Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) was founded in 1990 as a single-issue pressure group, campaigning on the issue of sewage being pumped into the sea. Surfers were at the sharp edge of the impacts of that pollution. We were getting sick from surfing in polluted waters, so the organisation was formed.
We’ve had great successes on water quality over the last 30 years, and have now evolved into a broader marine conservation and campaigning charity, also fighting on other environmental issues from plastic pollution to climate change.
I joined SAS a year after it formed and became chief executive in 2008. I’m so proud to lead the charity and grateful to be able to work on issues that combine my passions for people, planet, sports and the environment. I have a deep affection for the ocean. It’s a nexus for all I love. As an environmentalist, it is the ecosystem that most captivates me. The huge diversity of life in what is effectively one ocean is endlessly brilliant and breath-taking.