Group of people by the rocky shoreline rescuing a stranded sea turtle.
A group of nine people standing on a rocky beach in scuba diving gear, holding their equipment, with the ocean and a cloudy sky in the background, and other beachgoers in the distance.
Group of people on a beach with debris and plastic waste, smiling and posing for the photo, surrounded by greenery and blue sky.

Monthly Meetings are every third Wednesday night at 6:30 pm and always feature a guest speaker.

Since 1997 the Suncoast Reef Rovers have removed over 50,000 pounds of marine debris that lurks beneath the surface of our waters.

Upcoming Events

  • Our next monthly meeting is on Wed. Nov. 19th @ 6:30 pm at South Venice Yacht Club (4425 Yacht Club Dr, Venice, FL 34293).

  • Our next cleanup will be our Annual Venice Fishing Pier Cleanup on Sat. Oct. 18th 2025 at 9 AM. View details on our events page!

    The 2025 Venice Fishing Pier Sign-Up Registration is now full due to overwhelming support.

    We’re so grateful for the enthusiasm from our community.

People gathered on a pier for the annual Venice Fishing Pier Cleanup organized by Suncoast Reef Rovers, with a focus on volunteers preparing for the event.
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Our next Monthly Meeting is Novemeber 19, 2025 @ 6:30pm

at South Venice Yacht Club (4425 Yacht Club Dr, Venice, FL 34293).

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER : We’re hosting a potluck instead of a guest speaker in November!

Last year, SCRR was contacted by the Sarasota Sailing Squadron (SSS). They stated they had sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Milton and were starting to clean up their property. They asked for Suncoast Reef Rover assistance in ascertaining how much debris was in the waters around what was left of their dock areas.

On Saturday, October 26, 2024; several volunteers of SCRR conducted a scouting dive and mini-cleanup of the area. We removed quite a bit of debris but saw a lot more that needed to be done. We will be planning a full scale cleanup with the SSS in the near future.

Thank you to the members of the Sarasota Sailing Squadron for letting us help in this process. Thank you to the volunteers that came out to help with the scout dive and cleanup.

Signboard for Sarasota Sailing Squadron with a painted red, white, and blue sailboat flag, mounted on an outdoor wooden wall of a building under a metal roof, with CCTV cameras above and a clear blue sky in the background.
Beach shoreline with a broken wooden fence, some debris, and trees. City skyline visible in the distance across the water.
Boat yard with several sailboats and motorboats on land, some damaged or overturned, with an employee parking only sign, cones, and scattered equipment in the foreground, and trees and a blue sky with clouds in the background.

On Sunday, September 1, 2024; volunteers from the Suncoast Reef Rovers teamed up with divers from the Trashy Girls Collective ( CLICK LINK FOR MORE INFO ) for a joint cleanup dive. A total of 9 divers and 1 topside help removed 133 lbs of trash!

We had a great time with TGC and look forward to partnering with on future cleanup opportunities.

Great job everyone!

Event announcement for a beach cleanup on September 1, 2024, at North Jetty Beach, organized by Suncoast Reef Rovers and Trashy Girls Collective, featuring logos of a diver and an underwater scene with fish and coral.
A group of ten divers standing on a beach with rocks and the ocean in the background, wearing scuba diving gear.
A group of people on a beach after cleaning up trash, with some sitting and some standing, surrounded by trees and ocean in the background.
A small orange bucket filled with various discarded items, including black corrugated tubing, a torn blue plastic bag, small pieces of wood, and other debris, sitting outdoors on dirt.
Debris and trash collection tools on a black table, including a tangled mess of plant roots, wires, and trash, with a pair of pruning shears, a plastic glove, and decorative stickers and notes about protecting sharks and picking up trash.
Group of people on a beach with green bushes and a cloudy sky, gathered around trash and debris they collected.
A pile of tangled and burned electronic debris on the ground surrounded by a few people, some wearing boots and sandals.
Person with scuba gear in the water, watching a group of children playing on rocks near the shore with a cloudy sky above.
A scuba diver wearing a gray wetsuit, blue diving mask, and scuba gear, kneeling in the water next to a rocky shoreline with clouds and ocean in the background.
A thank you message from Suncoast Reef Rovers and Apogee Industries, expressing appreciation for support, with logos of both organizations on a blue background.

