Noosa will be declared the tenth World Surfing Reserve at a dedication ceremony in Noosa National Park at 12 noon Friday 22, to be followed by a celebratory lunch for 100 dignitaries and surfing legends at the Noosa Festival of Surfing Beach Bar.
The five-kilometre stretch of coast from Noosa Rivermouth to North Sunshine, which incorporates several of the best right hand point break waves in the world, will become only the third Australian surf destination to be awarded this honour, after Manly/Freshwater and Southern Gold Coast, following a five-year campaign by the local stewardship council and the development of a detailed stewardship program.
The World Surfing Reserves program, administered by the California-based Save The Waves Coalition, recognizes not just world class surf breaks, but the strength of the local surfing community and the commitment of the surfing community to protect its surf eco-system.
In voting Noosa into this elite club, it recognized the new Reserve as a symbol of best practice in town and environmental planning over generations.
Noosa’s dedication this week is particularly newsworthy following Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s promise last week to develop protective legislation for the Gold Coast World Surfing Reserve.
“What I’ve been hearing from people is that they would like a bit more security around the reserve and my government is now going to actively look at legislating the surf reserve here in Queensland.”
Noosa World Surfing president Phil Jarratt was the head of the five year campaign to ensure this particular stretch of coastline received it’s correct recognition.The ceremony will then kick off the much anticipated Noosa Festival of Surfing with seven-times world champ Layne Beachley and CEO of Save the Waves Nik Strong-Cvetich.
