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.
Paddle for the Ospreys
Fundraiser!
Support Save Coastal Wildlife and our treasurer, Charlene Agar Kiley, as she paddles around 7.4 miles from Oceanport to Highlands on Sunday, August 9 (weather permitting) to raise awareness and support coastal wildlife and their habitats, including the many ospreys that call the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers home!
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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Coastal Wildlife Trivia & Volunteer Appreciation Party
Thursday, September 10
7:00pm - 9:00pm
JUS Organics, 135 First Ave, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716
Tickets - $50.00 per person
Celebrate our volunteers and the Jersey Shore 🌊
Join your friends from Save Coastal Wildlife for a fun evening of appreciation and coastal wildlife trivia as we thank the people who have given their time to protect New Jersey’s biodiversity and help Save Coastal Wildlife.What to expect 🐚
A fun and enjoyable time! Connect with fellow volunteers, enjoy light refreshments, and test your knowledge of the history of Save Coastal Wildlife, local wildlife, and the Jersey Shore. Plus special Save Coastal Wildlife swag will be for sale, and fun and exciting prizes and gifts will be available to win and be given.This promises to be a unique and fun event!!
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Sunset Boat Tour of Sandy Hook Bay
Tickets on Sale NOW!
Sunday, September 20
5:30pm - 7:30pm
Navesink Queen
Atlantic Highlands, NJ
Tickets $55.00
Set sail with us for a sunset cruise around Sandy Hook Bay ⛵🌅 Enjoy beautiful and historic coastal views while learning how Save Coastal Wildlife protects marine animals and their fragile habitats along the Jersey Shore.
Your registration supports local research, habitat restoration, and hands-on education for our community. Join us on the water to see the wildlife we work to protect and hear simple ways you can help safeguard our coast.
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Volunteers Needed for Plankton & Fish Survey Season
Join Save Coastal Wildlife this summer as we scan the shore to study populations of plankton and fish. These are exciting community science events that the public is invited to help and discover more about the Jersey Shore.
Please make sure you are signed up to receive emails from Save Coastal Wildlife. All event details including registration are sent out via email to interested folks.
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Volunteers Needed for Summer Beach Cleanups
Join Save Coastal Wildlife this summer as cleanup the Jersey Shore of trash and debris. Unfortunately, as crowds of people come to the beach every day, they often leave behind lots of plastic debris and other trash that does damage to wildlife and their habitat.
Please make sure you are signed up to receive emails from Save Coastal Wildlife. All event details including registration are sent out via email to interested folks.
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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 150 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).
Ghost crabs are mysterious and unusual sand crabs. They are not always easy to see by a causal beach walker. The crabs are renowned as one of the fastest land crabs, capable of reaching speeds up to 10mph, earning them the nickname "swift-footed" (Ocypode) for their rapid scurrying on sandy beaches to escape predators like gulls, owls and herons. A remarkable activity I think for an animal that walks sideways.