Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit
We are dedicated to restoration, research and educating people about the protection of coastal wildlife along the Jersey Shore!
#savecoastalwildlife
This nonprofit runs on science and science is under siege all across the country. We urgently need your help.
Volunteer & Stay In-Touch.
Sign up with your email address to receive the latest coastal wildlife news and updates about volunteer and community science activities with Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit.
NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
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Volunteer Training to Monitor Horseshoe Crabs
Volunteer training video for monitoring horseshoe crabs is available now!
Everyone who wishes to volunteer to monitor horseshoe crabs in Raritan Bay, Andy Hook Bay or Barnegat Bay must watch the training video.
It involves learning to identify, count, and tag the creatures during spring spawning season (May-June) to support population research. Training covers handling techniques, data collection protocols, and safety procedures.
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Volunteer to Monitor Horseshoe crabs this Spring!
Please sign up to receive emails from Save Coastal Wildlife if you’d like to join our crew to help monitor horesshoe crabs this May and June along Raritan Bay, Sandy Hook Bay or Barnegat Bay, NJ.
All Horseshoe monitoring activities are sent via email!
The first HSC monitoring events are scheduled for Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2.
Monitoring take place in May and June around the time of the full and new moons.
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Volunteers Needed for Beach Cleanup at Island Beach State Park
Help Us Cleanup the bayside of Island Beach State Park, Tice's Shoal Area, so horseshoe crabs have a safe place to breed this spring.
Please meet in Parking Area 6 or 7 , Tice’s Shoal Coastal Heritage Trail Parking, along Shore Road at Island Beach State Park.
Once registered, your name will be on a list so you can enter the park free of charge to participate in the cleanup.
Saturday, Apr 11 from 10 am to 12 pm
2401 Central Ave.
Seaside Park, NJ 08752 -
Menhaden or Bunker Talk
Menhaden: The Most Important Fish along the Jersey Shore
Some people call it a bunker or porgy, but no matter how you refer to it, this sea creature is the most important fish along the Jersey Shore. It is a vital link to a marine food web and helps to clean up our waters. Yet, few people know much about it. Join one of our fish experts to find out more about the ecological importance of menhaden.
Wednesday, April 15
Bayshore Waterfront Park Activity Center
719 Port Monmouth Road, Port Monmouth, NJ 07758
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EARTH DAY TRIVIA EVENT
Join Save Coastal Wildlife for a Special Earth Day Coastal Wildlife Trivia Event!!!
Don't miss a fun Wednesday evening along the Jersey Shore!
Drink, challenge your mind with trivia, win prizes, shop for swag, and help support one of your favorite environmental nonprofits in New Jersey!
New Horseshoe Crab and other coastal wildlife swag for sale!!
Wednesday, April 22
7:30pm to 9:00pm
3BR Distillery
7 Main St, Keyport, NJ 07735
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Volunteer Micro-Mollusk Community Science Event
Join us for the NEW Volunteer Micro-Mollusk Community Science Event!
This in-person event will provide you with the opportunity to learn about micro-mollusks and how you can contribute to community science. Our expert trainers will guide you through hands-on activities and teach you how tocollect and identify micro-mollusks.
Sunday, April 26
2:00pm - 3:00pm
Cedar Street, Raritan Bay
Borough of Keyport, NJ
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In-Person Volunteer Training for Horseshoe Crab Monitoring
Wednesday, Apr 29 from 7 pm to 8 pm
Meeting Location: Mouth of Many Mind Creek - 10 Simon Lake Drive, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716
We will meet in the gravel parking lot near Sandy Hook Bay.
Please dress for the weather. We will be outside. Stormy weather will cancel this event.
All volunteers with Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit who wish to monitor horseshoe crabs this spring are required to be trained, and existing volunteers are always welcome to be re-trained, especially every 2 years. During a training session, people will learn how to record data and tag horseshoe crabs for an upcoming project.
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Volunteers Needed for Beach Cleanup at Sandy Hook
Parking Area B, Sandy Hook National Recreation Area.
Saturday, May 9 from 10 am to 12 pm
Volunteers Needed to help remove trash and lots of debris near at Plum Island, Sandy Hook Bay, NJ
Help Restore and Cleanup the beach for nesting and feeding birds this summer.
Join members of Save Coastal WIldlife Nonprofit as we cleanup and restore the bayside beach and ocesan beach near Parking Lot B at Plum Island, Sandy Hook, Gateway National Recreation Area.
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Spring Skate & Whelk Egg Case Hunt!
Forget looking for plastic eggs this spring. Head to the the coast and look for real egg cases!
Every March, April and May, explore a springtime beach and become a community scientist by helping Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit find and record Skate or Whelk egg cases!
Populations of various species of skates and whelks along the Jersey Shore are largely unknown at best or decreasing at worst.
Help Us To Understand Our Skates & Whelks More!
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Report A Seahorse Sighting
Due to many threats, the population of seahorses is uncertain at best. If you come upon a seahorse (live or dead), please record your sighting to Save Coastal Wildlife so we may keep track of the location, and abundance of seahorses.
