Surf Zones! More artificial Reefs! Fines for Surf Rage! These were some of the headlines picked up by both mainstream and surf media, as the Gold Coast Surf Council announced its plan for a Surf Management Plan.

Now nothing quite gets our attention as surf rage and overcrowding, but after some digging I found that the real story lies not with these rather extreme proposals, but with both the very existence of a Surf Council and it’s Surf Management Plan. Forget the surf zones for kooks and shredders, it is these two concepts have the potential to make a massive difference to the way us surfers and our surf spots are treated.

“Look zoning and fines, they are just two of 200 suggestions that have been put forward anecdotally,” says Brad Farmer,  of the Gold Coast Surf Council. “I don’t support them, but they are important for getting media attention and starting a conversation with the community.”

Farmer, a founding member of the Surfrider Foundation, a long time Tracks environmental reporter aka The Fly and the man behind the successful National Surfing Reserves (NSR) believes the Surf Council is a platform that can give normal surfers a real voice.

“We found that the current surfer groups, be it Surfing Australia, Surfrider or the NSR weren’t addressing the broader concerns of the recreational surfer,” says Farmer. “The Gold Coast for example has a bush regeneration plan, a noxious weed plan, a bicycle path plan and alcohol management plan and yet when we saw a commercial proposal like a cruise ship terminal, there was no body or a coastal protection act that represented surfers.”

This part of the coast needs protection and surfers can have their say. Photo Joli

Starting with the support of local Boardriders clubs his idea was to form an umbrella body that was both broader in its membership and its brief than the existing organisations. “The key was to have a position statement that set out where surfers stood on coastal issues for that city or area,” says Farmer. “So the Surf Council was formed by Dan Ware and myself to provide the architecture for that. It attempts to engage on behalf of recreational surfers take a position to government.” It remains to be seen whether the other bodies, especially government funded ones like Surfing Australia, will stay under that umbrella, but for now the Gold Coast Surf Council has made significant strides in becoming a representative body.

Farmer sees the key is recognising surfers as key users and stakeholders and then having that protected in some form of legislation. It is a model that worked for the National Surfing Reserves, which in turn became the World Surfing Reserves. “I would hope these councils go national and even international,” says Farmer. “Like the NSR they provide a framework for a surf management plan that can be easily replicated. We want to write a blueprint that can be used by everyone.”

Farmer cites the NSR and the influence it has had in bringing communities and politician onside and thinks Surf Councils can perform a similar role. “Mike Baird is now Premier of NSW and he was on the steering committee for the Manly NSR. Recently Tony Abbott was pushing me out of the way to get a photo opp with Kelly. And then as Prime Minister he gave Barack Obama a god damn surfboard! So these guys are exploiting surfing for political gain and I’m saying it’s time to return the favour to surfers.”

That payback will hopefully come in the form of a ratified coastal management plan that puts surfers and their interests at the centre of the debate. The “proposals” of surf zones and fines might be a PR stunt, but crowding will at least be addressed in this debate. “In Sydney we used to have registration of surfboards and lifeguards confiscating boards,” says Farmer. “In Trestles cops patrol the beach with automatic pistols, so I’m saying we don’t want to go down that route where we aren’t even a part of the debate. Lets have a logical conversation about legislation that comes in that affects us. We need to have an intervention right now.”

Mind you Farmer has concerns that while the Surf Council is a sound idea that can make a difference, it might be too late to save the Gold Coast. “The integrity of Gold Coast is all but gone, a victim of its own success,” he says. “If the Mayor gets the Commercial Activity Plan, with no surf management plan in place, than this part of the coast will get cruise ship terminals and heliports and it becomes a Kuta or Phuket. Then that will set a precedent for other lagging coastal economies, coastal shires around Australia who will try to do the same. Australian beaches are not for sale, nor should any be.”

It has taken two years, but now both the Gold Coast Surf Council and its Surf Management Plan have started to gain traction, and what is more important, legitimacy.  Kelly Slater is on record as saying it is both logical and necessary. “The very fact that the document exists is important,” says Farmer. “It has gone from an idea over a few beers to government endorsed document that includes a plan of action towards a policy of legislation. It just shows you can achieve change, if you put your mind to it.”