The Surfrider Foundation is an environmental coastal & river ecology organization founded by concerned surfers in San Clemente, Ca. . Please visit www.surfrider.org for more information.
Deafening Noise Pollution Severely Harms Marine Mammals & all manner of other Oceanic Wildlife
The Insider Newsletter https://view.emails.sierraclub.org/?vawpToken=EEG5RLRFPCOUFCLXVWNZEFFLDM.70252 Trump Moves to Nearly Eliminate Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante The Trump administration is moving forward with another attempt to slash Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by nearly three million acres, putting sacred Tribal lands, critical wildlife habitats, and iconic public landscapes at risk. These lands are irreplaceable. Congress must step in and act to stop this dangerous land grab. We’re Suing: Endangered Species Rely on Their Habitats On Friday, the Trump administration announced it had finalized a decision that attempts to cut key Endangered Species Act protections that have helped prevent the extinction of more than 99 percent of listed species, including the bald eagle, Florida manatee, and gray wolf. For more than 40 years, the agencies implementing the Act recognized that killing or injuring wildlife by destroying the places they depend on for food, shelter, and survival is a form of “harm.” The administration’s action eliminates a regulation reflecting this long-standing definition. We won’t let this stand. Sierra Club and partners, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit today to challenge the decision. Help spread the word on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to defend endangered species. Save Our Public Lands from Development Nearly 200 million acres of public lands — including national parks, national wildlife refuges, and areas run by the Bureau of Land Management — are at stake as the Department of the Interior undertakes a sweeping review of the policies that safeguard these lands for future generations. This review could open the door for industrial development, extraction, excessive traffic, privatization, and other activities that threaten the wild character of these landscapes. Protect Our National Parks > Trump’s Arch Trump’s Arch and other vanity projects on the National Mall are being funded by millions of dollars in entry fees from our national parks. These much-needed funds should be going toward repairing our nation’s park system, addressing staff shortages, and reducing maintenance backlogs. Tell Congress to reject funding for Trump’s arch and instead protect our national parks! Seven Epic Adventures to Add to Your Bucket List Sierra Club Outings are more than vacations; they are opportunities to explore extraordinary places alongside people who share your passion for the outdoors. Whether you’re hiking, paddling, rafting, or volunteering, you’ll return home with incredible memories, new friendships, and a renewed commitment to protecting the places you’ve experienced firsthand. Our Wild Future Is at Stake! The forest where your family camped each summer — fenced off for drilling. The lake you loved to fish in — polluted by industrial runoff. The wildlife you quietly observed while backpacking — vanished without a trace. This is the future we are working to prevent. With over 130 years of experience protecting wild places, we know how to win these fights. Yellowstone Wolves Take Brutal Hits For 30 years, Yellowstone’s wolves have been one of conservation’s great comeback stories. But now, America’s most famous wolves are dying at an unprecedented rate, and wolf pups have been particularly hard hit. The percentage of surviving pups last year was just 17 percent, with only 84 wolves remaining in Yellowstone. The cause, say biologists, is a combination of canine distemper virus, conflict with other wolves, hunting, and vehicle accidents. Read the full story to understand the details driving the decline of these precious animals. An Endangered Turtle’s Surprising Remedy Blanding’s turtles — with their permanent smiles – are vanishing from Illinois’s wetlands. When conservationists thought they’d cracked the code in saving these animals, a flesh-eating fungus threatened to undo a decade of work. Researchers fought back with a surprising solution: athlete’s foot medication. Check out how this team is saving this smiling species from disappearing in Illinois. Understanding the Power of Keystone Species If you’ve ever played Jenga, you know what happens when you pull out one important block — the tower comes crashing down. That’s the idea behind “keystone species,” animals like wolves, beavers, and sea otters whose presence (or absence) can make or break an entire ecosystem. Here’s how one scientist proved it, and why it still matters today. Donate! We have no time to waste. We must act at unmatched speed on an unprecedented scale to confront the crises facing our country and our planet. We can only be successful by building a movement that works for everyone. Learn more about the Sierra Club. |
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(Jun. 2026, Surfrider Ftn.)
The first step of offshore drilling is seismic airgun blasting to explore for oil and gas deposits beneath the seafloor. This produces noise pollution that is devastating to whales, dolphins, and other marine life.
It’s no secret that offshore oil and gas development is highly damaging to the environment and the many types of marine life that call the ocean home. From pollution from routine operations to catastrophic oil spills to climate change, offshore drilling causes harmful impacts to our ocean and coastal ecosystems — as well as the human communities that depend on them — through every stage of the process.