2024 TOTALS - 2,925 Lbs so far

  1. 2/12/24 - Sarasota 820 LBS

  2. 3/25/2024- Sarasota 141 lbs

  3. 4/12/2024 - Sarasota 556 Lbs

  4. 6/8/2024 - Venice Fishing Pier- 178 lbs

  5. 7/12/24- New Pass Fishing Walkway- 215 Lbs

  6. 7/21/2024 - Donald Roehr Reef- 365 Lbs

  7. 8/24/2024- Points of Rock / Donal Roehr: 517 lbs

  8. 9/1/2024: North Jetty Beach : 133 lbs

Trash Removed in 2023: 10,115 LBS

Another great success with a micro-cleanup opportunity. On Sunday, July 21, 2024; volunteer divers from Suncoast Reef Rovers conducted a cleanup at the Donald Roehr Artificial Reef. Some of the trash removed included:
3 derelict crab traps (138 lbs)
5 anchors w/ rope and chain (60 lbs)
Abandoned cast nets : 167 lbs

For a total of : 365 Lbs of trash removed from the reef.

Special Thanks to David Maruca for all of his hard work on the cleanup in the sun!

It is important to point out that we have been finding more and more abandoned cast nets during the cleanups. When cast nets are left in the water, especially on or near these reefs, there is a likelihood marine life getting tangled up and dying in the nets. This is known as Ghost Fishing. Fishing nets used to be made from rope. But since the 1960s, they are made from nylon, a material that is much stronger and cheaper. Nylon is plastic and it does not decompose. That means that fishing nets lost in the water, called ghost nets, continue to catch fish or marine life for many many years. Because of this, hundreds of millions of marine animals are killed or injured every year due to fishing nets pollution.

A man sitting on the edge of a boat with an outboard motor, surrounded by debris and marine refuse, on a body of water, giving a thumbs-up gesture.
Corroded metal anchors, chains, and ropes laid out on a gray wooden dock, with a person's black boots visible at the top of the image.
A boat's interior with a pile of tangled debris, such as seaweed and trash, on a bucket labeled "Florida." The boat has white seats, a Yamaha outboard motor, and a red tackle box.
Mess of tangled fishing gear, including nets and ropes, on the deck of a boat.
Burned-out metal crates and chains on a gravel surface next to a white bag filled with old insulation material, with some grass and a green dumpster in the background.
A painted rock placed on the ground with a message saying, 'Don't TTY! Do Not Litter!!' in blue and purple lettering.
Group of people on a dock holding a sign that says 'Suncoast Reef Rovers,' gathered around a pile of used ropes and fishing gear, with boats and a palm tree in the background on a partly cloudy day.

The weekend of May 3-5, several members of the Suncoast Reef Rovers with volunteer divers from Sarasota Scuba Quest and various other groups participated in the 2024 Annual I.Care Trash Derby in the Florida Keys. Our dive group was assigned to the Key Largo area where we made several dives and removed quite a bit of trash. We had an amazing experience and enjoyed the opportunity to dive in beautiful waters for the purpose of making it clean and safe for everyone to enjoy!

