Thanks to a government sand pumping operation gone wrong the “once epic” waves at Australia’s Kirra have “dwindled and a “nearby marine reef has been destroyed.” That’s why Mick Fanning, Stephanie Gilmore, Joel Parkinson, and Mark Occhilupo will be joining hundreds of other activists on Australia Day in a paddle out to protest the destruction, according to a story on HearldSun.
More recently, the beach itself has been dubbed the “Great Southern Desert”. Sand build-up means visitors have to walk 400 metres across hot sand to get to the water, a prospect that has cut tourism and weakened local business, event organisers say. . . . Coastal Alliance’s Phil Arnott said the cost to the local community was in the millions each year. . . . “Kirra, may it rest in peace, was once one of the most epic waves on the planet,” he said. . . “Now the beach is getting wider, there’s no surf, it’s just a barren, desolate island. Kirra is dead and we need to get it back.”
[Link: News.com.au]
