Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff to summer, where Southern California locals and tourists flock to the sand and surf, enjoying fun in the sun as the weather starts to warm — but how safe are local beaches ahead of the busy season?

A massive fire earlier this year along part of the Los Angeles-area coastline sent ash, chemicals and debris onto the sand and into the ocean, a playground for millions of people who visit its beaches each year. And a toxic algae bloom has ravaged wildlife from Santa Barbara County to San Diego for months, killing and sickening countless sea birds and marine mammals, with reports of sea lions attacking swimmers and surfers.

But as Southern California residents decide where to go to beat the heat, there is one silver lining ocean advocates are talking about – an annual report card released by Heal the Bay on Thursday, May 22, showing lower-than-normal bacteria levels at many Los Angeles and Orange County beaches the past year.

Heal the Bay for the past 34 years has ranked California beaches based on bacteria levels, often flushed into the ocean with stormwater, that can sicken beachgoers. And while the latest report doesn’t reflect fire-related chemicals, the black ash and debris on the beach or the sick animals, it’s a chance to spotlight the ocean’s overall health heading into the holiday weekend.

Read also: Heal the Bay report: OC earns 34 ‘Honor Roll’ spots; Santa Monica Pier area is most polluted

“The Beach Report Card is such an important tool for raising awareness about regional water quality,” Tracy Quinn, who serves as president and CEO of Heal the Bay, said during a press conference Thursday, “and it’s also a critical resource for empowering the public to make informed decisions about where it’s safe to swim and surf.”

The group’s report is a “limited release” this year, with more data expected later this summer because researchers were also busy with the impacts of the coastal Palasades Fire and the toxic algae blooms sickening wildlife.

“There’s so many different things impacting our ocean right now,” said Annelisa Moe, associate director of science and policy for Santa Monica-based Heal the Bay. “We can’t take them separately, because they’re all impacting the ocean at large.”

The good news? Less bacteria

Fewer rainy days in the winter and spring resulted in stellar grades in this year’s report card for many area beaches, highlighting the correlation between runoff and high bacteria levels in the ocean.

Though a “limited release” report at this time, it is a chance, Heal the Bay leaders said, to celebrate the “honor roll” beaches and to highlight where there are concerns, so solutions can quickly be explored.

Because “we feel that a day at the beach should never make anybody sick,” Moe said, “especially when it’s preventable.”

Due to that lack of rain, and subsequent stormwater runoff that flows from far inland, washing pollutants to the shore, 62 California beaches made Heal the Bay’s honor roll list this year.

In Southern California, 34 Orange County beaches made the list and seven throughout Los Angeles earned similar A+ marks.

“This continues to tell that story of stormwater being a significant source of pollution and needing to improve the infrastructure, so that we can continue to manage stormwater and use it as a potential resource and remove it as this significant pollutant,” Moe said.

In past years, there have typically been 30 to 50 beaches along the entire West Coast that earn spots on the honor roll list.

In 2024, there were 12 reported, and the year before, only two, coinciding with the wettest years recently.

But this most recent season had 9% less rainfall than the 10-year average and the first significant rain did not happen until late January. Less rain means less stormwater to flush bacteria and pollutants into the ocean.

“This indicates that we’ve gotten very good at managing these small rain events, which is a great first step,” said Naomi Meurice, water quality data specialist with Heal the Bay. “But there’s a lot more than we can do to be prepared to manage the larger storms when they do come.”

More efforts are being made to capture stormwater to reuse, meaning less dirty water is rushing out to the ocean.

“Stormwater itself is not a pollutant,” Moe said. “It’s this wonderful resource that is given to us, but as it flows through residential areas, industrial areas and commercial areas, it picks up pollutants and brings those to the ocean, and that includes bacterial pollution.

“So if we’re able to capture more of that water directly where it falls,” she said, “then it doesn’t become the pollutant that we know it as.”

All clear after the fires?

The Palasades and Eaton fires at the start of the year sent ash from the sky into the ocean, and rains flushed fire retardants and debris straight into the Pacific Ocean, worrying beachgoers from Malibu to Santa Monica and beyond.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health lifted its advisory about staying out of the water from Las Flores State Beach to Santa Monica State Beach last month, reporting that ocean testing for chemicals related to the wildfires weren’t showing levels “dangerous to human health.”

