! We organized at least 51 beach cleanups, and our Ocean Friendly Restaurant tally includes 36 locations across the region. In October, multiple Mid-Atlantic chapters banded together to organize the first annual “Cleanup Crawl” for the Delaware River, hosting four cleanups along its route over one weekend.
On the policy front, we continued to support a ton of plastics bills in response to the plastic pollution crisis threatening human health and the environment. We are supporting four statewide Skip the Stuff bills (NY, NJ, DE, MD), three statewide Bottle bills (MD, NY, DC), and two statewide Extended Producer Responsibility bills (NY and NJ).
In 2025 we hosted our first lobby day in Annapolis, in support of the Maryland Bottle Bill. We organized around 40 participants, including about 20 student club members representing four Surfrider Clubs, into 40 meetings in the Capitol city.
On the local level, the South Jersey Chapter, working with Surfrider staff, other local groups, and concerned locals, continued passing local ordinances that require construction sites to contain and remove plastic and other particles. These pollutants would otherwise end up in storm drains, and ultimately the ocean. The small group has passed more than 20 ordinances to date, with a statewide bill on the way for 2026.
Our Eastern Long Island Chapter notched a local victory in Sag Harbor, passing a “Skip the Stuff” ordinance, which requires restaurants to ask customers first before automatically putting things like plastic utensils, condiment packets, and chopsticks into to-go and delivery food orders.
CLEAN WATER
Nationally, Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force (BWTF) helped keep beachgoers safe by gathering and testing over 9,000 water samples at over 500 sites throughout the United States. In the Mid-Atlantic, the Eastern Long Island, NYC, and Delaware chapters continued to provide valuable public safety information through their successful BWTF programs, testing at more than 60 sites.
In a win for human health on Long Island, the Eastern Long Island Chapter led a public education effort at Mecox Bay, installing permanent signs with QR codes directing people to the chapter’s water quality test results in the bay and at the adjacent beach — helping the public make informed decisions about where it is safe to enter the water.
The Annapolis High School Club led the charge to install the Mid-Atlantic’s newest Ocean Friendly Garden, in partnership with the Annapolis Maritime Museum.
In troubling news, the Williams NESE fracked gas pipeline proposal is back after an almost 10 year fight that stopped it for good in 2024. The New York City Chapter has jumped back into the fight, with the Jersey Shore Chapter assisting from their side of the pipeline route. Surfrider and other groups, with representation from Earthjustice, are suing the State of New York over permits awarded to NESE--stay tuned for that outcome in 2026.
ACCESS
Our New Jersey Chapters continue to look for opportunities to increase access to NJ beaches, while fighting off new threats to beach access. They are supporting a beach badge revenue financial transparency bill in the State, which would shine a light on high beach badge costs, which are a hindrance for people to visit beaches throughout the State. The Jersey Shore Chapter continued its longtime fight against bad ordinances in Deal, NJ, while continuing to fight for summer Sunday morning access at the beach in Ocean Grove, NJ.
CHAPTER NETWORK
Each of the Chapters had an amazing roster of volunteer opportunities and events in 2025. The Delaware, Jersey Shore, South Jersey, and Ocean City Chapters all won national Surfrider Coastal Champion awards for their fantastic programs and events.
Our volunteers continued to shine nationally, with Volunteer Spotlights for: Corinne Summer from the NYC Chapter, Gracyn Green from the Annapolis High School Club, and Ruby Dougherty from the Broadneck High School Club. Additionally, Diana Pettit from the Jersey Shore Chapter won the national Wavemaker Leadership prize for the whole East region!
The Ocean City and Jersey Shore Chapters both led sustainability programs at the Ocean’s Calling and Sea.Hear.Now Music Festivals, diverting TONS (literally!) of metal and plastic bottles from the ocean and landfill as well as running water bottle refill stations.
The Delaware Chapter held their second annual Surf Swap in Rehoboth and the Jersey Shore Chapter led their 19th Annual Family Day event in Asbury Park, offering free activities for kids and families, including surf lessons, an educational scavenger hunt, water safety instruction, arts and crafts, food, and live music. The Eastern Long Island Chapter hosted another successful Surf Movie Night.
SUMMARY
The Surfrider Foundation celebrates our 41st anniversary this year, growing from just a small group of concerned surfers in 1984, to our nationwide network of over 80 chapters and more than 200 student clubs. To all our volunteers, who we couldn’t do this work without: Thanks for another fantastic year!