What is Surfrider?

In California in 1984, a group of surfers had enough of surfing in polluted water.  They decided to stop putting up with the situation, and to act in order to change it.  They created the association called Surfrider Foundation, for the protection of waves, the ocean and the coastlines.  Tom Curren, triple world surfing champion, arrived in France to live, noticed the terrible state of the beaches and created the European headquarters of Surfrider Foundation in 1990 in Biarritz (France).

Since then, Surfrider Foundation employees and thousands of volunteers throughout Europe and across the world battle to keep the ocean clean.  In addition, this allows us to continue to bathe and practice water sports without risking our health or safety.  At the same time as protecting our playground, we also protect the living space of thousands of animal and vegetable species.  Today, Surfrider Foundation has headquarters in all major continents: Australia, Europe (France), North and South America (Brazil, Argentina), Asia (Japan), as well as numerous local chapters across all the coastlines.

What do we do?

We try to fight for a clean ocean in various different ways:

  • We try to explain to people the impact that we all have in our daily lives on the marine environment, even those living far from the sea.  In order to do this, we go to the beaches in summer, during surf competitions for example, where we bring to life educational workshops and teach how to protect the environment.  We also present at schools, colleges, vacation and leisure centers and also to businesses.
  • We develop educational tools that our volunteers can use during their  presentations, or that school teachers can use in class. 
  • We also have laboratories where we test samples of sea water.  We notify local authorities (town mayors for example) if we detect a pollution problem, in order to work together to find a solution. 
  • We carry out studies, for example on maritime transport, in order to anticipate pollution (ex: oil spills) that could happen if we don’t put regulations in place.
  • We even carry out actions before courts and tribunals, if this is necessary, in order to prevent industrial or tourism related activities from spoiling beaches.

 

 

How can you help us protect the ocean?

You too, you can help us protect the coastline and the oceans! 

You can become a Guardian of the Coast.  If you live near the coast or if you are on holidays by the sea, you could let us know if you discover a pollution problem.  If the problem is significant, we will open a file to work towards a solution. 

You can participate with your family or with your class in Ocean Initiatives, our huge clean-up of the beaches, lakes and rivers that we organize every year in March. 

You can talk to your teacher or your professor about presenting in class the different pollution problems that surround the ocean.  We have films and other materials available that you could use or talk about at school. 

You can speak with those around you, your friends and your family, about our actions or simply talk about what all of us can do ourselves in order to avoid pollution.