People who eat fish caught in San Francisco Bay are exposed to harmful toxins because polluters regularly contaminate the Bay with dangerous substances like mercury, dioxins, and PCBs. Baykeeper recently persuaded regulators to take a critical first step toward protecting people who eat the most fish from San Francisco Bay.

The Bay Area is home to native tribes whose members follow traditional fishing practices and people who regularly fish in the Bay to feed themselves and their families.

A multinational corporation is mining the Bay’s sand to sell it for profit, and it’s harming Ocean Beach (pictured above) and other Bay Area beaches and wetlands.

San Francisco’s Embarcadero seawall—the manmade barrier between the city and San Francisco Bay—is crumbling. Baykeeper supports a bond measure on the ballot in San Francisco this November to repair it.

Built in the 1850s, San Francisco’s 3-mile seawall can’t withstand another century of wind, rain, and tide surges, particularly as climate change causes sea levels to rise and storms to intensify. And in the likely event of a major earthquake in the coming decades, the seawall could collapse entirely, submerging parts of downtown San Francisco.

San Jose’s creeks and rivers have some of the worst trash and bacteria pollution in the Bay Area. When Baykeeper first discovered the city’s high pollution levels several years ago, San Jose was not addressing the root causes related to their faulty storm water system.

In a ruling that poses risks for San Francisco Bay, regional regulators recently approved an increase in the refining of heavy tar sands oil at the Phillips 66 oil refinery in Rodeo.

The refinery claims the increase is insignificant. But the change amounts to nine more oil tankers on the Bay every year. 

In a victory for the Bay—and the entire state—Governor Jerry Brown has signed two bills that will help prevent new offshore oil drilling along the state’s shoreline.  

Baykeeper Field Investigator Sienna Courter headed to the Hamilton Wetlands in Novato with representatives from the California Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR). We're working closely with OSPR to analyze how oil spills affect sensitive sites around the Bay, and the best ways to protect those areas when a spill does occur.

From her bicycle atop Mt. Tamalpais or along Oakland’s Skyline Boulevard, Jovita Pajarillo experiences San Francisco Bay in her favorite way: taking in the expansive views from afar. The Baykeeper Board member also likes to get up close and observe wildlife, especially small shorebirds.