Surfrider Press Conference to Announce Research Findings -Monday April, 16th 7pm

Please Join us  Monday April, 16th for a press conference at Ed Walline Park, 7pm, in Santa Rosa Beach, FL.  The Emerald Coast Chapter will be releasing the findings of our "State of the Beach" long term research study.

For the past two years, we have been diligently monitoring our beaches and assessing the impact of dispersed oil product from the BP Oil Disaster.  During the past year, our chapter volunteers (Susan, Jack, Mike, Tony, and others) partnered with USF Coastal Geologist Rip Kirby.  Together, we have collected from Gulf beaches greater than 70 unique samples and examined over 1,800 analytes.

We have returned to contaminated beach locations In Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi for follow up sampling.  This frequent sampling has enabled us to determine if toxic concentrations of tar product are present and if the levels are diminishing over time.

Along the way, our volunteers also helped to develop new, rapid, cost effective,  and reliable technology for locating and removing tar product on our beaches.  We have aided the Unified Command, Coast Guard, and restoration operations with frequent reporting of contamination and sharing of our technological discoveries.

Our members have conducted underwater scuba assessments off the coast of Walton, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, and Escambia Counties.  We have also flown several aerial reconnoissance missions to assess beach impacts, search for submerged tarmats, and spot for surface oil.  All of these have been done by volunteers and paid for by donations, largely from surfers and the surf related industry.

Members of our chapter have participated in countless local, state, and federal meetings.  In our efforts to highlight the need for better research and to support bringing restoration fine money to the affected states, we have traveled as far as Washington D.C. where we met with representatives of Congress and the House of Representatives.

During our two year effort, we made our data publicly available online to anyone who cared to review it.  Understandably, it is an enormous amount of data to digest and there is so much more to glean from the endeavor than the data alone can convey.  We would like to share with you some of what we have learned.  Please join us.

(PDF of our press release here)