SAS is a UK organization dedicated to protecting oceans from pollution and preserving surf spots. Formed in 1990 by surfers concerned about water quality, SAS campaigns on issues like marine litter, climate change, and toxic chemicals. They hold beach cleanups, create petitions, and educate the public. SAS has over 500,000 members and aims to keep UK beaches and oceans safe for surfing and tourism.
2. The client:
Overview of the client.
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) are an organization based in the UK, who are
dedicated to protecting the ocean from marine litter, sewage pollution, climate
change, toxic chemicals, shipping industry and coastal development. Their aim is
to preserve the good UK surfing spots, so that the thousands of UK surfers and
surfing tourists have somewhere safe and clean to surf.
They were formed in 1990 by a group of passionate surfers from the coast villages
of St Agnes and Porthtowan, though their campaign quickly became nation wide.
SAS first began campaigning on the issues around water quality. With the
privatisation of English water companies in 1989, came a great need to improve
the bathing water quality.
In order to tackle these issues, SAS often hold beach clean up sessions, create
petitions, lobby government and provide information to the public. They are
funded through membership, donations, grants, merchandise, fundraising events
and sponsorship.
3. The issues:
Your client advocates on a number of different yet related issues.
SAS campaign on issues such as marine litter, water quality, climate change, all in
order to protect the UK’s surf spots. Their aim is to improve the quality of the
beaches and sea so that people always have a place to surf. It is estimated that
there are over 500,000 surfers in the UK, and so protecting surf spots is an
important issue for many people. SAS aim to protect these surf spots through
campaigning, conservation and research.
SAS have managed to impact a few areas of the economy. One area they have
impacted is Travel and Tourism. By encouraging people to surf in the UK’s waters
rather than going abroad, it means that there is more money coming and staying
in the UK. This is through accommodation, transport, retail, food and beverage
services, sports and recreational services. Research has shown that the average
spend of tourists on surfing breaks per year, per person is £3624.77. It is also
estimated that the average surfer spends £495.21 on their equipment and
clothing.
SAS have also successfully held many beach clean up sessions, that have brought
people together to clean up marine litter from beaches all over the country. A
recent clean up saw over 100 volunteers turn up to clean the beach.
Approximately 8 million individual pieces of marine litter enter the sea every day,
4. The issues:
SAS have successfully set up an educational program, Seas for Life. The program
has been set up at the Falmouth Maritime Museum. This was launched on the 1st
of July last year. At the launch, there were a series of talks and interactive
sessions on the various marine pollution issues, wildlife and habitat impact, and
the solutions to these issues. The launch also included a talk and food tasting
from TV chef Martin Dorey. The event was attended by around 150 students from
the local schools.
which has caused the deaths of over a million sea birds, and 100,000 marine
mammals annually. SAS recently called for a 50% reduction in the UK’s beach litter
by 2020.
One of SAS’ campaigns, Return to Offender, encourages people to return
identifiable items of marine litter to manufacturers and distributers. Due to this
campaign, companies such as Haribo have improved their anti-litter information
on their product packaging. Return to Offender has also won SAS the Coast Award
for best campaign in 2011.
SAS have also managed to set up 35 notice boards across Cornwall, a popular
surfing spot, that remind people of the importance of protecting the marine
environment.
5. The issues:
The program is there to teach young people about the latest in the SAS
campaigns, and also addresses citizenship, and how they can ensure that they are
having a positive impact on the marine environment.
From reading their Marine Litter report, they state that they want to bring in a
couple of pieces of legislation in order to crack down on marine litter. For
example, banning smoking on beaches to reduce the amount of cigarette butts on
the beach. SAS’ litter report states that 4.5 trillion cigarette buts enter the
environment each year. SAS also want to enforce fines for littering to discourage
people from doing it, and also want to induce public health warning on single-use
packaging. They are also calling for people to change their behaviours, such as
refusing single-use plastics, taking part in beach cleaning activities, and to take
legal action against irresponsible landowners.
6. Facts and figures:
On the SAS website they give you lots of facts and figures on the matters that they are
campaigning against. This is in order to educate people on the issues, and to encourage
support.
Under their section on marine litter, they state the different sources of marine litter. The
list shows that 40.4% of marine litter is from the public, 4.5% is from sewage related debris,
13.9% is fishing litter, 0.7% is from fly tipping, 3.9% is from shipping, 0.2% from medical
waste and 36.3% cannot be sourced. They state that the most common form of marine litter
found is plastics, that cannot truly break down. Plastic contains toxic chemicals. Plastics are
sometimes ingested by marine life, and these toxins can can be transferred up the food
chain. This means that a marine animal who ingest another marine animal who has ingested
plastic, will also ingest these toxins. SAS also state that over 100,000 marine mammals, and
over 1 million sea birds die from ingesting marine waste. In their marine litter report, they
have discussed an event which occurred on the 10th of January 1992, where 28,800 plastic
animals were lost overboard in the North Pacific. They stated that 20 years later, and they
were still washing up on shores around the world.
In their section about protecting waves they list all of the ways in which people are
destroying surf spots. For example, solid structures and commercial activities can alter the
way that the waves break, pollution might make the water too dirty and unsafe to surf in,
litter could make your surfing experience unpleasant, and restricted access prevents people
from going into the sea.
7. Facts and figures:
SAS also give some facts on shipping. They have used the 1967 Torrey Canyon oil
disaster as an example of how shipping is damaging the sea. They state that
120,000 tonnes of crude oil poured into the sea in Cornwall, which had disastrous
effects on the environment. Another example that they have used is a more
recent occurrence, where a ship sank and 77,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil leaked
into the sea, making many beached completely off limits. They also mention the
term ‘flags of convenience’. This can reduce the operating costs of the ship, and
can enable the crew to avoid regulations of the owners country. SAS state that
flags of convenience make it difficult to prosecute after an incident.
On the SAS website, they state the many ways in which climate change could have
an effect on our water quality, and on the ocean. For example they state that in
the future there will be an increased risk of heavy rainfall, which could increase
the risk of sewage tank overflows which could be a health hazard for water users.
Flooding due to increased heavy rainfall could enable more pollution to spread to
the sea which could also pose health risks to water users. They have also stated
that 20% of the UK’s reef breaks are low tide reef breaks, and with sea levels
rising this could reduce the quality of the waves, meaning surfing wouldn’t be
doable.
8. Facts and figures:
SAS state that their Safer Seas Service sent out 212,772 free real-time pollution
warnings last year. This proves that SAS are protecting the public from using poor
quality water, though also shows how frequently the our water is being
contaminated. The Safer Safer Seas Service was set up to alert people of when
and where the seas water quality is being reduced from untreated human waste
or from diffuse pollution, in real-time.
Looking at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a similar organization to SAS,
they have stated that the number of fisheries which met their standards increased
from 2543 in 2013, to 2791 in 2014. This shows that MSC are possibly having a
positive effect on the fishing industry. Also, the percentage of people who have
bought MSC products at least once or twice before has increased by 11% since
2010.
