B.E.A.C.H. Gets A ‘Thumbs-up’

Receiving the Douglas Tom 'Thumbs-Up' Award from Kimbal Thompson of the Marine and Coastal Zone Advocacy Council (MACZAC) are B.E.A.C.H. co-founders Dean Otsuki (left) and Suzanne Frazer. Photo from Suzanne Frazer.

A Hawaii Kai-based environmental group has won the Douglas Tom “Thumbs-Up” award for actively engaging the community in protecting the state’s shorelines.

Tom was Hawaii’s Coastal Zone Management Program manager from 1978 to 2009.

Suzanne Frazer and Dean Otsuki, the Hawaii Kai couple who founded Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawaii, accepted the award in May from the Marine and Coastal Zone Advocacy Council, which selected B.E.A.C.H. from among Hawaii’s top environmental organizations for the annual honor.

B.E.A.C.H. is an all-volunteer nonprofit that can be found cleaning shorelines, lecturing on debris at schools and campaigning against the proliferation of plastic and the harm it can do to shorebirds and other marine animals.