The most precious amenity in our shire is our beaches. They are of great value to people who live here and visit. So that this amenity is maintained, Byron Shire Council, the NPWS/Cape Byron Headland Trust and NSW Marine Parks Authority, regulate commercial activities on these crown reserves. They are state-owned but mostly managed by Council. We appreciate that they have done this for the betterment of the community’s use of our beaches.
What this means is that anyone deriving income from using the beaches must be licensed by Byron Shire Council, Marine Parks Authority and in some areas by NPWS/Cape Byron Headland. This regulation has been operating for approximately 20-plus years now. It includes surf schools, kayaks and horse riding. While Byron Shire residents might not necessarily be, by nature, people who like to be regulated, in this situation if it wasn’t, then it would be a commercial free-for-all on our beaches. Think Bali beaches: massages, hair braiding, food, yoga – anything you want. We don’t believe this is what people want on our beaches.
There are six licensed surf schools, two kayak businesses and one horse-riding business. All tender their licence, pay fees to Byron Shire Council and some pay fees to NPWS, as well as a royalty fee for every person who partakes of any of these activities in the National Park. Two surf schools are licensed to teach at The Pass and Wategos Beach and elsewhere, as low volume, personalised teaching. The high volume surf schools can teach on any of the other beaches.
In recent years there have been numerous, unlicensed people teaching surfing on Byron’s beaches. It has got to an untenable situation. They are teaching directly at The Pass in numbers up to ten people. It is creating the situation that both Council and NPWS did not want, nor likely the people who use those beaches want. As unlicensed operators they don’t pay any fees (that go back into our beaches) and are as such, uninsured. What happens when one of their young clients gets injured? They’re not covered. It’s bound to happen with the number of unlicensed surf teaching occurring.
If this were not a regulated industry we would be like Portugal and Spain where, on one Spanish beach, as many as 3,000 people learn to surf in just one day! Is this what Byron residents want? This is not about the moms and dads teaching their own kids or their friends’ kids to surf. This is about commercial business – people being paid to teach people surfing.
So, when you are out and about on your walks on the beach or in the water ask the person teaching what school they are with. Equally, if you see people doing ice baths, teaching yoga, or whatever, where someone is being paid, gently mention to them that commercial activities are regulated on our beaches. Or if you’re on social media and there is a post from someone who has just arrived in town and asks where to get a surf lesson, advise them to go with a licensed school.
Our beach amenity is constantly under natural threat with natural occurrences and climate change, which we might feel powerless to do anything about. But it is under commercial threat and we all can do something about that.
This article is supported by the six licensed surf schools in Byron Shire.
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