Save Coastal Wildlife’s mission is to:

1) educate the public about our biotic coastal environment along the Jersey Shore and to provide educational resources that promote and advance stewardship and encourage a better appreciation of marine-estuarine biodiversity and ecosystems;

2) to conduct community-science research that will improve our understanding of the science, systems, patterns and interactions between coastal habitats and imperiled, but important species that help define local coastal ecosystems, and to use this research to help threatened marine life recover and thrive in a vibrant marine system; and

3) to conduct community based habitat restoration projects with an aim to restore and improve particular coastal habitat and species that have been degraded over time from pollution, poor water quality, habitat fragmentation, habitat loss, or other human induced activities, which creates unproductive conditions for a variety of coastal plants and animals to thrive. 

We will collaborate with other nonprofits, educational institutions, municipalities, government agencies, policy makers, scientists, small businesses, ethical companies, environmental organizations, and the general public whenever possible to advance the mission of Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit.

The Beginning of Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit

We take action through Education, Restoration & Research!!

Save Coastal Wildlife is a 501(c)(3) non-profit wildlife preservation organization that began in 2018. We are dedicated to educating people about coastal wildlife and the importance of protecting the ocean and estuaries, and keeping our beaches clean on the Jersey Shore - from Raritan Bay down to Delaware Bay.

Save Coastal Wildlife Nonprofit was created by members of a local volunteer watershed group known as the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council. The watershed council began around 2000 as a project of the Monmouth County Planning Board. Over time, the Bayshore Watershed Council became an independent volunteer group of like-minded people who were dedicated to cleaning up the local environment along Raritan Bay & Sandy Hook Bay. Many successful projects conducted by the watershed council involved wildlife monitoring activities including horseshoe monitoring, seal surveys and fish surveys along Raritan Bay & Sandy Hook Bay. During 2017-2018, several members of the watershed council decided that more could be accomplished if a nonprofit was created to raise funds and create a base of citizen-science volunteers with the goal to protect coastal wildlife and educate people about local estuarine & marine wildlife throughout the State of New Jersey.

Increasing challenges to the health and sustainability of wildlife along coastal areas of the United States called for a a new nonprofit organization within the State of New Jersey that would increase environmental education and improve hands-on opportunities in citizen-science research/monitoring about the biodiversity found along the Jersey Shore.

Original board members of Save Coastal Wildlife generated the paperwork in summer 2017 to become a nonprofit. Save Coastal Wildlife was granted permission by the Internal Revenue Service to become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in March 2018. Save Coastal Wildlife nonprofit is based along the Jersey Shore in Atlantic Highlands, Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Save Coastal Wildlife is made up of animal lovers, educators, conservationists, scientists, surfers, naturalists, community leaders, and many other people devoted to the protection of the Jersey Shore’s fragile coastal ecosystem and wildlife inhabitants. We bring a variety of experiences together to serve a common goal.

From our many volunteer citizen science research and restoration projects, and educational outreach activities, members of Save Coastal Wildlife work to educate people throughout the year towards the need to protect coastal wildlife and their habitat from climate change, plastic pollution, bycatch, and other threats.

Save Coastal Wildlife focuses on local issues in the New Jersey area. We collaborate with various individuals, businesses, and private, government and non-government organizations to achieve our goals. From our citizen science research and restoration projects, and educational outreach activities, we work to educate people for the need to protect the ospreys, horseshoe crabs, diamondback terrapin turtles, whales, dolphins, seals, seahorses, sea turtles, sea stars, seabirds, shorebirds, sharks, shellfish, menhaden, blue crabs, bluefish, blackfish, baitfish, weakfish, striped bass, winter flounder, and the other unique coastal marine wildlife.

All fundraising events help support SCW's many projects and activities related to educational outreach, research, and restoration. SCW is an all-volunteer nonprofit, so 100% of all donations goes back into the work we do on behalf of protecting coastal wildlife. Research collected from our many projects is used to enhance the public’s understanding of our unique estuarine-marine wildlife.

We hope by sharing information with the public, a greater amount of people will be inspired to learn and discover even more about the coastal environment and will try to help protect this vital system.

Why did we create “another” environmental nonprofit in New Jersey?

There WAS (AND STILL IS) a critical need for greater environmental education, COMMUNITY SCIENCE AND RESTORATION ACTIVITIES along the jersey shore that ARE hands-on, high quality and ever-present; and for all ages AND ALL PEOPLE.

It’s an exciting time for sure to be a wildlife watcher along the Jersey Shore. Populations of seals, ospreys, gannets, eagles, whales, dolphins, falcons, crabs and various wading birds are rebounding to levels unseen in previous centuries. But these encounters with coastal wildlife are not to be taken for granted. Through the 1960s, 1970s, and much of the 1980s, one had little or no opportunity to view these and other symbolic coastal wild animals.

Federal and NJ State Environmental protection laws put in place over the past 40 or more years, and countless efforts by government officials, volunteers and nonprofit organizations have helped to create an overall cleaner environment and a rich mixture of vital habitat for plants and animals along the Jersey Shore.

Unfortunately, while as some species of coastal wildlife are returning, ever expanding urban and suburban development and pollution, and the strengthening effects of global warming and plastic pollution are dwindling the results of former success stories and quickly putting pressure on many coastal species in New Jersey.

Increased shoreline development reduces important nesting or foraging habitat for many wildlife species and exposes wild animals to conflicts with humans, domestic animals, and increased populations of predators including coyotes, raccoons, rats, skunks, feral cats, and gulls, which thrive on eating human trash and leftovers.

Researchers are often finding stagnant or declining populations of horseshoe crabs due to the loss of nesting habitat or over-harvesting as bait for the whelk and eel fishery or for the biomedical industry. There are also diminishing populations of nesting and migratory shorebirds, such as piping plovers, least terns, sanderlings, and red knots due to habitat loss or dwindling food resources while migrating. Several fish species are fragile or failing, including menhaden, river herring, weakfish, striped bass, and winter flounder. A number of whales and sea turtles are frequently being found injured or dead from colliding with ships or from becoming tangled up in fishing gear. Additionally, quite a few diamondback terrapins every year are getting trapped in crab pots or traps while foraging for food, or are getting run over by vehicles when crossing roads to seek ancestral nesting sites.

Furthermore, many forms of litter including cigarette butts, plastic bottles and caps, plastic wrappers, fishing line, balloons, and Styrofoam are increasing. They are regularly being found on beaches, in wetlands, and in coastal communities along the Jersey Shore. Accumulating forms of litter are affecting coastal wildlife, who accidentally swallow or feed on litter ands pass this to their young. Discarded balloons are accidentally being eaten by whales and sea turtles, where it can clog an animal’s digestive tract, making it impossible for an animal to eat normally. Fishing line and rope, found in high numbers in the water and on beaches, are also entangling marine life each year to cause injury or death.

At present, there is a shortage of environmental organizations existing in New Jersey with a unique assembly of hands-on activities, citizen science projects and volunteer pursuits for all ages to participate across the entire Jersey Shore. One of the best ways to ensure that wildlife populations are protected is to provide public education and outreach efforts including support of numerous environmental education programs, restoration and cleanup events, and community outreach and awareness campaigns that address environmental pollution and natural resources connected with people’s local environment. 

From annual fundraising efforts we provide a diverse range of educational content through hands-on field activities, classroom exercises and experiments, and informative field trips, lectures, blogs and podcasts. Both students and the general public can discover the value and diversity of natural resources connected to the Jersey Shore, the importance of pollution prevention and watershed protection, and how to be an environmental steward moving forward.