It’s days like this that make you both love and hate surfing. Photo: Cyrus Sutton.
Swelling crowds on Australia’s Gold Coast have finally reached a breaking point. The Gold Coast Surfing Council is requesting a surf management plan from the state and local government. “Gold Coast surfing beaches require the full attention of state and local government and the implementation of a Surf Management Plan (SMP) is now an urgency rather than an objective,” the Gold Coast Surf Council said in a statement.
The large crowds at Australia’s most famous wave have brought safety concerns to the table. “The crowds here are like nothing I’ve ever seen in the world when you’re surfing,” Kelly Slater told the Gold Coast Bulletin. “It’s really, really tough for one person to get space in the water, and it’s mostly not fun.” When Kelly can’t get a wave, things are getting bad.
“Clearly, the vast majority of surfers and people who recreate on Gold Coast beaches are seeking the state government and the Gold Coast City Council to expedite in a bipartisan manner a SMP,” said Brad Farmer, vice president of the Surf Council. As part of the Ocean Beaches Strategy, a surf management plan on the Gold Coast was approved over a year ago.
Although the plan has yet to be developed, Dan Ware, President of the GCSC is calling for the planning stages of the Surf Management Plan to be hastened due to the increasing number of issues concerning beachgoers.
