As 2025 comes to a close, we can look back and feel proud of a year defined by strong advocacy, community leadership, and place-based action across Hawaiʻi. From legislative wins and federal advocacy to clean water victories, coastal resilience planning, and on-the-ground stewardship, Surfrider’s volunteers and partners continued to show what’s possible when communities work together to protect our ocean, waves, and beaches.
Below are a few highlights from a year of meaningful progress.
From January until early may, Surfrider Hawaiʻi advocated for policies that protect clean water, reduce plastic pollution, secure beach access and build coastal resilience in the State Legislature. Three of our priority bills passed out of legislature and were signed to law by Governor Green. These policies work towards reducing cesspool-related water pollution in Hawaiʻi waters and expanding and improving State run dune restoration and shoreline management.
Throughout the session, Surfrider volunteers submitted testimony, met with legislators, and helped elevate community voices. While not every bill crossed the finish line, the session reinforced how critical sustained advocacy is in shaping long-term outcomes — and laid important groundwork for future wins.
In 2025, a delegation of six Surfrider volunteers from Maui, Kauaʻi, and Oʻahu met with U.S. Senators and Representatives from Hawaiʻi as part of Surfrider’s Coastal Recreation Hill Day where they advocated for federal policies that protect our coasts and ocean. See Hawaiʻi Delegation meeting with James Chang, policy advisor for Senator Schatz in photo below.
Thanks to advocacy during and following Hill Day, the BEACH Act is currently included in both House and Senate draft spending bills with level funding, and a potential increase on the House side — despite an initial proposal to eliminate funding entirely. With the current continuing resolution in effect through January 29, 2026, this progress underscores the power of coordinated grassroots advocacy and is critical for supporting clean water efforts in Hawaiʻi.
Surfrider Hawaiʻi’s Blue Water Task Force is the most comprehensive coastal water quality monitoring program in the state. Each year, the program produces a Water Quality Report that supports clean water advocacy and increases public awareness of pollution risks in Hawaiʻi’s nearshore waters.
In 2024, trained volunteers collected 1,079 water quality samples at 83 sites across Kauaʻi, Maui, and Oʻahu, testing for enterococcus — a fecal indicator bacteria that signals wastewater contamination and potential public health risks. The report garnered significant media attention, as many residents and visitors are unaware that recreating in Hawaiʻi's seemingly pristine waters may actually put their health at risk.
Results showed widespread bacterial pollution, with seven sites on Oʻahu and eight on Kauaʻi exceeding state recreational water quality standards in more than half of samples, and 14 of the 15 most impacted sites located in high-risk cesspool areas. These findings underscore the urgent need for wastewater investment and stronger clean water protections.
The Water Quality Report was also a centerpiece of the Hawaiʻi delegation’s Coastal Recreation Hill Day advocacy for BEACH Act funding, demonstrating how community science directly informs policy and drives change at the highest levels of government.
In 2025, Surfrider Hawaiʻi joined ocean activists around the world in a Paddle Out for the Deep — a powerful global rally opposing deep-sea mining and calling for stronger protections for the ocean’s most fragile ecosystems.
The Paddle Out for the Deep highlighted Surfrider’s role in mobilizing grassroots action and elevating public awareness, sending a clear message to decision-makers: the ocean is not a commodity to be mined, but a living system that sustains coastal communities, marine life, and future generations.
The North Shore Coastal Resilience Working Group, first convened in 2021–2022, is a collaborative effort bringing together local residents, landowners, state and county agencies, coastal scientists, policymakers, and nonprofits to address chronic erosion, beach loss, and climate impacts along Oʻahu’s North Shore — one of Hawaiʻi’s most active coastal erosion hotspots.
In 2025, Surfrider Oʻahu, alongside the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant, North Shore Community Land Trust, SSFM, and Integral Consulting, relaunched the Working Group to continue this important coordinated, community-driven effort. This relaunch runs concurrently with the development of the North Shore Beach Management Plan, led by Hawaiʻi Sea Grant and funded by the State of Hawaiʻi.
The Management Plan utilizes cutting-edge coastal science to inform site-specific, community-informed beach management strategies and phased, actionable recommendations for the long-term preservation of the beach ecosystem from Paumalū (Sunset Beach) to Kapoʻo (Shark’s Cove). The official launch of both the North Shore Beach Management Plan and the North Shore Coastal Resilience Working Group was celebrated at our 'Future of North Shore Beaches- Community Talk Story' event at Patagonia Haleʻiwa, where more than 80 community members gathered to collectively envision a resilient future for North Shore beaches.
