Surfrider Foundation Australia Ann ua l R ep ort
OUR MISSION Protecting waves and beaches.
WHAT WE DO Surfrider Foundation is unique within the environmental community. Many of us are surfers, some are fishermen or occasional beachgoers with the family. Whatever our connection to the coast, we all share a common bond – a deep passion for Australia’s beaches and coastline and ensuring they are kept clean and healthy. Through our network of branches spread across Australia, Surfrider Foundation is fighting hard to preserve, protect and restore coastal environments, so that future generations can get the same enjoyment from the beach that we do now.
HOW WE DO IT – C.A.R.E. Surfrider Foundation has four key areas of activity: • Conservation • Activism • Research • Education
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SURFRIDER FOUNDATION AUSTRALIA
COVER & THIS PHOTO: joliphotos.com
While surfing is here to stay, many surfbreaks and beaches may not be ... Dear Friends of Surfrider, As Surfrider Foundation Australia enters its 23rd year the need is as urgent as ever to protect the great waves and beaches we are blessed with. • Bulldozers are moving in on Bastion Point and channel dredging projects are threatening waves on the Gold Coast and in Westernport, Victoria. • Sadly more waves get added than removed from our ‘Endangered Waves’ list. • Ocean outfalls pour sewage into coastal waters (including estuaries), despite the promise of recycling technology. By 2020 sewage effluent will grow to 1800 gigalitres a year. • Plastics and marine debris fill our oceans. Surfrider’s community ‘beach cleans’ picked up over 50,000 pieces of marine debris in just three years along 105km of coast. But it returns! Enter Surfrider Foundation, which gives a voice to surfers and to the coast. Surfrider is both a campaigner and a community, made up of surfers and families who care. The strength of Surfrider has always been found in two forces: 1. Our local branches and the talented people they attract.
campaigns: the Australian ‘Endangered Waves Campaign’ and the ‘Rise Above Plastics’ international Surfrider campaign. Our Board team is strong, with a full complement of active Directors bringing a variety of age, skills and experience. I am very thankful to my fellow Directors and to Karen Raubenheimer, on our staff, for their loyalty to Surfrider. After four years as Chairman I will be handing my role over to fellow Director Brendan Donohoe at the end of this year and I wish him well. At Branch level we are growing. New branches have been launched (at Yuragir, Wollongong and Perth), and in some branches we saw a handover to younger energetic leaders who bring new ways. Financially we are tight and we need your support. We get by through donor appeals, branch driven fundraisers and some sponsors. Most notable was a generous three year major sponsorship from Garnier, which ended in mid 2013 and so we are now seeking a new major sponsor. I invite you to become part of the Surfrider community, as a volunteer, donor or partner. Rex Campbell PhD Env Sc Chairman
2. Our national campaigns and the publicity partnerships they attract. In recent times we have launched two national
PHOTO: Darren Noyes-Brown
2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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PHOTO: ‘The Other Side’, Luke Sorenson
ENDANGERED WAVES Surfrider Foundation’s Endangered Waves campaign is our core area of activity. We have a strong legacy of ‘saved’ waves from the past 20 years.
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urfrider Foundation has identified nine waves throughout Australia that are under imminent threat.
These places are threatened by a variety of impacts ranging from coastal infrastructure development to water pollution, access problems and mismanagement (see www.surfrider.org.au for further information on the criteria). The current list of Australia’s (most) Endangered Waves is: • Bastion Point (Mallacoota) [Vic] • The Other Side (TOS) South Stradbroke Island [Qld] • Bells Beach [Vic] • Kirra Point, Gold Coast [Qld] • North Narrabeen [NSW] • Capricorn Coast [Qld] • Ball Bay [Norfolk Island] • Westernport Bay [Vic] • Tam O’Shanter Bay [Tas]
? or paradise paved Postcard perfect–
The Other Side (TOS) South Stradbroke Island The Other Side (TOS) at South Stradbroke Island was added to Surfrider’s Endangered Waves list in June 2013. The listing of TOS recognises threats to the break from a proposal by Premier Campbell Newman’s Queensland State Government and Mayor Tom Tate’s Gold Coast Council to develop a cruise ship terminal and casino in close proximity to Queensland’s best beach break. Surfrider has been working closely with the ‘Save our Spit’ alliance to raise community and government awareness of the impact the proposed development will have on the surf break and amenity of the area. To date this has involved community meetings as well as print and radio media appearances.
Bastion Point The campaign to prevent a breakwall from being constructed through the middle of the surf break at Bastion Point, on the far east wilderness coast of Victoria, has been running for more than 20 years. Surfrider Foundation has been very active in the campaign through on-the-ground members, rallies at Parliament House and the use of print, radio, TV, film and social media. Despite massive community opposition and the State Government recommending a potentially lower impact option, the local Gippsland Shire Council is intent on building the breakwall, with construction due to commence in late 2013. Surfrider Foundation and the Save Bastion Point Campaign are formulating plans for peaceful direct action to prevent construction occurring.
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SURFRIDER FOUNDATION AUSTRALIA
OUR CAMPAIGNS RISE ABOVE PLASTICS We all use plastics, we’re all responsible. Marine debris in the form of plastics causes untold harm to ocean wildlife. Entanglement and ingestion often have deadly consequences, killing marine creatures protected by Australian and international law.
