Mobilisation
In 2025, the Surfrider Foundation Europe community reached new heights!
From the coast of Brittany to the Canary Islands, and from the Netherlands to Portugal, thousands of committed men and women embody the organisation’s mission on a daily basis — proving that citizen action remains one of the most powerful tools for protecting the ocean and our coastlines.
Volunteers/Breizh Days:
three events to
bring the community together
In 2025, Surfrider Foundation Europe organised three key events to bring its volunteer community together.
- In January, around 50 volunteers from Brittany gathered in Guidel for the Breizh Days to discuss ongoing local campaigns, blue carbon ecosystems and the strategy for rolling out Ocean Friendly Restaurants in their region.
- In April, the Volunteers Days in Biarritz brought together 135 volunteers from seven countries, with a thematic focus on PFAS, cigarette butts — ahead of the Surfrider Against Cigarette Butts event and the launch of the Ban Filters Now campaign — as well as industrial plastic pellets.
- In November, Marseille welcomed 70 volunteers from 7 countries. On the agenda: proposed activities centred on “education and awareness-raising”, a presentation of the Retrace! project — which will take over from Initiatives Océanes from April 2026 —, as well as workshops dedicated to citizen science and marine renewable energy, with a view to increasingly involving volunteers in the association’s strategic planning.
A growing network
The year 2025 marked a record year for the Surfrider volunteer network, with 873 initiatives carried out across Europe.
The creation of three new local groups — in Tenerife, the Nord region and Pas-de-Calais — enabled Surfrider Foundation Europe to reach the symbolic milestone of 50 local groups.
The Ocean Friendly Restaurants program also continued to grow, with 25 new establishments joining the network in 2025, bringing the total number of member restaurants across Europe to 146.
In addition, the network of skilled volunteers now comprises 120 people, who were assigned 34 tasks over the course of the year.
European entities
In Spain, Surfrider Foundation España has weathered a period of financial strain with resilience, although the situation remains precarious. The organisation has nevertheless made several significant strides: the creation of a second local group in Tenerife, the granting of official recognition as a public interest organisation, the renewal of the board of directors and the appointment of a new chair, Marie Gehrig, a lawyer specialising in environmental law.
In Germany, Surfrider has been heavily involved in the European ‘Surfrider Against Cigarette Butts’ campaign, generating significant public engagement through numerous clean-up events organised across the country.
From an organisational perspective, the organisation operates on a balanced business model, with two full-time staff members supporting an active community of volunteers working on Surfrider’s key issues.
In the Netherlands, the new president, Pim Wouters, supported by the national coordinator, Anne Albers, and the board of directors, has spent the year developing a strategic plan focused on water quality issues, the momentum of which has helped attract new volunteers. Despite cash flow difficulties, new fundraisers have been recruited to consolidate the organisation’s activities in 2026.
In Portugal, national coordinator Leila has done a remarkable job of bringing together the five local groups and raising awareness at a national level. In Matosinhos, volunteers, working alongside the national coordinator, carried out an in-depth investigation into water quality, which led the local council to take corrective action — a fine example of the tangible impact that Surfrider’s local action can have.