World Oceans Day 2023: Surfing community makes a stand for ocean conservation
Celebrated on 8 June every year, World Oceans Day aims to raise awareness about the different threats to marine biodiversity. Olympics.com spoke to some of the world’s best surfers to find out why ocean conservation is important and how you can join them in making a difference.
Surfing
Competitive surfers spend several hours every day in the water. It's no wonder then that for them, the oceans are much more than a blue expanse on a map.
And when it comes to protecting the ocean, the surfing community is one of the biggest advocates.
Whether it’s picking up trash or refilling plastic water bottles, surfers are often at the forefront of ocean conservation efforts – and on World Oceans Day 2023 (8 June) they are calling for more people to join them.
“The ocean, I consider it one of my best friends. You wake up in any mood, it’s there to receive you without any judgement,” Australian Olympian and three-time ISA World Surfing Games champion Sally Fitzgibbons told Olympics.com “You leave land and then you go out in the ocean, and you come back and there’s a sense of – everyone feels it – it’s a sense of electricity.
“That immersion in something that’s bigger than us and just the wonder and imagination for the creatures out there... We need to celebrate it, but first and foremost we need to protect it and there’s a huge way to go in reversing that impact that we’ve had on our oceans. But it’s not too late and it’s never too little when you walk on the beach and pick up those few things. You’re all contributing.”
World Oceans Day, celebrated on 8 June every year, is a global movement backed by the United Nations (UN) that encourages people to protect oceans against pollution and climate change.
In 2022, more than 15,000 related events were organised in 140 countries, and with hundreds of surfers from across the globe advocating for more efforts, those numbers are expected to be even bigger in 2023.
World Oceans Day: A powerful, but vulnerable place
No matter what part of the globe they come from, surfers are unanimous in their respect for the ocean.
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Brisa Hennessy felt the power of the ocean most acutely when she found herself tumbling inside a relentless set near the shores of Western Australia.
“I've never seen a bigger wave in my entire life, and in that moment, I looked at my friend and we're both laughing at each other because there's nothing else to do. And I just remember doing probably 30 somersaults underwater,” the Costa Rican surfer told Olympics.com. “I ended up breaking my board, (but) I came up to the surface and I was OK. The ocean is a powerful place and it humbles you.”
As powerful as the ocean is, the surfers also know it is vulnerable to human intrusion.
Oceans cover 70 per cent of the planet and are home to 80 per cent of the world’s biodiversity, but that biodiversity is now under threat. Overfishing, pollution, and climate change are among the biggest factors leading to the loss of marine biodiversity.
More than a third of the world’s fish stocks are overfished, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and if the current patterns do not change, more than half of the marine species around the world could face extinction by the year 2100.
These forecasts have surfers concerned.
“The ocean is a really important part of my life,” Barbados surfer Chelsea Tuach told Olympics.com. “Not only has the ocean given me a career, but it’s also where I get my food from, it’s where I get my enjoyment from, where I go when I’m a bit too stressed or not in a good place. I jump in the ocean and I feel so much better. And back home we’ve got such beautiful waters, such clear blue water, a lot of fish, a lot of biodiversity and we’re trying to do a lot to preserve that. We’re a small island and we do get affected by the global climate.”
Some surfers dive even deeper into the subject. Among them, USA’s Olympian Caroline Marks who recently completed a four-day course about coral reefs and coral restoration in Indonesia.
“It was really cool, something I’ve never done before,” Marks told Olympics.com. “When you care about something so much you want to make sure you take care of it. I think we all as surfers care about the ocean and we want to keep it clean. It’s our happy place, my happy place, so we want to make sure it’s clean.”
Ocean Conservation: A team effort
Most of the threats that the oceans face can be traced back to human activity, but it is also through people's actions that these threats can be diminished.
“The ocean has given us so much as surfers. It’s allowed us to travel to these amazing places and one thing I like to do whenever I come in from the surfing, if there’s a piece of plastic on the beach, I pick it up,” South African surfer Matthew McGillivray told Olympics.com. “I try always to pick up a piece of plastic on my way in. We got to protect our oceans. It’s our passion and we live for it.”
German surfer Dylan Groen has a similar habit: “I always try to go to the beach and leave it cleaner than when I arrived,” he told Olympics.com. “I’m trying to do a little bit of something for our ocean.”
Picking up plastic litter is one simple way to help in protecting the oceans. Plastic currently makes up 85 per cent of marine litter and is a major threat not only to aquatic species but also human life.
When ingested, microplastics cause long-term death in marine life and when they enter the food chain, they have been proven to cause serious health problems among humans, such as changes in genetics.
Recognising the large scale of the damage, some surfers are working together to try and reverse it.
For example, Team Australia refills water bottles instead of using plastics while surfers in Iran have a tradition of cleaning up the beaches before they surf.
“From the beginning of surfing in Iran, by locals and then by associations and now by all surfers, it’s typical to clean up the beach even before entering the water,” Iranian surfer Setareh Mazhari told Olympics.com. “It’s the most important thing and the least that we can do for the ocean. It accepts us so the least that we can do for the oceans are some clean-ups.”
And when almost everyone in the town is a surfer – as they are in Puerto Escondido where Mexican surfer Sebastian Hernandez lives – the efforts to clean up the beaches get even bigger.
“As surfers it’s our duty to look after the ocean,” Hernandez told Olympics.com. “We have projects where we recycle. We clean up the beaches weekly. It’s definitely a big part of our community. World-wide, anywhere you go, surfers are the community that keep the beaches clean.”
World Ocean Day: Do as the surfers do
Not all clean up efforts have to be done as a national surfing team or as an entire population of a surfing town. When it comes to conservation efforts, surfers agree, no action is too small.
“It’s just setting a good example and pulling out (trash) when you see it,” Australia’s Fitzgibbons said. “Even if someone throws their trash, it’s not a big deal to pick it up and do it on your own accord. It’s all the little things.”
Being mindful of your footprint, picking up trash, and avoiding single-use plastics are a simple way to show solidarity with the surfers’ conservation efforts.
“Anything you do is never too small,” Barbados’ Tuach said. “Picking up a few pieces of trash, being really conscious of what you use, what you buy and where you buy it. It’s been a huge part of my life and you can see why. We love the ocean, we want to have it like this for generations to come.”