SURFRIDER SPACE COAST
The Surfriders join with local municipalities to plant sea oats along sand dunes.
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washing up plastics in the sargassum
along the high tide line.
Whelan says the group is trying to reduce
plastics in the environment by working
with restaurants to make them ocean
friendly. According to Whelan, restaurants
are encouraged “to reduce plastics and
Styrofoam containers, eliminate plastic
straws and plastic bottles.” So far only
about five Brevard restaurants have
committed to the program.
The Surfriders’ biggest fundraising event
is its annual Ocean Reef Beach Festival at
Pelican Park in Satellite Beach. The group
pitches canopies and sells T-shirts and
other merchandise. There is also a raffle.
No article about Surfriders would be
complete without recommendations
from the enthusiasts about the best
places to surf in Brevard. Here are some
tips from Whelan: On the north end
of the county, the pier at Cocoa Beach
always attracts a large crowd of surfers.
In central Brevard, they recommend
Hightower Beach in Satellite Beach.
On the south end, it’s Sebastian Inlet
State Park. All of Brevard is good for
surfing. They recommend these locations
because they offer parking, restrooms
and good waves.
into the water. Chapter volunteers get
their hands dirty working with local
landscaping companies and property
owners to do the planting work.
On a yearly basis, the Surfriders are
involved planting sea oats along the
shore. The plantings have been along
the shoreline in the Archie Carr National
Wildlife Preserve and south Brevard
beaches. They recently joined with Cocoa
Beach to plant sea oats as part of the
city’s efforts to expand the dune line.
The biggest problem that the group
addresses, according to Buchness, is the
“proliferation of plastics. It is one of our
biggest challenges.”
Plastics along the beach, Buchness says,
“are at their worst when the winds are
out of the east” off the ocean, with tides
SURFRIDER SPACE COAST
The chapter often draws a large turnout for surfing and beach events at Sebastian Inlet State Park.
FRED MAYS
The chapter adopted a section of A1A near the inlet for cleanup.
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