Heal the Bay


Heal the Bay is a U.S. environmental advocacy group of activists based in Santa Monica, California. The focus is protecting coastal waters and watersheds of southern California
Heal the Bay is a 501 non-profit organization with full-time paid staff members and volunteers.

History

Heal the Bay was founded in 1985 by a group of citizens led by environmental activist Dorothy Green. Mark Gold became the president of the organization in 2006 and held the position until 2012. The current president and CEO is Shelley Luce, who took the post in April 2017. The organization has become a prominent advocate for the environment in California, and is particularly known for its annual report card ratings of the water quality at beaches along the Pacific coast. It was also active in advocating for restrictions on plastic bags in California.

Work

Heal the Bay supports public health and education outreach programs as well as sponsoring beach cleanup programs such as , Adopt-a-Beach and in Los Angeles County, California. It operates Heal the Bay Aquarium, which was previously named the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and formerly known as the Ocean Discovery Center and was operated by UCLA until 2003.
In 2003, then-California Assemblywoman Fran Pavley authored legislation that required the state to develop an environment-based curriculum to be offered to all California public schools. The bill was sponsored by Heal the Bay and was signed into law by then-Governor Gray Davis. The program it set in motion came to be known as the .
Heal the Bay publishes an annual Beach Report Card, which at popular beaches up and down the West Coast of the United States. It also produces weekly and daily beach water quality grades online at and river quality grades at the .
Recent accomplishments include leading grassroots movements to pass plastic reduction policies like and . Heal the Bay also launched an advocacy campaign to pass and fund the Safe, Clean Water Program.