For as long as there have been surf spots, there have been people trying to turn them into marinas, breakwalls, jetties, boat ramps, pulp mills, etc etc. Here are a few sites devoted to threatened surf spots such as Kirra, Bastion point in Victoria, Ollies at Pt Kembla and New Zealand’s Whangamata.
Over the last 12 years the sand pumping that created super bank, also filled in and pretty much destroyed one of the world’s greatest righthanders, Kirra. The folks at KirraPoint.org are part of an effort by the Gold Coast surfing community to lobby for the restoration of the break at Kirra.
There aren’t many surfable spots along the wild coastline of Victoria’s East Gippsland, so when the East Gippsland Shire Council decided to build a ramp and breakwater at Bastion Point, local surfers quickly put together an impressive effort to try and stop it. The Save Bastion Point website gives you all the background and of course it also has an action page where you can learn how easy it is to help out.
The situation at Port Kembla’s Ollies is somewhat unusual. Here a break on the northern side of the harbour is proposed to be made inaccessible to the public. Sydney Water’s Wollongong Sewerage treatment plant is going set up security gates that will stop anyone getting to the foreshore area where the wave is located. Along with background info and sample letters, there’s also an online petition you can sign.
The Surf Break Protection Society has been trying to prevent the destruction of Whangamata Bar by a Marina. It’s not looking too good for the crew, but they aren’t giving up if this is anything to go by…
Your editor will be heading back Save The Waves Coalition for more news of endangered waves around the world. A great idea and we’re pretty sure one of the few sites in the world with a picture of the man who’ll be the 44th President of the USA bodysurfing at Sandy Beach!
The premier surfing environmental organisation is Surfrider Foundation. You can check out the latest doings on the Australian Surfrider Foundation site and, if you’re on the Northern Beaches, have a squiz at the local branch’s site.
And here’s a cute slideshow of all the sites mentioned…
