Local Group Spotlight

Alliance for a Living Ocean

Alliance for a Living Ocean (ALO) is a grassroots ocean advocacy organization based in Long Beach Island, N.J. It was founded in 1987 by a group of concerned local citizens in response to a 50-mile-long garbage slick, which included medical wastes, then causing beach closures along New Jersey’s 130-mile coastline. ALO has since been instrumental in the passage of state and federal laws aimed at preventing ocean pollution, as well as having been an early advocate of plastic recycling. Besides encouraging legislative action, the group focuses its efforts on educational programs, local initiatives and individual responsibilities for maintaining a healthy coastal environment, such as its campaign to inform residents about the effects of lawn chemicals on water quality. Its mission is one that includes recognizing the need to manage our entire watershed, since all water flows from “the raindrop to the ocean.”