Bring your own bag and earn money for SOS. Visit your local New Leaf Market this month and vote for Save Our Shores.  This campaign rewards customers for bringing their own bags with tokens to be given to their favorite non-profit group. Each year New Leaf holds an election  to appoint their customers favorite nonprofit to the program.  This program has become an important fundraising opportunity and we love being involved! Please visit New Leaf this month and fill out a ballot to make sure SOS can continue to recieve these important funds.

Desalination has quickly become the newest touted solution to our water woes. Under all the publicity, however, are some major environmental and economic concerns. Only a decade ago, desalination was dismissed as an overly expensive joke. Today, nine new desalination plants have been proposed within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary alone.

Thank you to those that participated in Save Our Shores' Ocean Leadership Conference! We received valuable feedback and hope to continue our dialogue with Coastside residents in regards to what types of Save Our Shores programs and resources would best fit your community needs.

Please take a look at the feedback that we recieved from the Conference (below). Some of the Conference participants along with Save Our Shores staff will be hosting a Creek Cleanup effort at Pilarcitos Creek on May 17th from 9am-1pm in order to address the marine derbis problem. This event  will mark the first of many collaborative efforts between Coastside residents and Save Our Shores staff.

Oceans need our help now more than ever! Declining fisheries, increasing quantities of marine debris, and oil and toxins polluting near shore waters are just a few of the threats facing our oceans today.  Save Our Shores is holding an Ocean Leadership Conference on March 12-22 for Coastside communities in the Half Moon Bay area!  Participants will learn about current marine conservation issues such as Marine Protected Areas, marine debris, and local coastal watersheds.  Presentations will be given by Bob Breen, Brenda Donald, Dan Temko and other members of the Coastside communities.

The conference will also provide hands-on tools for empowering participants to become advocates for healthy oceans.  After the conference, participants will work with Save Our Shores staff to assess the needs of Coastside communities and then design and implement activities to engage their community in ocean conservation.