SAS have uncovered information revealing these beaches can not meet the strict standards requiring public warnings after sewage discharges set by the international body responsible for the Blue Flag programme. SAS flew their Brown Flag at Whitburn beach in the North East. Whitburn has a Blue Flag but yet the European Commission (EC) is taking the UK to the European Court of Justice for “too frequent” and “excessive” spills from storm water overflows at Whitburn.

English Blue Flags not meeting the criteria:
Region Responsible, County Council, Beach:

SW – Cornwall, Polzeath
SW – Cornwall, Gyllyngvase
SW – Cornwall, Carbis bay
SW – South Hams, Devon Challaborough
SW – South Ham, Devon Bigbury on sea
S – IOW, Ventnor
S – IOW, Shanklin
S – IOW, Sandown
SE – Thanet, Kent, Joss Bay
SE – Thanet, Kent, Margate main
SE – Thanet, Kent, West bay, Westgate
SE – Thanet, Kent, Botany bay
SE – Thanet, Kent, Ramsgate main
SE – Waveney DC, Suffolk, Lowestoft south
E – North Norfolk, Norfolk, Cromer
E – North east Lincs, Lincolnshire, Cleethorpes central
NE – Scarborough, Yorkshire, Filey
NE – Scarborough, Yorkshire, North Bay beach
NE – Scarborough, Yorkshire, Whitby west cliff
NE – Sunderland City, Northumbria, Seaburn (Whitburn)

Welsh Blue Flags not meeting the criteria:
North Wales – Denbighshire, Prestatyn central
North Wales – Ynys mon, Llanddona
West Wales – Gwynedd, Fairbourne
West Wales – Gwynedd, Abersoch
West Wales – Ceredigion, Aberporth
West Wales – Ceredigion, Llangrannog
SW Wales – Pembrokeshire, Newgale
South Wales – Swansea, Glamorgan, Langland
South Wales – Bridgend, Glamorgan, Rest bay

Scottish Blue Flag not meeting the criteria:
Scotland – Fife, West Sands
Scotland – Fife, Elie Ruby bay

NI Blue Flag not meeting the criteria:
NI – Coleraine, County Londonderry, Castle rock
NI – Coleraine, Antrim, Portrush west
NI – Coleraine, Antrim, Whiterock west

Blue Flag programme is a world wide initiative ran by the independent non-profit organisation FEE (Foundation for Environmental Education). There are Blue Flag beaches in North, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, New Zealand and throughout Europe. The Blue Flag is a recognised standard of excellence for water quality and beach cleanliness. For a beach to achieve the acclaimed Blue Flag status it must first meet a set of strict criteria. The full list of the criteria can be found here.

Using Freedom of Information data requests, SAS have uncovered that at least 35 beaches around the UK can not possibly meet the imperative criterion 28, requiring beach operators to warn the public during and after emergency pollution event, such as a sewage discharge from a combined sewage overflow. The criterion clearly states that “As long as the hazard persists, the public should be informed of the pollution or potential danger by posting information at the beach, at all access points, in the media, tourist offices or other relevant means of communication. If the hazard is in the form of polluted water then the public must be informed that bathing is not safe and the beach should be closed to swimming. If there is any infringement of Blue Flag criteria, e.g. sewage pollution, and to ensure the integrity of the Blue Flag, the flag must be temporarily withdrawn and information posted on the Blue Flag information board or at the beach.” However, none of the 35 beaches listed request real time information on CSO discharges and so cannot possibly warn the public during or after a discharge of raw sewage.

SAS commend criterion 28, as it echoes SAS’s calls for better information allowing the public to make informed decisions about using the water before being exposed to potentially harmful pathogens from sewage pollution. Disappointingly, the integrity of the entire iconic Blue Flag programme is questioned by these 35 UK’s Blue Flag accredited beaches that are not in the position to meet this imperative criterion. It is a major concern to SAS that these 35 beaches could have the Blue Flag flying whilst the public could unwittingly be swimming around in raw sewage discharged from nearby combined sewer overflows. Pathogens associated with sewage polluted waters include Ecoli 0157H, Hepatitis A, Gastro Enteritis and much more.

SAS have a 20-year successful track record of promoting sustainable achievable solutions and this summer SAS has pioneered a new scheme that can help these beaches regain their Blue Flag status. CSOs on the Blue Flag beach Porthtowan (Cornwall) have been upgraded with telemetry that alert South West Water, the Environment Agency, Cornwall Council and SAS as soon as sewage discharges into the river and sea. The relevant authorities are then armed with the information needed to ensure the public can be adequately warned, meeting criterion 28 of the Blue Flag scheme.

There are 131 Blue Flag beaches in the UK, 71 in England (20 of which do not meet the criteria), 7 in Scotland (3 of which do not meet the criteria), 45 in Wales (9 of which do not meet the criteria) and 8 in Northern Ireland (3 of which do not meet the criteria). 35 beaches represents 27% of the UK’s Blue Flag beaches. SAS have exposed these 35 beaches around the UK but we suspect many other Blue Flag beaches around the UK are also failing to meet this imperative criterion and so failing to meet the Blue Flag guidelines. There are over 20,000 CSOs around the UK and accessing information on CSOs is incredibly difficult and time consuming.

