Marine scientist Annie Ford cycled the upmost heaviest part of 4,000 km (3926) alongside her Surfrider crew to bring attention to their nationwide attempt to halt new progressions in the southern ocean area for what would be the largest blasting site the earth has yet seen in its ambition to hunt for new oil and gas reserves.
The dimly lit industry of seismic blasting has been exposed to the public eye as the Surfrider Foundation, staffed with marine scientists, biologists, surfers, athletes and activists, made a head-to-toe trip of Australia during the launch of their must-see film production of Southern Blast.
The film every town in Australia is grappling to see
Co-produced by ecologist and award-winning director Matty Hannan, who raised his audiences heartbeat to their eyebrows with his adventure documentary Road to Patagonia and Drew McPherson, Pro surfer and National campaign director for Surfrider, the Southern Blast film uses the rational voices of fishermen, townspeople, adventurers, scientists and athletes alike to put pressure on the Australian government to turn down a proposed seismic blasting permit submitted by Norwegian company TGS and American firm SLB [Schlumberger].
The film was shot in the Southern Ocean area and runs for a nostalgic time of 37 minutes, featuring names such as Torren Martyn, considered to be among the greatest surfers of all time.
“It’s so hard to access footage or see what’s happening out at sea.” Said Drew, expressing prudness for his team. “Then to try and explain that to somebody in a conversation can be quite difficult, but our film finally captures the importance of this issue.”
If the permit gets approved, it would see the happening of the largest blasting site on Earth in the bountiful southern oceans that currently contribute more than $10 billion per year to Australia’s economy.
Supported by the ice cream and human rights giant Ben and Jerry’s and beach protector Emu Parade, the team travelled 4,000 km from Tasmania to Queensland, one of them [Annie Ford] by bicycle! Going state to state, town to town, taking on Norwegian company TSG by opening public eyes to the grounded impacts of the plans for their doorstep.
The effects of seismic blasting go far beyond the disruption of marine communications, for example, whales, crays, krills, scallops, etc. As Southen Blast communicates, it affects millions of jobs, livelihoods, health, economic welfare, and much more. Thanks to this force of devoted community, Surfider have already seen a reduction by the thousands of kilometres in ocean space planned for blasting in the plan’s proposal. A court calling for more profound safety and protection evaluations is now mandatory before further plans can be fully submitted.
“People power is just so incredible. It is this that moved things over every single course of change in history. All the work that Surfrider did on the save our coast and other campaigns, it really is a team effort.” Stephanie Curley, Impact and activism manager for Ben and Jerry’s, who has been proudly sponsoring the Surfrider Foundation through their journey, told The Jolly Times.
“We’ve worked alongside Surfrider for years to support their fight to protect communities and coastlines. We fully support Surfrider’s goal of permanently protecting our oceans from offshore oil & gas through people-powered movements. We know that when communities stand together and fight for the things that matter, they can protect the places they love.”
The area still in proposal remains to become the world’s largest planned gas field site, pushing the Surfrider team to turn up the heat in pursuing the end to any expansion of gas development or extraction activities in the Southern Sea.
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Click HereNational campaign director Drew McPherson shares, “It was the first time the local fishermen and surfers got to hold the microphone. There was lots of stuff we hadn’t even heard of before, and to see this evidence put everything in a broader perspective was pretty incredible.
They’re small communities. The systems in place for them to have a science offshore oil and gas stuff is super complex. It takes some trained scientists months and months to break these things down, and they expect local fishermen and community members, beyond that, to be able to understand and get submissions in.
We’re here to amplify their voices, so they have a say in this and can contribute to the future of their coastlines so oil and gas companies and greedy politicians are not just dictating it.”
Giving fishermen, locals and scientists the stage offers an essential depth to this campaign as they deliver the rational reality from people immersed and connected to our landscape. Working amongst the harshness and lushness of the elements, the small but mighty group of 5 [full-time] have pushed themselves to the limit in service of our country.
The critical voice of the campaign is marine biologist Annie Ford, who used to work as a marine fauna observer for the fossil fuel industry but took a u-turn in her career when she learned of the effects of this exploration.
“This region is inappropriate for oil and gas development”, Ford explains to Compass Studios, “It is exposed to Southern Ocean swells, is directly over a Commonwealth Marine Park, and is crucial habitat for rare and protected species, including the blue whale and southern right whale. Seismic blasting is known to damage the hearing of cetaceans. Whales rely on sound to communicate, navigate and feed. At a time when whales are finally returning and recovering from the damage of whaling, they are being driven away by seismic blasts”.
Annie, with her surfboard in tow and an infectious smile that could reach either side of it, rode her bicycle a total of 3926kms, saving 792 kgs carbon from not driving and broke the world record for descending the most amount of vertical on a bicycle and becoming the fastes female to complete the ‘Everest’ challenge in just 18 hours, averaging 9.5 minuets per lap. That’s power.
Having never ridden a bike much at all, let alone on a road before this trip, the energy behind the urgency of Surfrider’s mission opened new strengths, abilities appreciations and opportunities for the dream catcher in pursuit of protecting.
Fittingly, the tour was led by Trish, a retired fire truck powered by vegetable oil converted and owned by humble innovator Roland Davis. Roland taught himself how to reconstruct the old fire engine into a beaming, cleaning, coffee-making beauty of a beast through YouTube tutorials, following engineering manuals and past people’s findings with zero prior experience. Roland and Trish notoriously comb treasured beaches for litter, bringing safety to beachgoers and sea critters.
Volunteers are welcome to accompany him whenever he graces their location [you can find that here] and will be fitted with a bucket, pincers and a barrister-quality coffee, or two or four. His accompaniment to the Surfrider Foundation fit smoothly like a glove and offered the social opportunity for like-minded citizens to share a morning together in the fresh salty breeze, caring for their town.
This journey unfolding tells of how powerful a small group of voices can be when they believe in a cause enough. You can make a difference if you care, so it is always worth trying. Don’t allow yourself to be judged for a past path that you were on when, since then, you have grown into someone more educated and honest with yourself. When we live genuinely, the world responds and takes care of us ten thousand times more than we could ever give back.
You can still catch the Surfrider team on tour as they rally through Apollo Bay in Victoria this morning with another memorable screening of Southern Blast, bringing the heart of the country back to humanity.
TTFN
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