Surfing groups from Europe, Latin America and the United States are expected to gather in Rosarito Beach on Monday (May 6th-8th) for a three-day conference aimed at conserving the world’s top surf spots.

Global Wave Conference III focuses on surf protection efforts across the globe, including Mexico, Peru, Portugal, France and Great Britain. The event will include discussions of the problems faced by various regions, but also presentations of environmental success stories.

“All the different groups have different strengths,” said Chad Nelsen, environmental director for the San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation, which is organizing the event together with the Imperial Beach-based group, WiLDCOAST.

As surfing has gained popularity, “we’ve been trying to coordinate those groups to develop a really global network of surf protection.”

The keynote speaker will be Efrain Niebla, Baja California’s secretary of environmental protection.

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Last week, the Obama Administration released the FY2014 budget, and once again it eliminates the EPA’s Beach Grant Program that funds recreational water quality monitoring programs to protect swimmer safety.

Public outcry over these same cuts last year motivated supporters in Congress to ensure continued funding for this program throughout 2013 but the President’s current proposal threatens future funding of this popular program.

EPA’s Beach Grant Program funds beach water testing efforts and ensures that health standards are applied consistently in coastal states across the country. The proposal to eliminate this program will seriously endanger the health and safety of the over 100 million beachgoers and swimmers across the nation and the vitality of US coastal, tourism-based economies that are worth more than $80 billion annually.

“If you take away funding for water quality testing, you put families and children at risk,” says actor and Surfrider Foundation supporter David Chokachi. “Everyone has a right to know if the water at the beach is safe to swim in.”

Last year, David along with representatives from the Surfrider Foundation and other environmental organizations traveled to Washington D.C. to speak at a Senate briefing about the importance of continued federal funding for the BEACH Act.

“By defunding the BEACH Act program, state and local governments will now be solely responsible for water quality testing,” Chokachi continues. “Unfortunately, the reality is that some states rely entirely on the EPA grants to support their beach programs, so these states may stop their beach water quality monitoring altogether. Many other states will likely test less often, use less safe standards, or could drop monitoring completely during the offseason, when surfers tend to dominate ocean use.”

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Santa Cruz surf culture is so loved by locals that many became teary in yesterday’s ceremony, which honored and pledged to protect it—on a global level.

Coastal organizations, local surf lovers and legends, and politicians met above the famous break at Steamers Lane yesterday, for Santa Cruz’s WSR dedication, along with dozens of locals, old surf memorabilia and a fleet of “Woodies” glistening in the sun.

The World Surfing Reserve was founded in 2009, by a group of international surfers, environmentalists and scientists, led by Save the Wave and NSR Aurstralia. Its mission is one of extreme foresight, aiming to protect the world’s best breaks at all costs. Afterall, incubating and embracing surf culture aids the coastal regions environmentally as well as economically, a point that Santa Cruz city council member John Leopold made in a speech at Pleasure Point earlier in the day.

Santa Cruz is the fourth World Surfing Reserve on the globe, alongside: Malibu, U.S. Ericeira, Portugal; and Manly Beach, Australia.

read more at santacruz.patch.com