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NEW BLOG POST: GHOST CRABS
Discover Atlantic ghost crabs along the Jersey Shore. Jenna Reynolds, Exc. Director of Save Coastal Wildlife, explores the life and ecology of this mysterious speedy and crab.
Atlantic ghost crabs are named for both the ability to blend in with their seashore surroundings and for their mostly nocturnal behaviors. Their pale color helps them blend in with the sand, making them seem to "disappear" or move like ghosts.
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STOP OCTOPUS FARMING!
Stop octopus farming before it begins and takes a hold along the Jersey Shore. Once it begins, it will be very difficult to stop!
URGE NJ LAWMAKERS TO BAN OCTOPUS FARMING!
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Don't Fall for Misinformation
Don’t believe the hype the fossil fuel industry and their friends are putting out about renewable energy, especially offshore wind killing whales. Only people are killing whales from speeding ships, the ingestion of microplastics, or from commercial fishing.
FEATURED COASTAL WILDLIFE
Support us!
Your efforts will allow Save Coastal Wildlife to protect the unique coastal marine wildlife that live along the Jersey Shore by supporting our programs related to research, educational outreach and conservation.
Join our community and become a member today. Your membership not only grants access to exclusive benefits but also directly supports our mission.
Thank you for choosing to be part of our cause. Together, we can make a positive impact to save coastal wildlife along the Jersey Shore and beyond!
Ready to make a difference? Start your journey by becoming a member now!
BECOME A MEMBER AND JOIN THE FAMILY!
Since 2018
Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit has been dedicated to educating people about coastal biodiversity and restoring habitat along the Jersey Shore - from Raritan Bay to Delaware Bay, New Jersey.
We inspire action for greater preservation and empathy for the beautiful biodiversity along the Jersey Shore and our blue planet!
Save Coastal Wildlife is made up of animal lovers, educators, scientists, surfers, naturalists, community leaders and many other people devoted to the protection of the Jersey Shore’s biodiversity.
Save Coastal Wildlife takes action through education, restoration & research!
Threats to Coastal Wildlife
Expanding development, increasing human populations and plastic pollution, and the strengthening effects of global warming and other human induced activities, including bycatch and ghost gear from commercial fishing, and the commercialization of our marine environment, are putting great pressure on many plants and animals, and the coastal-estuarine environment in New Jersey.
Sub-adult Bottlenose dolphin found dead along the Navesink River 2008.
In 2019 The Atlantic Horseshoe Crab Population
in the New York City region, including Raritan Bay & Sandy Hook Bay in New Jersey, has trended downward from good, to neutral, and now poor as per the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
Decreasing fish species along the Jersey Shore:
adult weakfish populations have been on the decline since 2003, and adult winter flounder populations have been steadily declining since the early 1980s, according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. In 2014, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed the American eel as “Endangered” on the Red List. The Atlantic sturgeon population along the Atlantic coast are endangered, including in the New York Bight and Chesapeake Bay. The Winter Skate population has seen a staggering 90% reduction in mature individuals since the 1970s due to bottom trawling, where it is often accidentally caught, and many species of sharks are in decline including the Great White shark, both the Scalloped Hammerhead and Great Hammerhead sharks, tiger sharks and sandbar sharks primarily due to unsustainable fishing practices, bycatch, and slow reproduction rates, leading many species of sharks to be classified as endangered or critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.
A mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) is seen hanging from a longline hook, emphasizing bycatch activities and the impact of indiscriminate fishing practices on marine species from commercial fishing.
Over 30 Species of wildlife
that breed, migrate or overwinter along the Jersey Shore are listed by the State of New Jersey as endangered, threatened, or a species of special concern including several species of whales, turtles, and coastal birds.
Over 600% along the New Jersey Shore
is the percentage of tidal flood events that have increased in the past 60 years due to sea level rise from melting land-based glaciers in mountainous and polar regions in the North Atlantic, especially Greenland, due to global warming.
Injured female harbor seal with fresh wounds caused by a boat propeller.
Over 70% of Seabird & Shorebird
populations have declined in the past 50 years in the United States as they compete with people for food and space to rest and feed during migration. According to Cornell University, analyses of eBird Trends show steep declines for nearly all North American seabird species throughout their ranges between 2012 and 2022. New Jersey's coastal birds are facing declines due to factors like habitat loss from sea-level rise, reduced food availability from horseshoe crab population issues, and climate change impacts including Rufa Red Knots, Least Terns, Piping Plovers, and Black Skimmers.
Over 125 mortalities of Humpback, Minke, and Northern Right whale species
have occurred in the New York-New Jersey Bight since 2017 with many showing evidence of human interaction, either ship strikes, plastic ingestion, or entanglement in commercial fishing gear.
The carcass of a juvenile humpback whale. Cause of death undetermined, but likely hit by a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
More Insights About Coastal Wildlife
“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”
~ Quote from Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962).
