Surfrider Foundation Opens N.H. Chapter

The New Hampshire coastline stretches from the tip of Portsmouth to Salisbury Beach. It is only 13 precious miles, but as summer approaches, more and more visitors seek out its physical beauty and recreational opportunities. While many Seacoast businesses benefit from this seasonal swell, the coastal environment does not fare as well. Massive amounts of trash and waste accompany tourists and locals as they make their way to and from the beaches. The pollution results in sporadic beach closures and a wealth of potential public health hazards.

Since everyone contributes to the problem, everyone should take some responsibility in solving it, but unfortunately this is not the case. The task rests on government agencies and a few hard working but under-funded non-profit organizations. However, one group of coastal regulars has decided to give back to the natural landscape that has provided them with so much. A newly established N.H. Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation will bring surfers and surfing enthusiasts together to volunteer their time and effort to help protect New Hampshire’s coastal environment.

The group will hold its first fundraising event at Libby’s in Durham on March 28 at 9 p.m., which will feature a screening of the popular surfing film “Riding Giants.”

The N.H. chapter of the grassroots, not-for-profit environmental stewardship organization was co-founded and is co-chaired by Mike Novak of Portsmouth and Katherine Magness of Rye.

“I think this work is important for the health of the ecosystem as well as our own health. We mainly want to get the word out and have a good time,” Novak said 

He believes starting a New Hampshire chapter will give local action the support and strength of a national organization. “It’s a way of uniting and having a stronger alliance,” he said.

Surfing in New Hampshire has grew significantly in the 1990s, with younger generations and more female surfers hitting the waves. Despite the small coastline, many surfing gems have been discovered in places like Straw’s Point, Rye on the Rocks, Fox Hill, Plaice Cove, Hampton Beach and Seabrook Beach.

With increased use comes increased stress on the fragile coastal environment. As the surfing community continues to grow, there has been more interest in working to preserve the coastline and increase surfer access to beaches. That interest has coalesced into the New Hampshire Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, which

Novak works as a Research Technician for the University of New Hampshire’s Ocean Process Analysis Lab. A New Jersey native, he first came to New Hampshire for graduate school and has been living on the Seacoast for the past six years. His hope is to involve more of the UNH community and tap into the school’s vast resources. Novak, Magness and a small group of surfers started the N.H. chapter, but the network of interested people has since grown and Novak expects the fundraising event to generate even more interest.

After registering with the national foundation and declaring non-profit status, which was complicated by significant amounts of paperwork, the group approached the N.H. Department of Environmental Services to see where they could be of assistance. They contacted Sara Sumner, Beach Program Coordinator for DES, about volunteer opportunities. Together, they decided Surfrider could make a significant impact on water quality testing.

“They are going to fill a lot of gaps in the data we have and they will be able to tell surfers what they are surfing in,” Sumner said. The DES works in a similar way with the Blue Ocean Society of Portsmouth, which helps with beach clean-ups and the adopt-a-beach program in Hampton.

Surfrider will assist DES with measuring levels of a fecal bacterium known as enterococci (e.coli), which often also indicates the presence of other potentially dangerous viruses and pathogens in the water. High levels of the bacteria often necessitate beach closures. Currently, the DES only tests for e.coli during June, July and August. But innovations in wet suits and dry suits have extended the surfing season and made it possible for riders to bare the frigid water throughout even the coldest weather.    Surfrider will extend that testing into September, October and November, which Novak said are all big surfing months due to big waves from fall storms.

The national Surfrider Foundation was founded in 1984 as a way for the surfing community to give back and express their appreciation for the oceans, waves and beaches. It has since grown to 60 chapters and over 50,000 members. In the United States, hapters can be found up and down the East Coast, the West Coast, the Gulf Coast, the Hawaiian Islands and Puerto Rico. Surfrider also has affiliations with organizations in Australia, Japan, France and Brazil.

The non-profit, environmental organization is committed to “preserving the natural living and non-living diversity and ecological integrity of the coastal environment,” according to the organization’s Web site. Members act to preserve and increase beach access for surfers, with a low-impact philosophy and a non-partisan information-sharing network. Surfriders stress the importance of environmental education to help inform future generations and preserve coastal integrity, and create a wide range of educational material to be used by schools, the government and private citizens.

They also encourage commercial enterprises to adopt the Ceres Principles, a 10-point code of corporate environmental conduct to which participating companies voluntarily adhere. Adopting this code has proven to be a wise publicity strategy for many companies. Some of the companies that have adopted the principles include the Aspen Skiing Company, Bank of America Corporation, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., Coca-Cola North America, Clif Bar & Company, General Mills and Time Warner. The Ceres Principles require companies to report on their environmental management structures and results.

Water quality testing is only one of the issues in which the N.H. Surfriders are interested. They also want to perform environmental policy advocacy, increase beach access for surfers and help with beach clean-ups. In addition, they want to become involved with sewage treatment policies in the Great Bay region. They are monitoring the fate of the Portsmouth Sewage Treatment Plant, which only performs primary treatment of sewage and is one of the most ecologically outdated facilities in the country.

“We want to stay informed and make sure that what they choose to do is the most ecologically friendly and not just the most economically friendly,” said Novak.

Plans for the coming year and a review of the organization’s mission and philosophy will be discussed at the fundraising event in Durham. In addition to
Riding Giants,” there will also be live music by Novak, raffles and give-a-way prizes.