On Friday, July 12, 2024; Volunteers from Suncoast Reef Rovers visited the Fishing Walkway at New Pass in Sarasota for a micro-cleanup. We were able to remove 215lbs of trash from the waterway. Some of the trash included: a commercial trash can, traffic cone, battery box, dive goggles, several knives, lots of tangled cast nets and various other trash items

A bridge over water with a walkway railing on the right side, two people walking and a person on a bicycle, blue sky with some clouds and a few streetlights on the bridge.
Underwater scene showing sand, rocks, coral, and two fish swimming.
A seagull standing on a boat's motor near water with a fishing pole and various belongings on the boat, including chairs, a backpack, and a fishing basket.
A fish with a reddish-brown and yellowish body and fins, lying on the rocky seafloor near a rock formation in an underwater setting.
Two people on a boat collecting trash, including a large sea turtle trap, with water visible in the background.
Person in a blue jacket and black cap on a boat, handling a large white bag, with two pelicans swimming nearby on the water.
A collection of discarded trash, including a black basket, orange traffic cone, tangled fishing net, and various debris, is positioned against a concrete wall on a wooden walkway outdoors during the day.
A man and woman observing a burned metal object in a parking lot.

Members of the Suncoast Reef Rovers and the South Venice Yacht Club recently conducted shoreline cleanup along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). A derelict crab trap was recovered from the mangroves and from the ID tag, the Reef Rovers were able to track down and contact the owner. By doing this, volunteers not only clean up the environment and improve the ecosystem, they also recycle resources instead of winding up in a landfill.

This picture captures the moment the trap is being returned to its rightful owner.

Per FWC regulations, a permit is required to remove derelict crab traps. SCRR has such a permit and with the help of FWC makes every attempt to return the trap to its owner. Congratulations to the South Venice Yacht Club for doing an awesome job with their cleanups !!

On Wednesday, June 19, 2024; SCRR held its monthly meeting for volunteers. A member of the Venice Fire Rescue Department gave a presentation about water rescues and provided information about how to stay safe on water vessels.

After the presentation, SCRR members were invited to tour the departments new Fire Rescue boat and were treated with an interactive demonstration of its capabilities.

SCRR truly appreciates both Venice Fire and the Venice Police Department for always keeping the volunteers safe during our cleanups.

Venice Fire Rescue emblem featuring a red shield with firefighting tools and a flame, with 'Venice Fire Rescue' and 'Est. 1926' text.
Scientists and researchers examining marine life, including octopuses and their eggs, laid out on a blue tarp on the deck of a boat during a marine research expedition.
Two scuba divers exploring an underwater rocky reef, one in a blue wetsuit and the other in a black and yellow wetsuit, surrounded by bubbles and marine life.
Two scuba divers in black wetsuits with yellow fins exploring underwater coral reef.

SHOUTOUT TO VOLUNTEERS HAVING A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THEIR COMMUNITY AND WATERS

Several of our SCRR volunteers assisted with a Venice Yacht Club project to improve the local waterways. Even though it was not a SCRR sponsored event, it shows the dedication our volunteers have with helping in the community and improving the waterways.

On Saturday, April 6, 2024 a team of volunteers spearheaded by Shaun Graser from the Venice Yacht Club (VYC) Environmental Committee planted 100 red Mangroves on three sites on Robert's Bay. Mangroves were donated by Suncoast Reef Rover Volunteer- Federico Vazquez who joined the VYC Environmental Committee in this project. In addition to Federico, SCRR volunteer and Venice Yacht Club Member, Rick McNamara also helped in the planting of the Mangrove plants.

Mangroves are important to the coastal ecosystems as they serve as a buffer from damaging winds, waves and floods.  Mangrove thickets improve water quality by filtering pollutants and trapping sediments from the land, and they reduce coastal erosion. Ecologically, they provide habitat for a diverse array of terrestrial organisms and many species of coastal and offshore fish and shellfish rely exclusively on mangroves as their breeding, spawning and hatching grounds. 

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Group of five scuba divers walking along a path by the water, carrying diving gear and equipment on a cart, with trees and rocks in the background.

Debris at our jetties, artificial reefs, and piers has deadly consequences for marine animals.

Help support our cause to make the ocean a cleaner place for everyone!

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