Beachwatch

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Our starting point for our monthly BeachWatch walk: North Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore.

Beach Watch is a long-term shoreline monitoring project that was founded in 1993. I began going out in 2005 to Point Reyes and surveying Beach 1-15, which is North Beach to Abbotts Lagoon, with my friends Richard Ferris and Lin Renner. We go out once a month and collect data on live and dead species of birds and marine mammals. We also report violations, detect oil pollution, and collect oil samples.

The goals of this volunteer work are to:

  • Provide a baseline dataset on the presence of live and beach cast marine organisms;
  • Assist Sanctuary management in the early detection of natural and human-caused environmental events;
  • Develop a network of volunteer expert surveyors who can respond during an oil spill; and
  • Educate the public about the coastal environment and how they can make a difference in protecting their beaches.