A large chunk of the Southern Ocean has just been put on the table for gas drilling and surfers are being called to jump in and take action before it starts impacting local surf spots, water quality and the surrounding marine environment.
Surfrider Foundation Australia is calling on surfers to write to the Australian Government after they ‘quietly opened’ approximately 2.5 million hectares of offshore waters off Victoria and Tasmania to new gas exploration under the 2025 Otway Basin acreage release.
This is not the first time surfers have been asked to take a stand. The ‘Fight for the Bight’ campaign has sought to make the Great Australian Bight & Nullarbor a World Heritage Site.
The latest release includes five offshore exploration titles — two off Victoria covering around 1.6 million hectares and three off Tasmania covering approximately 800,000 hectares — spanning some of the most ‘ecologically significant and culturally cherished waters’ of the Southern Ocean.
The ocean plays a role in Victoria and Tasmania’s visitor economies, with tourism generating $46 billion and $3.65 billion in visitor spending from September 2024 – September 2025 respectively. The marked area is also a known whale breeding and migration corridor, including for the critically endangered Pygmy Blue Whale and Southern Right Whale
Drew McPherson, National Campaigns Director at Surfrider Foundation Australia, said the plans were also ‘not just an offshore issue’ and that the potential repercussions would flow ‘straight back to the coast, into our lineups, our communities, and the way we live.’
“It’s a clean-water, stable-coastline, functioning-ocean issue that reaches straight into surf culture, local economies, and the day-to-day life of every coastal town that runs on waves.
“From a water quality perspective, surfers are always first in the firing line. More offshore industrial activity means higher pollution risk, more vessel traffic, and more pressure on already stressed systems. When water quality drops, surfing stops.”
He’s not wrong. The 2022 Northern Rivers floods caused some ocean lovers to get sick for months after. The recent flash flooding at the Wye River has had an impact on the area and Sydney’s recent heavy rainfall has led to murky waters and an increase in bull shark attacks as they flow out of rivers and into the ocean to feed.
“Climate-driven rain events are already making clean surf windows less reliable, and adding fossil fuel projects only locks that instability in,” he added.
“Seismic blasting is another red flag. Airguns fire every few seconds, day and night, for weeks or months, at noise levels among the loudest human-made sounds in the ocean. That level of underwater noise disrupts marine life, including critically endangered whales, and the impacts ripple through the food web. When the system shifts, fish move, catch rates drop, and both surfers and fishers feel it socially and economically.”
To help Australians have their say, the foundation has launched an AI-powered letter writing tool which generates individualised letters based on people’s concerns. These will then be sent directly to the country’s Prime Minister, the Resources Minister, the Environment Minister, as well as relevant state and federal MPs.
“This isn’t anti-progress. It’s about choosing what we protect. The Southern Ocean is one of the last places on Earth that still feels wild. Surfers understand better than most that once you lose that, you don’t get it back.”
Public consultation on the acreage release closes on 6 February, with Surfrider urging Australians to act now before the window closes. Click here to have your say.
