Founded on community, the San Diego Chapter of Surfrider changed the nation

Since 1984, the Surfrider Foundation has become established as an internationally recognized, non-profit, environmental organization. Other organizations, such as WiLDCOAST, have been instrumental in balancing important areas of environmental protection, but because the San Diego Chapter of Surfrider has built a foundation of legitimacy amongst environmental groups in San Diego, the origins of this important chapter should be told.
The Surfrider Foundation was founded by a small group of surfers in Malibu out of necessity. They organized to protect their health against the pollution in Malibu. It was a single cause organization that had success in dealing with problems on an issue-by-issue basis. As an issue, arose the Board of Directors recruited specialists to fight each individual problem. One of those specialists was John Conover, one of the eventual pioneers of the San Diego Chapter.
As a National Board of Director Member, Conover and a small group of concerned coastal residents, held the first official San Diego Chapter meeting in a Carlsbad middle school. After placing an ad in a local newspaper, this group of four were pleasantly surprised to find over 40 people show up to express concerns about San Diego’s coast and find out what this Surfrider group was able to do about it.
A young lawyer and Pacific Beach local, Gary Sirota decided to find out how he could apply his expertise to protect the coast. Not knowing what to expect, Gary found that the majority of the crowd was not the stereotypical tree-hugging, Berkeley students but rather a collection of all ages and social backgrounds. He was surprised to find that when the San Diego group formed the first Executive Committee it was comprised of engineers, biologists, doctors, and lawyers.
The first Executive Committee had no money and no experience on how to run an environmental group but they immediately hit the ground running with plenty of problems to tackle. From this group came accomplishments that affected environmental policies across the nation.
Storm-drain stenciling was created by the San Diego Chapter. The idea received unending financial support from governments and the program spread like wildfire. Now there are few cities in the country that do not implement stenciling on all storm drains to prevent illegal dumping.
A highly publicized battle of water quality testing occurred with the San Diego Chapter’s Blue Water Task Force. The home-made incubators made in Gary Sirota’s PB apartment conflicted with the “secretive” results found by the city. The media attention shed significant light on the city’s questionable water testing methods, and forced the city to improve their testing practices and be more accountable for alerting the public.
As media gobbled up the fight of a small group of surfers against one of the biggest metropolitan governments, the nation took note. The history of San Diego Surfrider battling the city over water testing sent ripples across the region and the country.
The water testing scandal led to Donna Frye connecting the dots to why her husband, Skip, was constantly getting sick. She formed Surfers Tired of Pollution (S.T.O.P.) and Donna’s story continues today.
The San Diego Chapter’s water testing efforts led to the formation of A.B. 411 and the B.E.A.C.H. Act of 1999. A.B. 411 established California policy forcing cities to perform water testing. The B.E.A.C.H. Act of 1999 was federal legislation that set a national clean water testing standard.
As the chapter’s accomplishment grew, their membership and responsibilities grew as well. Today, the San Diego area has retained the same continuity and grassroots motivation as it had in the beginning. “I was there at day one and I see it today. The same soul and desire to protect the coast of the pioneers is behind the scenes of this chapter today,” Gary Sirota said. Now a lawyer at the most successful environmental law firm in Southern California, Coast Law Group, Gary has dedicated more time and effort toward environmental protection than 99% of surfers today. His lives, works and surfs in North County. So if you see him in the water, give him waves, we al owe him a certain debt of gratitude.
Today the Surfrider Foundation maintains over 60,000 members and 64 chapters across the United States and Puerto Rico, along with international affiliates in Japan, Australia, Europe and Brazil.