Rare and Precious Agreement

As a local, grassroots, all-volunteer organization celebrating its 20th year of protecting and preserving oceans, waves , beaches, and coastlines, we of the Santa Barbara chapter of the Surfrider Foundation appreciated Ethan Stewart’s excellent piece on the Fish Reef Project. Chris Goldblatt, Fish Reef Project’s CEO, correctly states that ocean reefs are “rare and precious.” His concern that existing reefs both local and world-wide are damaged and/or threatened – we would add, primarily due to human intervention – is one that we share. Our concern led us to support the same state-sanctioned Marine Protected Areas in southern California that Mr. Goldblatt has apparently criticized.

While our chapter has not taken a position on the Fish Reef Project, we believe that the public deserves the opportunity to learn more about it and to offer their own experience, observations and opinions on artificial reefs. To this end, we are hosting Chris Goldblatt at our upcoming mixer/general interest meeting on Thursday, August 16, 7:00 p.m. at the Watershed Resource Center, located at Arroyo Burro Beach, 2981 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara. We invite anyone concerned about the health of our ocean and near-shore marine environments to join us for what we expect will be a spirited and timely presentation and discussion.