East Lothian’s ‘surf­ing sis­ter­hood’ turn­ cit­izen sci­ent­ists

A WOMEN-ONLY surf group from East Lothian is help­ing learn more about our rivers and coast­line.

Surf instructor Sally Har­ris, of Inner­wick, intro­duced river stew­ard­ship to her retreats to give par­ti­cipants a bet­ter appre­ci­ation of the water­ways.

Through a part­ner­ship with local envir­on­ment groups and the Forth Rivers Trust, the pro­gramme shows that con­nec­tion to place isn’t something that stops at the surf it extends from source to sea.

Sally began Groundswell as the kind of surf­ing sis­ter­hood she wished she had when she first dis­covered the sport.

“I’ve been a surfer for over 30 years. When I star­ted, it was very much a minor­ity sport for women,” she says.

“It’s about help­ing groups find rep­res­ent­a­tion in the water.”

The organ­isa­tion focused on trauma recov­ery describes itself as a safe space to recover, gain con­fid­ence and unite.

Based between Bel­haven and Pease Bays, Groundswell has run surf­ing work­shops with groups includ­ing the Edin­burgh Refugee Spon­sor­ship and Women’s Aid. The water around Pease Bay has provided a source of con­nec­tion with com­munity and envir­on­ment. As a surfer, it is also a place where man­made pres­sures are clear, says Sally. With a back­ground in envir­on­mental sus­tain­ab­il­ity, col­lab­or­a­tion on cit­izen sci­ence and river mon­it­or­ing was a nat­ural way to bet­ter con­nect, give back and under­stand the local water­ways. Through a rela­tion­ship with the com­munity group Sus­tain­ing Dun­bar, Groundswell began tak­ing volun­teers to mon­itor insect life and water qual­ity for the Forth Rivers Trust. They have been explor­ing local burns as part of the Dun­bar Rivers Project.

“It was incred­ibly hope­ful to hear that there were other people who wanted to look after these places,” says Sally.

“This river stew­ard­ship pro­gramme has been a first oppor­tun­ity for many attendees to engage with con­ser­va­tion.

“To take action is dif­fi­cult espe­cially when you’re strug­gling to make ends meet cli­mate comes way down the list.”

For the Forth Rivers Trust, these volun­teers provide vital inform­a­tion.

Michiel Voer­mans, data and GIS officer for the trust, atten­ded the inaug­ural river stew­ard­ship pro­gramme on the Biel­burn in May.

The volun­teer and cit­izen sci­ence data col­lec­tion is the only way that the project could viably get enough inform­a­tion on the water­ways, he says, par­tic­u­larly in the lower reaches of the river net­work, where surf groups like Groundswell oper­ate.

“Our catch­ment is massive

given the size of our team. The work depends on oppor­tun­it­ies to col­lab­or­ate with local ini­ti­at­ives and volun­teer groups, includ­ing Sus­tain­ing Dun­bar and Friends of the Tyne,” says Michiel.

Through part­ner­ships like the one with Groundswell, com­munity reports have iden­ti­fied 500 pres­sure points and oppor­tun­it­ies for water­way improve­ment.

Dur­ing the day, the group dis­covered the invas­ive spe­cies Him­alayan bal­sam, pre­vi­ously unknown on this stretch of river. Mon­it­or­ing water qual­ity and insect life was an unex­pec­ted high­light of the pro­gramme.

Healthy surf depends on healthy rivers. The people rid­ing East Lothian’s waves are help­ing gather the evid­ence needed to pro­tect both.