The beach is the edge of the ocean…

We can all picture a beach – a sandy shore, with waves crashing, wind blowing, and seagulls flying overhead. But Massachusetts beaches also include urban seashores, estuarine beaches, and freshwater lakefronts and riverbanks. Coastal beaches represent our connection to the ocean. When we dip our toes into the water, we’re on the edge of an expanse that is home to most of the life on earth.

A beach – whether ocean, urban, or estuarine – serves a variety of functions:

• The beach provides a unique habitat for a variety of plants and animals. For example, 75 percent of migratory water birds live in or depend on coastal beaches during their life span. Dune plants provide nesting areas for several kinds of birds and animals. In our climate, beaches are dominated by a few species of hardy grasses and bushes that can withstand strong winds, cold winters, and intense summer sun.

• Our coastal beaches provide numerous recreational opportunities for millions of people. Massachusetts’s beach resources have tremendous economic value – coastal tourists spend $1.5 billion each year. The aesthetic aspects of a beach system provide additional benefits, inspiring works of art and literature.

• Beaches provide some protection to residents living near the ocean. They act as a buffer against the high winds and waves of powerful storm systems or turbulent seas.

Now, stand on any beach or shoreline and look out toward the water. What you'll see is an area called the nearshore, which is a part of all coastal watersheds. The nearshore is the zone extending out into the sea from the shoreline, well beyond where the waves crash.

Nearshore waters serve a variety of functions, complementary to the functions of the beach:

• Sea grasses and other aquatic plants growing in the nearshore waters provide food and shelter for many species of fish and shellfish. Many marine organisms, including most commercially valuable fish species, depend on nearshore waters at some point during their life cycle. Nearshore waters provide habitat for 80 percent of the fish species in the United States.

• Nearshore waters provide countless educational and research opportunities for scientists, students, naturalists, and the curious.

The connection between the beach, nearshore waters, and the ocean is important to make – because whatever we do to harm the beach affects nearshore waters, and ultimately impacts the ocean itself. Here’s an example: stormwater flows through the streets during rainstorms, carrying animal waste, fertilizers, pesticides, oil and grease, and all types of litter into the storm drains. The drains lead to the nearest stream or river. The river flows to the coast, perhaps near a beach. If the contamination is severe enough, the beach might be closed to swimming. But the pollution does not rest there. The waste can directly harm wildlife, or can encourage rapid growth ("blooms") of algae. These blooms indicate an imbalance in the nearshore system.

Massachusetts has taken great strides in improving beach and coastal water quality. The Boston Harbor cleanup means that we can swim at Boston’s beaches more frequently each summer. Yet some problems remain, for example:

• Massachusetts has no coordinated, comprehensive coastal monitoring program.

• Stormwater continues to be a major source of pollution at our beaches and coast.

• In 1999, volunteers picked up 70,000 pounds of trash from Massachusetts beaches during the annual Coastsweep.

• With each heavy rainstorm, about 26 million gallons (about 50 Olympic-size swimming pools full) of untreated or partially treated sewage is discharged to local waterways.