TransParentSea

SURFERS STAND-UP TO WHALING AS TRANSPARENTSEA ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS INITIATIVE FINISHES AT BONDI

Posted by TransparantSea on the November 5th 2009, in All

(Thursday, November 5th, Bondi Beach, NSW, Australia): The anti-whaling and environmental awareness campaign initiated by professional free-surfer and activist Dave Rastovich (Brunswick Heads, NSW, AUS) reached its exciting conclusion at Bondi Beach, Sydney today following an epic and testing 36 day voyage by sea which began at Byron Bay on October 1st.

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Anti-whaling and environmental campaigner, free-surfer Dave Rastovich rides his last wave to shore at Bondi following an epic 36 day, 700+km voyage from Byron Bay. Image credit Skennar/Transparentsea

Dubbed “Transparentsea” the campaign takes aim at the Australian Government’s lack of action on Japanese whaling activity in the Southern Ocean, as well as highlighting areas of environmental concern along Australia’s eastern seaboard.

Rastovich and his fellow campaigners, including surfer/artist Chris Del Moro (San Diego, CA, USA), musician Will Conner (Byron Bay, NSW, AUS), activist Howie Cooke (Byron Bay, NSW, AUS) and photographer Hilton Dawe (Byron Bay, NSW, AUS) were welcomed to shore by hundreds of well-wishers and supporters, having accrued nearly 800km at sea in their trimaran kayaks, as they traced the path of migrating humpback whales south.

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Surfers show their support by paddling out to greet the Transparentsea team at Bondi. Image credit Skennar/Transparentsea

Rastovich, who in 2005 co-founded the group “Surfers for Cetaceans” and was this year one of just 300 invitees to Al Gore’s “The Climate Project” Asia Pacific Summit in Melbourne, recounted the incredible personal interaction he and his team had experienced alongside whales during their journey and encouraged the Australian public and all-like minded people to pressure Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Minister for the Environment, Peter Garrett to uphold their pre-election promises.

“Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett told the Australian people they would enforce and uphold international laws that would prevent the Japanese from targeting whales in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary. To date they have not acted on these promises,” said Rastovich.

“We’re here as representatives of the global surfing community and all people who are passionate about saving these amazing mammals, and we’re asking Rudd and Garrett to act now and do what they said they were going to do.”

“Everyone we’ve encountered during our trip, in every coastal town and at every beach, has been shocked to learn the Government is not acting on this issue,” said Rastovich.

During their frequent stops down the coast, the Transparentsea team in conjunction with Surfrider Foundation and Tangaroa Blue also initiated beach-cleanups with all the rubbish collected, tabulated and added to the National Marine Debris database.

“This journey has given us first-hand experience, undeniable proof, that our beaches may look good from far, but they are far from good. We visited beaches that did not have a single human footprint yet they’re covered with plastic and other forms of garbage that damage ecosystems and enter the food chain where it stays forever,” Rastovich added.

Rastovich asked that anyone who cared about the whaling issue to send a message to their local council or addressed direct to Peter Garrett and Kevin Rudd, to prompt the government into action.
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Left to Right the Transparentsea campaigners included photographer Hilton Dawe, musician Will Conner, surfer Dave Rastovich, surfer Chris Del Moro, activist Howie Cooke. Image credit Skennar/Transparentsea

A petition has been established at transparentseavoyage.com
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/australia-keep-your-word-stop-japanese-whaling-in-the-southern-ocean-whale-sanctuary#at

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20 COMMENTS

Dean Jeferys says:

November 5th, 2009 at 4:51 am

Well done guys for completing your epic journey for the whales and dolphins. Lets hope our political reps have the balls to get off their knees and stand up to the Japanese.

Jeff says:

November 5th, 2009 at 8:44 am

Congratulations on your trip. Hope the government and public take action.

rusty miller says:

November 5th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

good on you gang for your most honorable works and thanks so for focusing the concerns of surfers and ocean guardians all…..

rusty miller

Margie Conner says:

November 5th, 2009 at 2:43 pm

So glad to see you all made to Bondi safely!
Hope this really raises the awareness for the cause.
We can’t wait to hear all about the trip!
By the way Will, awesome looking hats you have been wearing on the journey..
Margie & Kellie

Daniel Rawson says:

November 5th, 2009 at 5:46 pm

Awesome effort you guys, very honorable, world needs more good hearts like yours. Keep blowing people away!

