Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has come a very long way since its launch in 1990. In the process, it has achieved huge successes for the UK’s water quality, acting as a pivotal player in the fight to ensure the country’s waves, oceans and beaches are protected from environmental abuse. Now approaching its 20th anniversary, and still commanding the biggest membership base of any European green boardriders’ pressure group, SAS remains the most important organisation protecting the interests of surfers, wave riders and recreational water users in the UK.
With the World’s ocean environment under increasing pressure, and emerging threats to our coastline from climate change and other industrial practices, SAS’s remit today reaches further and wider than ever, addressing critical issues from marine litter to climate change. Along with the growing number of new threats, some of the great campaign successes of the 1990’s could go into reverse without SAS’s ongoing vigilance and experience to take on government and industry at the highest level. And this includes the threat of returning sewage and reversal of sewage treatment levels…
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SAS campaigns originated and remain based in the direct experiences surfers and many other recreational water users have whilst enjoying the seas around the UK. We are all lucky to have caught the bug for a sport that takes us into the heart of the natural world and that taps into the pulses of green energy that criss-cross our seas. As such, we all get first hand experience of the damage that is inflicted on the coastal and oceanic environment. This is perhaps why SAS’s grass roots action is so popular and attracts support from far and wide. On a very basic level, we’ve all seen litter on the beach and perhaps even had our board smudged with a stain of crude oil occasionally. This firsthand experience impassions us and motivates us to take direct action. It heightens our senses about what should be done, which abusers need to be hunted down and, increasingly, the part we all play in protecting the stuff we love; oceans, waves, beaches, dunes – the natural world that surrounds us when we surf.
You would have been forgiven for thinking SAS just tackled sewage issues and represented only surfers. Our name today is almost a misnomer but its heritage is strong, and helps us open doors to the media, decision makers and instils fear in those who abuse the UK’s coastal heritage. A name change might help better describe what’s in the tin but could never replace the 20 years of campaigning and recognition that has been so hard fought and won. So SAS it is and will remain, just don’t let it mislead you.
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SAS campaigns help protect the UK’s oceans, waves, beaches and coastlines for everyone to enjoy as safely as possible. Whether you’re a family visiting the beach for a week every summer, a surfer in the water year-round, an avid sailor or undertaking any other sport or pastime that brings you into contact with the UK’s coastline or sea, you’ll already have benefited from SAS tireless campaigning.
SAS is also playing an important part in encouraging the ‘surf industry’ to improve its own environmental record. We are, of course, well aware of the paradox of surfing and the environment – it’s a sport with the natural world at its heart but heavily reliant on the petrochemical industry; the travel, boards, wetsuits, wax and all the associated paraphernalia, all of which directly and indirectly have an impact on the environments we cherish. But companies are changing, making steps forward, some tentatively, some in leaps and bounds, and this should be recognised and encouraged. Surfers should do their part and take these green options where possible to help accelerate their transition to the mainstream markets.
Whether SAS is taking on the industry, lobbying Parliament, applying pressure to local governments or making sure the renewable electricity industry is considering surfing communities when developing its new offshore installations, one thing can be sure; SAS is fighting the corner for surfers, recreational water users and the environment, basing its arguments on scientific fact and proposing the positive, achievable, sustainable solutions to deliver protection for our beloved waves, oceans, beaches and coastlines.
