Photo: Bruna Rezende @brunaclick
Welcome to ReGeneration Surf
ReGeneration Surf is a Decade of Ocean Science Activity based in Portugal, that aims to regenerate the Ocean, with this generation of surfers.
It is a coalition made up of four organisations: Oceans and Flow, Seaforester, Mossy Earth and Zero Waste Lab and in March 2022 we were awarded a WSL Pure grant to bring this pilot project to life.
The ethos of ReGeneration Surf is “regenerative thinking, feeling and doing”, meaning that we need to go further than sustainability to reverse the damage humans have done to the Ocean, and we need to take an active part in its restoration.
Surfers as citizen scientists
It is part of the wider Ocean Decade Activity “Citizens of Surf” project which aims to transform 35 million surfers into citizen scientists by 2030. Biodiversity is a key research area of Citizens of Surf, which is trying to find actual methods that surfers, in particular, can get involved with and help scientists to scale up monitoring and restoration efforts of marine habitats.
Threats to surf ecosystems
Biodiversity loss is a key result of human pressures impacting Ocean ecosystems, and in Portugal, the once abundant Golden Kelp forests from North coast to South of the country are in rapid decline. Looking for ways to restore the lost “Blue forests” of NW Portugal - which also act as a filter for pollution, shelter and food for marine species, as well as being a big part of the carbon cycle by drawing it out of the atmosphere - Seaforester started pioneering the “green gravel” technique.
Photo: WSL/Margarita Salyak
Competitive surfing meets marine science
During the WSL contest in Peniche in March, the visiting commentators: Peter Mel, Joe Turpel and Strider Wasilewski joined Seaforester, Mossy Earth and marine scientists at the CETEMARES lab in Peniche. They helped to seed new spores of Kelp onto the “green gravel” and became the first surfing citizen scientists ever to do this! Watch the WSL film below:
Planting a seed in the Ocean
Two and a half months later, the same boxes of gravel that were “seeded” by the commentators were taken out to the Ocean (close to Supertubos beach) and deployed. Surfers doing the deployment included volunteers from local organisations Surf Rider Peniche and Ocean Patrol, local artists, plus big wave surfers Joao Macedo, Miguel Blanco and Joana Andrade. The conditions were choppy, due to an unexpected South swell so to reach the deployment location required knowledgable and experienced Ocean users.
Photo by Bruna Rezende @bunaclick
Bringing communities together
ReGeneration Surf is not just about the science though, and also works with local Youth, and established organisations to deliver workshops in Ocean literacy and Zero Waste systems. Oceans and Flow took local students from the Escola Azul on a free diving trip to the Berlengas Islands Biosphere Reserve, discovering that whilst some were experienced waterpeople, some had never snorkeled before.
All proclaimed to have an incredible time visiting the underwater world and were enthused to learn skills, like breathing techniques, that allowed them to connect with it. Two of the students, who were skilled surfers, even joined for deployment day, showing their commitment to the Ocean.
Photo: Sunny Breger @sunnybreger
The final part of ReGeneration surf is systems thinking, and Zero Waste Lab are the community connectors, who help join the dots so that local stakeholders are aware and engaged in these activities, and talking to each other.
Photo: Zero Waste Lab
So what now?
Well this is where you come in. We believe we have a great story to tell. Our videographer Sunny Breger has been capturing the ReGeneration Surf activities, speaking to key characters and has already put together the trailer.
To get it to the next stage of production we need to raise some funds.
The funding that we collect will enable us to develop the script, do a couple more shoots (water and land based), we will then need to do one more round of funding to complete the film (and it will go towards post production costs such as editing and sound).
We aim to complete the short film in time for the WSL Challenger series which is in Ericeira 1- 9 October 2022, and where we will do a screening premiere.