But what many people don’t know is that the damage to our ocean begins well before any oil and gas drilling even occurs.
Seismic airgun blasting is used by the oil and gas industry to identify potential oil and gas deposits beneath the seafloor. To carry out these surveys, ships tow airgun arrays that emit thousands of high-decibel sound waves. These sounds can be upwards of 240 decibels or more, which is louder than a rock concert or a jet engine flying 100 feet overhead!
Given the geographic scope of new offshore drilling proposed by the Trump administration, such surveys could cover millions of acres of ocean in the coming years.
The impact of such noise pollution in the ocean can be devastating to marine life. At close range, seismic airgun blasts can cause injury or death to animals such as whales, dolphins, fish, turtles, and invertebrates. Seismic surveys also displace and cause harm, such as temporary hearing loss, to a broad range of marine mammals, fish, and invertebrate populations.
Seismic blasting is a major threat to our nation’s fisheries, as well. Fish flee the blasting zone to escape the noise, including commercially important species, resulting in immediate losses to those who depend on healthy fisheries. But the impacts of seismic blasting don’t just occur at close range.
The sounds generated from seismic surveys travel hundreds or even thousands of miles and disrupt the behavior of a broad range of marine species. Sound travels efficiently underwater – much better than light for example – and many animals in the ocean depend on sound for communication, feeding, migration, and mating activities.
If we continue to saturate the underwater world with noise (already a huge problem as depicted in the film Sonic Sea) we will harm both individual species as well as the health of entire marine ecosystems.
The Trump Administration Approves New Seismic Blasting in the Gulf
On May 7, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that it was authorizing six oil and gas companies to concurrently conduct seismic blasting in the Gulf of Mexico. The decision allows for the incidental “taking” of marine mammals by industry, which is otherwise prohibited under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. In plain English, this means that the oil companies receiving authorization are allowed to harass, injure, or kill a combined total of over 112,000 whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals as part of their seismic blasting activities in the Gulf.
NOAA’s decision to approve new seismic blasting in the Gulf was made without any public meetings or agency comment periods. In January 2021, the Trump administration issued a final rule to allow for the taking of marine mammals as part of seismic blasting activities conducted by oil and gas industry operators. Surfrider Foundation had previously filed a lawsuit with our partners to legally challenge this rulemaking by NOAA. Unfortunately, this legal challenge was not successful, and in 2024 and 2026, NOAA issued updated rules to allow for even more harm to marine mammal populations. This rulemaking process ultimately enabled the Trump administration to proceed with the approval of exceedingly harmful seismic blasting in the Gulf.
Protecting our Ocean from Seismic Blasting and Offshore Drilling
The pathway to protecting ocean ecosystems and marine wildlife from seismic airgun blasting is to prohibit new offshore oil and gas development in U.S. waters. Given that seismic blasting is used by the industry to locate oil and gas deposits for new offshore drilling, we must take collective action to end this damaging practice. Achieving this will not only protect countless whales, dolphins, and other species of marine life, it will also protect our nation’s coastlines and communities from other offshore drilling hazards such as oil spills, onshore pollution, and the release of billions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
Surfrider is waging a national campaign to stop new oil and gas leasing in the federal offshore drilling plan. The Trump administration is currently proposing new offshore drilling for over 1.2 billion acres of U.S. ocean, including the waters off California, the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and even the Arctic Ocean, for new oil and gas leasing. The plan is stunning in scale and a looming threat to our marine ecosystems, coastal communities, businesses, and quality of life.
In the coming weeks, the Trump administration will release the Proposed Program (2nd draft) and open a 90-day comment period before making a final decision later this year.
Surfrider is supporting federal legislation to prohibit new offshore drilling and seismic airgun blasting in different regions of the country. These bills include the Coast Anti-Drilling Act HR 2881 / S. 1486 (East Coast), the West Coast Protection Act HR 2849 / S. 1432 (West Coast), and the Florida Coastal Protection Act HR 2673 (Florida).
During our recent Coastal Recreation Hill Day event, Surfrider members met with over 100 congressional offices to urge Senate and House members to co-sponsor these important bills.
You can make your voice heard by completing our action alert to urge Congress to oppose new offshore oil and gas development.