Read also: Drone images display stunning devastation from Palisades fire

The testing was conducted monthly both in the ocean and on the sand, looking for metals, nutrients, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

“This was definitely a big learning lesson for everybody,” Moe said. “Luckily, we did get a good amount of sampling done directly after the fire.”

There’s worry that the funding has run out for the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to maintain the testing, she said. “So we’re looking for some funding to be able to continue that monthly testing, because in our minds, we need to do that for at least another year to really fully understand what the impacts are.”

Tests show chemicals are within “residential thresholds,” but Heal the Bay advocates are concerned there are some chemicals that need a closer look. There are no existing guidelines to determine human health risks from swimming or surfing in the ocean after an urban fire, Moe noted.

Acquiring missing data for materials such as inorganic arsenic, which is dangerous for humans in lower concentrations, is key to ensuring safety, Heal the Bay officials argue.

The group is also urging more testing on a substance called Hexavalent Chromium, also known as Chromium 6, which is usually produced by an industrial process such as hardening alloy steel and is known to cause cancer and impact the respiratory system, kidneys, liver, skin, and eyes.

More testing by the L.A. water quality board is underway, with results expected late May, Moe said.

And, Heal the Bay plans to conduct more of its own water quality testing and give recommendations for new public health risk thresholds for water contamination from climate disasters. It is also working with the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project Task Force to develop new guidelines for fire-related water quality monitoring efforts.

The worry goes beyond the water, with bits of glass, nails and other fire debris still stuck in the sand. Both the county and Heal the Bay are warning beachgoers to be cautious.

“Please stay away from the fire debris, don’t step in it,” said Nicole Mooradian, spokesperson for the County of Los Angeles Department of Beaches and Harbors. “Our crews are working really hard to get it cleaned every day.”

There was also a warning sent out by county health officials about a black substance accumulating on the beaches.

The black “sludge” does not appear to be hazardous to human health, Mooradian said. There is a concern, however, that it could be hiding fire debris still washing ashore.

Attempting to scrape the residual from rocks and sand could destroy marine habitats, erode the shoreline, and cause long-term environmental damage, county officials said.  “Instead, natural tides and weather will gradually break down and wash away the sediment, allowing the ecosystem to recover naturally.”

Don’t go barefoot on the sand — wear flip flops or shoes, especially at Will Rodgers State Beach and beaches in Topanga and Santa Monica, Mooradian said, adding the further you get away from the burn zone, the less fire debris.

“We remain cautiously optimistic that the beach is a place people can come and enjoy, despite the wildfires,” she said.

Are sick animals dangerous?

Improved testing results the past week and a half are giving hope that toxins in nearby ocean waters that have been sickening sea life since early this year will start to have less impact.

Toxic algae blooms, appearing earlier than usual, have sickened and killed thousands of birds, dolphins, sea lions and even whales. Fish eat the algae and the larger sea creatures get sick from eating the fish, often leading to seizures and even death. The animals come ashore as they get sick and sea lions are showing unusual aggressive behavior due to the toxins.

That aggression can be directed towards humans. Several surfers and swimmers have been bitten or harassed by sea lions up and down the coast.

“Our recommendation really is, if you go to the beach, be aware of your surroundings,” Moe said. “Don’t approach any animals that might put you in danger, but it would also cause excess stress to the animal that’s already dealing with an illness or potentially life-threatening situation.”

The blooms are naturally occurring, though they have been happening more frequently in recent years, with ocean temperature increases and more nutrient runoffs appearing to contribute to the flare-ups.

This year’s bloom is geographically larger, longer and more deadly than experts say they remember, and the ash from the fires likely helped fuel the algae in at least some areas, they have said.

Typically, as summer approaches, the toxic outbreaks slow down. Marine mammal rescue groups in Los Angeles and Orange County that have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of sickened animals could sure use the break.

“But we’re not quite out of the woods just yet,” Moe said. “All of this kind of points back to climate change. So many things are affecting the health of the ocean.”