AliG says:

November 5th, 2009 at 6:12 pm

You have talked to me before, a long time ago when as a young man you were still evolving your way ahead, drifting through an afternoon warming into summer in a classroom…perhaps with Chilli, Mehaka, Lachlan, Sky, Billy, Mitch, Squizz, others. You expressed your interest in the ocean even then, tracing over charts of Gold Coast waterways, seeking understanding of moon and tide cycles. You rode a boog and a board as they met your whim and were still learning finesse, skills…putting muscle on a lanky growth-spurt frame…unsure of just who you were…of your core beliefs.
But your journey (like others) had surely begun.

You came to my island not long ago and I came to visit your fire to talk of stewardship…to avoid writing this letter and hear your story, but it was cold. You left your footprints on a beach less trodden, left a wake across a wave less disturbed and enjoyed my country, its sheltered campsites, ocean edge, wilder places, animals and plants. You made music, stories and film celebrating your success. You have joined a growing list who have sought a path less travelled…and a beach less manicured, less borrowed, less tired, less wake torn, less named, less written of, less filmed and less exposed.

You acknowledge that for 60 million years the largest brains on earth have swam and surfed harmoniously within the ocean…and that today industrialised man threatens the future of our oceans…our earth. Your Tranparent journey celebrates an ocean clean, clear and…protected. I champion your endeavor and the best of your altruistic wishes. Many of us have been and still are on that journey….and can celebrate our own less published humble successes. We walk that less trodden beach to gather the flotsam and debris of our world imposed…as we too celebrate the timeless migration swimming past our shores. And enjoy and share…the quiet. This we do not sell.

Now walk the walk. You have the chance to place many many footprints, tyre tracks, fin wakes and worse on my island as you attempt to find a balance to meet your commercial ends. Whales take only memories as they swim and surf by and though they share their journeys too, they do not steal the glorious hours of life they have enjoyed to sell as an image, a brand name…a softer life for a very few at the cost to others…as you perhaps clumsily expose its quiet or hype its merit…
So then, that is really your journey, perhaps your sole task…to re-interpret the commercialisation of our coastline, its clothes, its increasingly invasive water-pursuits and water-toys, its endless growth and resource use…its image…and seek a way..towards a softer…less prostituted end. Leaving only footprints…taking only memories…being responsible to care for others country as a guest respected, and…welcomed back. To champion and model a different way of living and a different impact on all creatures and their country…be it land, sky, space or sea.

Yes, walk the walk…and leave only footprints. Let your film and text be of the whales and the oceans needs…and not on things taken…stolen images of country less traveled…but still there to be found by all. Promote responsible planet aware standing by the Captains of Industry you associate with…who sponsor you and afford you a lifestyle and image of lifestyle…a myth perhaps others aspire…and assist those same Captains to remember their humble roots, their own aspirations to care for the sole planet they can inhabit..that the children of their own family and friends can sole inhabit…in the crowded days ahead. A blue planet that nurtures life for all…and in that place to respect the journey and privacy of others. Urge to reduce…re-use…re-cycle…and re-invent a softer more sustainable commercial-big-brand-name-big-promotional-hype manufacturing and marketing of anything and all things…for all things.

Walk the walk DaveR – and one day find your way to my fire. Go gently – MrG.

little sissy says:

November 5th, 2009 at 7:37 pm

Hey big bro, you made it!!!!!!!!! i am so proud of you and i want you to know that you are my role model and you are the person i look up to the most in the whole intire world. i will see you soon at the wedding and give you a huge hug. kisses and huggs from your little sissie,

Adriana Lopetrone says:

November 6th, 2009 at 8:08 am

Dear Chris and all those involved,

Congratulations on an epic journey! It’s amazing to see you talk the talk and walk the walk… or swim in this case. We couldn’t be more proud.

All our love from New York!

Adri, David and Luca

Dave Head says:

November 6th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

It seems the more people that want the anti-whaling governments to take action and the more they do to make that fact known the less likely politicians are to actually do anything meaningful.
So the first thing individuals can do is simply stop buying Japanese ‘anything’.

Hannah Mermaid says:

November 7th, 2009 at 1:26 am

HUGE gratitude and kudos from the mermaid.. Thank you for protecting our home. You guys rock. I love you all. Wish I’d had the oportunity to swim next to you for some of the journey. See you soon xxx han

Deanna Kah says:

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