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!
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“Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life....There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, the ebb and flow of the tides, the folded bud ready for spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the reassurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
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Volunteer Seal Monitor Training
Saturday, November 15
8pm - 9pm
Boat House, Red Bank, NJ
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Volunteer Seal Monitor Training
Wednesday, November 19
8pm - 9pm
Boat House, Red Bank, NJ
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Thanksgiving Beach Cleanup
Volunteers Needed to help cleanup a beach before Thanksgiving.
Sunday, November 23
10am - 12pm
Leonardo Beach
Beach Avenue, Leonardo, NJ 07737.
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Save Coastal Wildlife Trivia Night
Have a drink, purchase some new coastal wildlife swag, win prizes, an test your knowledge of coastal wildlife and New Jersey, while supporting your favorite environmental nonprofit along the Jersey Shore!
Friday, December 5
7pm - 9pm
3BR Distillery, 7 main street, keyport, nj 07735
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Micro-Mollusk Community Science Volunteer Training
Learn about this exciting new way to discover the health of a beach along the Jersey Shore by examining micro-clams and other small organisms along a beach.
Saturday, December 13
2pm - 3pm
Boat House, Red Bank, NJ
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Sandy Hook Beach Cleanup
Volunteers Needed to cleanup the beach at Sandy Hook National Recreation Area.
Saturday, December 20
10am - 12pm
Parking Area D, Sandy Hook
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Volunteer Seal Monitor Training
Saturday, December 20
7:30pm - 8:30pm
Boat House, Red Bank, NJ
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First Day Coastal Wildlife Walk
Start the new year outside with Save Coastal Wildlife while we scan Sandy Hook for our first sights of seals and seabirds, and other winter life.
Thursday, January 1, 2026
12pm - 1:30pm
Parking Area C, Sandy Hook, NJ
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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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GET A FREE SIGN TO PROTECT HORSESHOE CRABS!
Does your town or bayside community organization have horseshoe crabs nesting on a beach during the spring. If so, please contact Save Coastal Wildlife. We will provide a free sign for you to install and put your logo on to help educate people about the importance of protecting horseshoe crabs and their diminishing nesting areas.
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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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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 dead 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).
