Along the sunlit coast between San Clemente and Dana Point, volunteers - from casual beachgoers to trained scuba divers - gather regularly to do one thing: remove the human-made detritus that doesn’t belong in the ocean. These cleanups are more than feel-good community events; they protect fragile marine life, reduce hazards to surfers and swimmers, and keep treasured local reefs and harbors healthy for generations to come.

What these cleanups look like depends on where they happen. On the sand, volunteers with gloves and trash grabbers comb dunes and shoreline at low tide, collecting bottles, cigarette butts, food packaging, and tangled fishing line. Offshore, teams of divers descend to rocky reef areas and harbor bottoms to retrieve heavier, submerged items - rusted traps, discarded nets, old tires, and long lengths of monofilament that can entangle fish, seabirds, and marine mammals.

The Ocean Institute in Dana Point runs both beach cleanups and organized ‘clean the reef’ MPA dive events that invite dive teams to focus on removing fishing lines and other debris from the Marine Protected Area behind the Institute.

Local dive shops and volunteer dive clubs play a crucial role. Lost Winds Dive Shop in San Clemente is a hub for local divers, offering gear, training, and a community connection point for those who want to take part in underwater projects. Dive centers like Lost Winds help equip volunteer divers and often coordinate or publicize opportunities to help restore the underwater landscape. 

The trash itself paints a familiar, sobering picture: single-use plastics (bottles, food wrappers, straws), cigarette filters, glass and metal fragments, abandoned fishing gear, and large items like buoys and tires. Fishing line is a special concern - nearly invisible in the water, it cuts and snags, continuing to injure animals long after it’s been discarded. In some organized reef cleanups, divers report removing hundreds of feet of monofilament and dozens of other hazardous items in a single morning, directly decreasing entanglement risk for reef inhabitants. The Ocean Institute has emphasized removing fishing line and related debris as a key goal of its reef cleanup events. 

Collaboration is what makes these efforts effective. The Ocean Institute partners with community groups and regional programs like Stand Up To Trash to run regular community beach cleanups - supplying bags, buckets and pickers, coordinating check-in, and turning outreach into measurable results. These monthly cleanups and larger Coastal Cleanup Day events help gather volunteers, collect data on the types and amounts of trash removed, and raise public awareness. In past years the Ocean Institute’s cleanups reported removing thousands of pounds of debris through consistent volunteer engagement. 

Removing debris isn’t just cosmetic. Marine plastics break into microplastics that enter the food chain, fishing gear causes entanglement and ghost-fishing, and debris can smother kelp beds and vital reef structure. For coastal communities that rely on tourism, fishing and recreation, clean beaches and healthy reefs are also economic assets. In short: cleanup work protects wildlife, people, and livelihoods.

Getting involved is straightforward and open to many skill levels. Shoreline cleanups typically require no special training - just sensible shoes, sun protection, and a willingness to bend down and fill a bag. For underwater cleanups, divers should be certified, dive with buddies, and ideally participate through organized events where safety protocols, surface support and proper disposal pathways are provided. The Ocean Institute and partner groups frequently provide the logistics and educational context needed to make each cleanup both safe and impactful. 

California Coastal Cleanup Day each fall draws large volunteer turnouts in Dana Point and San Clemente, with coordinated sites such as Doheny State Beach and the San Clemente Pier often listed as official locations. Local outlets and the Ocean Institute publish sign-ups and details ahead of the event; complimentary parking and supplies are sometimes available to volunteers who register. For year-round action, the Ocean Institute lists monthly community beach cleanups and private-group cleanup options around Dana Point Harbor and Baby Beach.

Beyond hauling trash, these events are educational. Many clean ups pair collection with data recording and “lunch-and-learn” talks about how trash ends up in the ocean, the lifecycle of plastics, and how residents can reduce single-use waste. Diving cleanups often follow protocols like PADI AWARE’s “Dive Against Debris” so recovered items can be catalogued and used to inform prevention strategies. Stand Up To Trash and similar programs provide volunteers with opportunities to learn, measure impact, and advocate for better waste management policies. 

For residents and visitors who want to help, a few simple steps make participation easy and meaningful: sign up through local organizations (the Ocean Institute is a good starting point for Dana Point-area events), bring reusable water and sun protection, follow safety briefings, and consider joining a local dive shop or club if you’re interested in underwater cleanups. Dive shops like Lost Winds are community gateways - where people find training, equipment, and the team spirit that turns a cleanup into a regular stewardship habit. 

The ocean won’t clean itself - but when communities mobilize, the results are immediate and measurable. Whether you pull a bag of trash from a wind-whipped stretch of sand or unroll a coil of fishing line from a rocky reef, your effort tangibly improves the health of local waters. In San Clemente and Dana Point, that shared care for the coast keeps waves cleaner, reefs safer, and the shoreline beautiful for everyone who calls the coast home.

For more information or to join in, contact 

Lost Winds (San Clemente Dive Shop), 

(949)303-0835 or the The Ocean Institute (949)496-2274.