Mission

Save Our Shores' mission is to steward clean shores, healthy habitats, and living waters and foster thriving marine ecosystems along CA's central coast through awareness, advocacy, and action.

The Big Idea

Save Our Shores’ Big Idea is to take middle-school students underwater—in an experiential 3D virtual reality dive into a marine-protected area. It’s a teaching resource that allows students to swim with wildlife, skim the seabed, and float among the kelp forest while learning about marine resources in Monterey Bay, complete with animated animals who explain why marine protected areas were established and their ecology. Using age-appropriate phrasing in both English and Spanish, the narration explains why rules are in place to sustain these protected ecosystems. A Next Generation Science Standards-aligned curriculum delivered after the dive experience reinforces students’ learning. This resource is currently only available in Santa Cruz, and Save Our Shores seeks funding to expand it to underserved schools in Monterey County, particularly in Marina, Salinas and Seaside.

We really enjoyed ourselves at the spear-fishing catch and cook competition yesterday with the beach cleanup on Del Monte Beach. The experience had a significant impact on our daughter. Today she was singularly focused on picking up trash on the beach. I happened to have a pair of work gloves and some bags in the car so she got to work and picked up two bags of trash. Logan is a pretty special kid. Along with other medical issues, she has autism and ADHD, so seeing her so engaged in something larger than herself was amazing.

- Shelle Martin