33rd Annual Coastal Cleanup Day

Save Our Shores Targets 80 Beach & Waterway Cleanup Sites in the Monterey Bay

Volunteers Needed September 16

MONTEREY BAY — Annual Coastal Cleanup Day is the world’s largest volunteer effort for the ocean, and it’s happening again this Saturday, September 16 from 9 a.m. to noon. Here along California’s Central Coast, Save Our Shores organizes 80 beach, river and inland cleanup sites stretching from Waddell Creek Beach in Northern Santa Cruz County to the Big Sur Coast in Monterey County.

The 33 year-old event is exclusively run by volunteers and partners who are invested in keeping their local marine environment healthy. Last year, the Monterey Bay community of 3,148 volunteers managed to remove 10.5 tons of pollution from our shores.

Getting involved is easy and free! Visit saveourshores.org/coastal-cleanup for volunteer pre-registration and select a beach or waterway to help clean in Santa Cruz or Monterey County. The more helping hands, the more pollution our community can prevent from entering our beautiful ocean and endangering marine wildlife. The rest of the day is reserved for relaxing with family and friends, soaking up the sun, and getting rewarded with free food and prizes.

Why are beach, river and inland cleanups important?

Wildlife Health: Trash negatively impacts Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is home to 29 MPAs! MPAs increase fish sizes and population, reduce overfishing, restore marine habitats, support marine diversity and improve the overall health of coastal ecosystems that sustain life. Humans are the only ones that can prevent waste from entering our ocean.

Economic Health: The cost of coastal waste management is very expensive and Coastal tourism is number one in Santa Cruz County.

Community Health: Save Our Shores Annual Coastal Cleanup is designed to bring communities together to actively participate in improving their local environment. SOS is here to benefit every Central Coastal community.

Save Our Shores asks all volunteers to share their experience in real-time on social media using the hashtags: #SaveOurShores and #CoastalCleanupDay. Remember to tag locations! For those not on social media, please share your photos with SOS via photos@saveourshores.org

Save Our Shores 33rd Annual Coastal Cleanup is supported by County of Santa Cruz Department of Public Works, the City of Santa Cruz, the City of Watsonville, California Coastal Commission, NOAA, the Resource Legacy Foundation, the Dream Inn, New Leaf Community Markets, MontereySea, Brady’s Yacht Club, Greenwaste Recovery Inc, Waste Management, EO products, Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Photos by volunteer Kimberly Saxton-Heinrichs of Bellarmine High School student volunteers, Coastal Cleanup Day 2016 at Panther Beach in Santa Cruz