Surfrider Ftn. Spring 2025 State of the Coast Report (pdf);
The Blue Water Task Force is Surfrider’s volunteer water quality monitoring program that provides critical water quality information to protect public health at the beach. We measure fecal indicator bacteria levels and compare them to public health standards for recreational waters. Surfrider chapters use this program to raise awareness of local pollution problems and to bring together communities to implement solutions. The Ventura County BWTF is focused on supplementing the winter testing sites not covered by Ventura County’s Ocean Water Quality Monitoring Program. We test from November to March each year. View all swim advisories issued by the County here. **To avoid areas with potentially high bacteria levels, beachgoers should avoid swimming, surfing, or recreating after significant rain events for 72 hours. Do not enter brown water areas, or where there is a warning sign for high bacteria levels. **
Rincon Point Beach
(Mar. 24, 2025) – WARNING: The latest test result for this site exceeds water quality standards set by California State Water Resources Control Board
Summary
This site is tested by Ventura County Blue Water Task Force
check_circle 75% of samples collected at this site over the last 12 months meet water quality standards set by California State Water Resources Control Board
11/14/202412/12/20241/23/20253/6/20251420603001k4k20kDate SampledEnterococcus (MPN/100mL)
Key
Enterococcus (MPN/100mL)
Based on water quality standards set by California State Water Resources Control Board
poolLow Bacteria (0 – 35)poolMedium Bacteria (36 – 104)poolHigh Bacteria (> 104)pageviewFULL REPORT
Latest Results (6 months)
| Date | Enterococcus | Indication Of |
|---|---|---|
| 3/6/2025 | 121 | High Bacteria |
| 1/23/2025 | <10 | Low Bacteria |
| 12/12/2024 | 10 | Low Bacteria |
| 11/14/2024 | 31 | Low Bacteria |
| This program is made possible through generous funding in memory of Chuck Vinson. Funding for this year’s sampling efforts is made possible by Patagonia and Yardi Systems Inc. BWTF results are brought to you through community efforts of the Surfrider Foundation Ventura County Chapter Blue Water Task Force volunteers, as well as students and teachers at Foothill Technology High School.https://bwtf.surfrider.org/explore/55/9073 |
California Flips over Fracking
The citizens of California recently learned that fracking has been occurring in California waters (both state and federal). The revelation was shocking because government officials had previously asserted fracking was not occuring off California’s coast. Surfrider is working with the two organizations that made the discovery to help raise awareness amongst the general public and to pressure regulatory agencies to not turn a blind eye on fracking. Below is Surfrider’s recent position statement on the breaking news, and here is a press release.
Surfrider’s Position Statement on Offshore Fracking in California
A special investigation into hydraulic fracturing (fracking) revealed that the practice has been utilized off the coast of California (despite assurances from Government officials that fracking was not in use). After months of conducting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, our friends at Environmental Defense Center discovered fracking has occurred at least a dozen times in the Santa Barbara Channel (outside of state waters).
The most alarming discovery is that a handful of federal regulators allowed fracking to occur without additional environmental review and fracking fluids were dumped directly into the ocean. Surfrider believes regulators are circumventing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by approving fracking without conducting a complete environmental analysis. Unfortunately, it could take years to figure out the total number of offshore fracks; as regulators said they have to comb through numerous files and many are not digitized.
On the heels of discovering fracking occurred in federal waters, research by the Center for Biological Diversity concluded fracking is also occurring in state waters. State records and content from an industry website FracFocus.org, show oil companies have been fracking in state waters for years. To date, we have been unable to locate any environmental review conducted under California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) or by other state resource agencies.
We are concerned that if state and federal regulators continue to allow fracking without updating environmental impacts, there could be a “mad rush” by other oil companies to utilize fracking. What’s even more disconcerting is that internal government documents reveal offshore fracking does not greatly increase oil production.
Surfrider is appalled that fracking has occurred in state and federal waters without regulators being aware; and it is inexcusable that fracking fluids were discharged directly into the ocean without any scientific understanding of how these chemicals impact ocean ecosystems.
Surfrider is calling for a moratorium on offshore fracking until oil/gas companies and government officials conduct proper Environmental Impact Statements/Reports, provide independent scientific studies, and include a public process that is rooted in transparency (as required under both CEQA and NEPA).
We are confident citizens can successfully pressure regulators to protect our coastline and ocean from fracking. The California Coastal Commission (CCC) does “have a say” about how offshore projects can affect state water quality or marine mammals. In a recent letter to the CCC, and a press release, Surfrider called for a moratorium on offshore fracking and urged the CCC to launch an investigation into frack jobs offshore California. We will continue to follow the issue closely and work with the environmental community to demand government officials thoroughly review environmental impacts of fracking and drastically improve regulations.