Moving forward, the Working Group will provide targeted feedback within the broader context of community input to the Management Plan, while also serving as a critical bridge toward long-term coastal adaptation planning and on-the-ground implementation.
The Surfrider Foundation is excited to announce the launch of our new digital resource, Re-planting After Fire: A Fire-Resilient Landscape Guide for Lahaina & West Maui. Created in partnership with Pacific Fire Exchange, Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization, and other expert contributors, this guide is designed to help residents create and maintain landscapes that are fire-resilient, environmentally responsible, and ocean-friendly.
The 2023 Maui wildfires forever shifted our community’s experience with fire. Many lost loved ones, homes, businesses, and their sense of safety and security. With wildfires becoming more frequent, more intense, and increasingly able to push into urban areas, community-level fire-resilient landscaping is essential for safeguarding communities, healthy ecosystems, and clean water resources.
This resource was created in response to the clear community need for simple, practical, and locally relevant guidance on fire-resilient landscaping. While the plant recommendations in the resource are tailored to Lahaina & West Maui, the broader concepts of fire-resilient landscaping apply to seasonally dry climates across Hawaiʻi and beyond.
In 2025, a landmark Hawaiʻi Supreme Court decision affirmed that state agencies must consider harms to surrounding communities and natural resources before approving uses of public lands. The ruling grew out of years of advocacy beginning in 2017, led by Surfrider Kauaʻi and partners — Ke Kauhulu o Mānā, Hawaiʻi Alliance for Progressive Action, and Koholā Leo — as co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging a state decision that allowed a seed research company to apply harmful, restricted-use pesticides just 400 feet from the ocean, putting coastal waters and recreation at risk.
For too long, the agrochemical industry in Hawaiʻi has been allowed to pollute public trust resources without full environmental evaluation. This decision strengthens environmental review requirements, reinforces the state’s public trust obligations, and sets a significant statewide precedent for how future land use decisions on public lands must account for community health and environmental harm.
In 2025, Surfrider Kauaʻi continued long-standing advocacy to address wastewater pollution and protect clean water resources. When the Department of Health released a draft pollutant discharge permit in August for the Wailua Wastewater Treatment Plant’s ocean outfall, the Kauaʻi Chapter mobilized quickly, raising serious concerns about water quality, public health, and compliance with clean water laws. The draft permit would allow the facility to continue discharging up to 1.5 million gallons per day of partially treated sewage just 500 feet offshore of Lydgate Beach Park, a heavily used public beach.
Following community concern and formal comments from Surfrider Foundation legal Senior Director, Jill Heaps, the Kauaʻi County Council held an exploratory briefing on the draft permit. In the briefing, Jill Heaps provided expert testimony and answered questions from the council along with the plant operators.
This campaign is a stark reminder to Surfrider Foundations strengths in grassroots organizing and strategic expert engagement. As a result, 114 pieces of community testimony were submitted, and advocacy remains ongoing to advance wastewater solutions that better protect coastal waters and community health.
In 2025, Surfrider chapters across Hawaiʻi continued expanding the Ocean Friendly Gardens (OFG) program through partnerships that demonstrate mauka-to-makai stewardship in action — from watershed restoration on Maui to permanent community garden sites on Oʻahu.
This fall, the Surfrider Maui Chapter expanded its Ocean Friendly Gardens partnership with Grow Some Good at Nā Māla Kaiāulu, a four-acre community garden at the Kahului YMCA that has transformed a dry, fire-prone site into a thriving food forest producing 500–600 pounds of fresh produce each month. Through monthly workdays, volunteers apply OFG best practices that rebuild soil health, increase water infiltration, and reduce runoff — supporting clean water, climate resilience, and community food security at the same time.
On Oʻahu, Surfrider continues stewardship at the Kakaʻako Ocean Friendly Garden, a permanent 11,000-square-foot OFG site located around two storm drains in a highly urbanized area. With monthly volunteer workdays, the garden has become an important community greenspace in an otherwise impermeable landscape prone to flooding — demonstrating how ocean-friendly landscaping can slow, soak, and filter stormwater before it reaches the ocean.
These are just a few examples of the remarkable work led by Surfrider Hawaiʻi’s dedicated volunteer network. Protecting clean water, beach access, and ocean health — while reducing plastic pollution and building resilient coastlines — means tackling complex and often daunting challenges. Our success comes from a holistic approach that weaves together programs and campaigns, but ultimately it is the passion, commitment, and leadership of our volunteers that drive real change.
Mahalo to every volunteer, partner, and supporter who made this work possible. As we look to the year ahead, Surfrider Hawaiʻi remains committed to community-driven solutions that protect our oceans, waves, and beaches for all to enjoy.