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n fact, entanglement and ingestion of plastics is so widespread that no fish from our oceans can be classified as ‘organic’. Plastics act as a sponge for toxins already in seawater, and can be thousands of times more toxic than the surrounding water, impacting the marine food web when ingested. Surfrider believes the most effective way to prevent marine plastic is to change consumer behaviour through action. Nobody likes to see our beaches trashed and most want to do something about it. Surfrider Australia has focused on removing plastics from Australia’s beaches for nearly 20 years. All plastics collected are weighed, sorted and counted. This information is uploaded to the Tangaroa Blue database in support of the Australian Marine Debris Initiative, aimed at finding solutions to stop the flow of rubbish into our oceans. As part of our national Rise Above Plastics campaign, Surfrider volunteers, co-ordinated by our branches around the Australian coastline, have achieved the following: • Collected more than 71,000 pieces of rubbish. • Weighed around 450,000 tonnes of rubbish. • Worked on over 141,000 metres of Australian beach front. Nurdles are pre-production plastic pellets, the feedstock melted and moulded in factories to create
the infinite array of plastic products we use. Through bad management practices, nurdles are released into waterways from factories and then make their way into our oceans. There they absorb toxins such as heavy metals and DDT while floating vast distances. Surfrider contributes to the International Pellet Watch in Japan, sending pellets for analysis to help monitor ocean toxins around Australia. Surfrider engages corporates in Citizen Stewardship days, leading staff in beach clean-ups and revegetation activities. Action provides education and changes consumer behaviour. Simple local actions make a positive impact and help solve this global issue. Riseaboveplastics.org.au IMAGE: Arnold Furnace
2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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FINANCIALS Financial information (1 July 2012-30 June 2013)
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urfrider Foundation Limited is a non-profit organisation. As with many non-profit organisations, the economic climate of recent years has proved challenging, with reduced levels of income from donations.
2012-13 INCOME Sponsorships
As a Deductible Gift Recipient, The Surfrider Foundation Fund is able to receive tax deductible donations from supporters. Note: For the full 2012-13 Directors Report and Financial Statements, contact info@surfrider.org.au. $
$55,000
2012-13 EXPENSES Admin /Accounting
$ $7,902
Donations $21,778
Education
Membership and Merchandise
Insurance of Branches
$6,130
Grants $6,348
Fundraising Costs
$4,769
Fundraising Events
National Campaigns
$32,005
Branch Projects
$10,585
Total Expenses
$82,852
Total Income
$2,080 $3,963 $89,169
$20,991
2012-13 INCOME Net Income
$ $6,317
PHOTO: Darren Noyes-Brown
Campaigns & Education
77%
Administration, Insurance, Fundraising
23% 6
SURFRIDER FOUNDATION AUSTRALIA
OUR PEOPLE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MAJOR SUPPORTER
• Simon Branigan (Vic) [since 2011) • Rex Campbell (Chair) (Vic) [since 2008) • Brendan Donohoe (NSW) [Since 2009] • Gene Hardy (WA) [since 2010] • Barton Lynch (NSW) [since 2010] • Paul Maddock (NSW) [since 2008] • Sarah Vann-Sander (WA) [since 2013] • Dan Ware (Qld) [since 2013]
• Coastalwatch.com
STAFF • Karen Raubenheimer (Operations Manager)
Life Members (financial) Joel Parkinson; Stephanie Gilmore; Mick Fanning; Dean Morrison; Gordon Merchant; Wendy Harmer; Barry Steele; Eddie Mercuri; Angus Watt; Richard Finlay Jones; Paul Steinmann; Robert Hughes; Craig McGregor; David Oitmaa; Clayton James; Barnaby Hurrell; Murray Turner; Matt Butel; David Minnears; Chris Tola; Stephen Hawker; Steve Perry; Adam Bennett-Smith; Victor Tilley; Brett Davis; Joanne Cooper; Ellis Cooper; Paul Maddock; Rex Campbell; Brendan Donohoe; Glen Neilsen; Mark Haynes.
SUPPORTERS • Peugeot - Protect our Playground • Quiksilver Foundation • Volcom • Surf Organic • eTool • Spaceships Campervan Rentals • Tradewind Surf • Etiko • 1% For The Planet • Bausele • Eco Chic • Allan Hall Business Advisors • Eldon and Anne Foote Trust
Our Branches Surfrider Foundation has more than 15 branches around Australia. To locate your nearest branch, visit www.surfrider.org.au or phone +612 9965 7372.
Honorary Life Members Greg Howell; Bruce Thom; Tom Kirsop; Michael Legge Wilkinson; Bob Moffatt; John Foss; Stuart Ball.
Others who assisted Individuals: Stephen Titus; Matt Butel; Tim Smith; Luke Brasch; Wendy Harmer; Fran Young; Chris Chong; Costa Rae; Hannah Darling; Sebastien Guyot; Nicolas Graveline; Cyril Delorme; Bertrand Van de Voorde; Guillame Valdant; Kim Sundell; Tass Hadoulis; Paul Berry; Sarah and Gary Neave; Peter Wilson; Kim Sundell; Simon Anderson; Phil Osborn; Tim Baker; Russell Holt; Shayne Patterson; Jack Johnson. In kind support: Coastalwatch; Surfing World; FCS; Realsurf; Deck Bar - Dee Why; Psillakis Surfboards; Barefoot Wines; Stem Media; Arnold Furnace (Creative); Rip Curl Shops Manly and Narrabeen; Wicks Surf; Stickit Wax; The Perfect Wave. Credits and Acknowledgements: Design: John Sampson. Photography: Peter (Joli) Wilson ( joliphotos.com); Darren Noyes-Brown (noyesbrownphotography.com). Printed on 100% recycled paper by A & J Printers.
2013 ANNUAL REPORT
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Surfrider Foundation Limited 681 Barrenjoey Road Avalon NSW 2107 PO Box 968 Mona Vale NSW 1660 Ph: +612 99657372 Email: info@surfrider.org.au www.surfrider.org.au ACN: 061168527
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SURFRIDER FOUNDATION AUSTRALIA