Gameau dives deep at White Rock screening

BYRON Bay filmmaker and environmental advocate Damon Gameau joined Sea Forest Australia founder Sam Elsom for a panel discussion following a screening of White Rock at Stone & Wood in Byron Bay on Tuesday night.

Gameau, who also stars in the 35-minute documentary, helped spark conversation around the environmental crisis unfolding beneath Australia’s coastal waters.

White Rock, produced by the volunteer-run Great Southern Reef Foundation, explores the devastating impact of long-spined sea urchins on the Great Southern Reef — a vital ecosystem stretching along 2,000 kilometres of southern coastline, from southern NSW to Tasmania.

It highlights how once-thriving kelp forests are being reduced to lifeless underwater barrens by exploding urchin populations, threatening biodiversity, fisheries and the marine industries that depend on them.

But the film also shines a light on the emerging urchin industry, which is rapidly gaining momentum in Australia. While sea urchins are considered a delicacy in Japan, Europe and the US, they have remained largely untapped in Australia — until now.

Leading chefs and seafood innovators are stepping in, transforming the invasive urchin into a high-value, sustainable resource. Guests at the screening were treated to a tasting of urchins, prepared by divers from the NSW South Coast who are on the frontline of the ecological response.

White Rock is at the heart of a growing campaign calling on the Federal Government to commit $55 million to an Urchin Taskforce. The proposed initiative includes targeted reef monitoring, expanded commercial harvesting and marine management strategies led by First Nations communities.

As part of its broader impact campaign, the Great Southern Reef Foundation plans to release educational resources and host teacher workshops, with the film set to screen in schools later this year.