The Blue Flag website comments on their auditing process: “For the Blue Flag programme, the beaches and marinas that apply for the award go through a series of control points. The first is during the application period, when the sites are reviewed by first a national jury and then an international jury. Then if the site is awarded with the flag, they are visited at least once a year by a national controller who will assure that all criteria are being met. Every year about 10-15% of the sites are also visited by an international controller. If there are non compliances, then the flag is removed until they are fixed, or for the rest of the season, depending on the severity.”

SAS Campaign Director, Andy Cummins says: “This disturbing revelation questions the integrity of the prestigious Blue Flag Programme. At 35 beaches around the UK the Blue Flag can be flying and people could be in the sea bathing in sewage-polluted waters without warning. To ensure the Blue Flag isn’t devalued SAS are urging Blue Flag’s governing body to lower these 35 Blue Flags until they meet all the imperative criteria.”

The WAR report clearly highlights why Waves Are Resources and, as such, should be recognised as valuable assets, protected for this and future generations. The WAR Report not only focuses on the intrinsic value of waves to surfers but also the economic value to the wider community. Today is also the first day of the Relentless Boardmasters, the UK’s largest surfing competition. The Boardmasters is obviously solely dependent on the waves and the event bring £1,700,000 into the local economy.

PHOTOCALL: Wednesday the 4th of August at 10.30am, in front of the International Surf Centre. With the worlds best surfers competing in the background, 2 small tanks will be on the beach with 3 SAS campaigners armed with the WAR Report, surfboards and firing off flares.

The UK is blessed with some world-class waves on all of our coasts. The very best waves in the UK, which could almost be considered freaks of Nature, are the result of a combination of offshore bathymetry, unique coastal geology and prevailing wind and swell patterns found almost nowhere else in the world. It is easy to see that these ‘world-class’ waves, just like other unique natural feature of this planet, should be protected. However, quality is just one factor that is considered in the WAR Report analysis. Consistency, location, number of surfers affected as well as personal preference are all investigated in the report.

There’s a myriad of threats that constantly jeopardize our finite surfing resource, our waves. Last year SAS launched the new Protect Our Waves (POW) campaign that focuses on protecting waves from overzealous on and near shore development, environmental impacts and waverider’s rights of access.

SAS’s WAR Report gives a detailed account of both the intrinsic and economic values of waves to surfers. For the first time, SAS also explains the value of waves to non-surfers. For people who don’t use the sea, the value of waves can be measured financially. Surfers travel to surf waves, eat, need accommodation and other supplies, and even settle in communities where there are waves. In doing so, surfers and their friends and family who may join them, will all spend money in return for these goods and services whilst chasing the next surf session. The WAR report comprehensively details how the entire community around quality surf spots benefit from the waves.

SAS will ensure that all relevant planning bodies in the UK have a hard copy of the WAR Report and will expect the WAR Report to be referenced alongside SAS’s other reports when coastal developments schemes are in the planning process.

The WAR Report was written by SAS Director Dr Tony Butt PhD. Dr Butt is one of the world’s most highly respected authorities on the science of waves and how they interact with the coastal environment. The WAR Report was written for planners and waveriders alike. Copies of the WAR Report will be given out free by SAS campaigners from the tanks and at the SAS tent on site at the Boardmasters all day.

SAS Protect Our Waves Project Officer Dom Ferris says: ”The WAR Report is an important document for all UK surfers and waveriders. We’re not calling for a Ministry of Surf Defence, but we need to ensure waves are framed in the planning process as valuable resources for the entire community, not just surfers. Waves Are Resources and as such need protecting for this and future generations.”

In negotiations for days in Morocco, any attempts to work out a deal between whaling nations and the anti-whaling bodies at the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) annual meeting have not gone well. After two days of talks, the delegates reported that they had not managed to reach any agreement on the key principles being discussed. The deal would have put whaling by Iceland, Japan and Norway under international oversight for ten years.

Conversely, some anti-whaling action groups welcomed the lack of agreement on the proposed draft agreement, as in their opinion this would have meant a green light for the whaling activities of Iceland, Japan and Norway.

Talks on a solution had been going on for two years, and it now looks like a further year’s stagnation is on the cards.

This film was sent to us by The Fish Film Company, and documents the findings of a book by Charles Clover, the Environment Editor of the Daily Telegraph.

In the film we see how fishing companies have depleted fish stocks to a point where recovery is impossible. In particular the film follows the fate of the Blue Fin tuna, but also highlights the plight of the Atlantic cod, a species fished to just ten per cent of its global numbers in recent years.

The film focusses on the lack of awareness amongst the public, and why there is a lack of political will to change the fishing methods throughout the globe. The film asks some very awkward questions of offenders, and shows why it is effectively easy to fish a species to death.

Central to the theme of the film is the idea that as a result of climate change, one of the biggest challenges we face is the ability to feed ourselves. The film reminds us that if we had not fished the oceans to the brink, we would be able to count on fish stocks as a sustainable method of food production in the future. The film highlights how international companies can often buy fishing rights in developing countries, leaving the local population unable to fish for themselves or their families.

It’s an enlightening, if depressing, insight into the worlds fishing industry.