December 2025
City of Newport Beach: Trash Interceptor
From the City of Newport Beach Website
The City of Newport Beach has completed the construction of the innovative Newport Bay Trash Interceptor in March 2025 and is actively collecting and removing floating trash and debris from San Diego Creek before this trash load enters the environmentally sensitive Upper Newport Bay Marine Preserve. The Preserve is designated as a State Marine Conservation Area and a critical part of Southern California’s coastal estuarine environment. Removing trash and debris before it enters Upper Newport Bay reduces the threat to Newport Bay’s marine life and prevents trash from becoming entangled in the tidal marsh vegetation around the bay. It also prevents subsequent transport of trash and debris into Newport Harbor and out into the ocean where it presently accumulates along the coastline and within the sensitive Area of Special Biological Significance along Newport Coast. Read the entire update on the City of Newport Beach’s website here.
Quarterly Issue Holidays Edition
More of What’s Inside
Lido House Reception
By Dennis Durgan
Greetings and Happy Holidays from the Newport Harbor Foundation crew!
On and Offshore Moorings Update
By Bill Kenney
By way of background, almost all of what we know as Newport Harbor is owned by the State of California and is referred to as public tidelands.
Trash Interceptor
City of Newport Beach Website
The City of Newport Beach has completed the construction of the innovative Newport Bay Trash Interceptor in March 2025 and is actively collecting and removing floating trash and debris from San Diego Creek before this trash load enters the environmentally sensitive Upper Newport Bay Marine Preserve.
Navigating a Busy and Changing Harbor
By Harbormaster Paul Blank
As we move into the close of 2025, the Newport Beach Harbor Department continues to evolve to meet the growing and changing demands of the most active recreational harbor on the West Coast.
Update on Orange County Coastkeeper Projects
By Devon Kelly
Orange County Coastkeeper is a non-profit clean water organization that serves to protect fresh and saltwater ecosystems. Kaysha Kenney is the Marine Restoration Director and is in charge of all their ongoing projects.
Balboa Island Ferry Electrification
By Val Lyon
As a result of new regulations promulgated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2023, the Balboa Island Ferry (BIF) is required to reduce vessel emissions, with the first compliance date being 12/31/25.
