While the rampant crime is predicted to cost the Australian film industry upwards of $233 million a year, Ryan Mattick, 25, of Nowra said the effects had also been felt in the bodyboarding industry.

“Any film industry is affected by piracy,” he said.

“Put simply, it robs the people who are making the films and limits their potential to do more cool stuff, which stunts the growth of that industry.”

Mr Mattick, who is currently working on his third film, said DVD burning was a major concern for a sport that has continued to blossom on the South Coast.

“Bodyboarding is growing fast and there’s nothing really that will stop that,” he said.

“But if burning someone’s heart, soul and year’s work to a blank disc wasn’t an option then it would be growing even faster.”

He is angered by the general misconception that movie piracy is a victimless crime.

“A lot of kids have no idea what they are burning – they just see a really good way of saving a quick $40.

“It’s actually very typical of the kids of this generation and not even considered a wrong thing to do.”

Despite attracting a large crowd for the premiere for his second film, Flux, in Nowra last year, Mr Mattick said it was the transformation to DVDs that had fuelled the problem.

“In VHS and the early days where DVDs weren’t so cool to burn, the guys making half decent bodyboarding films were selling tens of thousands of copies,” he said.

“Nowadays, the best video of the year will fall short of 3000 copies, which means the film-maker ends up with less for his efforts. That means less money to put into his next project, more hours slaving some irksome night job and a whole lot less motivation to make something way cooler.”

He said the solution lay in educating children of the consequences of movie piracy and changing the culture to deter people from committing the offence.

“We need to make DVD burning extremely uncool,” Mr Mattick said.

“Perhaps more education on DVD burning and how uncool it really is would be the solution.”