The surfers’ guesture would pay tribute to a man who was an inspiration to many, including the Surfrider Foundation Australia’s chair, Coledale’s Susie Crick.

Ms Crick, who was preparing for a major beach clean-up event at North Wollongong, said Kiernan had the ability to motivate people for good.

“He was such a charismatic and respected waterman, that in his first event nearly 40,000 people turned up,” she said,

“Surfrider Foundation Australia has been involved with Ian since the start of his Clean Up Australia campaign on Sydney Harbour, but more recently with his campaign on the ‘ban the bag’ issue where he gained so much momentum.”

Ms Crick estimated there could be a “couple of hundred” surfers who will paddle out beyond the break and hold a ceremony to remember Kiernan, at 11am on Saturday.

Hundreds of beach lovers will be at North Beach and Puckeys for Surfrider’s third Illawarra Clean Beach Festival, a clean-up blitz that starts at 9am. It will also cover Fair Meadow Beach and Wollongong Harbour.

And the Surfrider GromFest competition for young surfers starts at 8am.

A highlight of the cleanup is set to be the cleanup effort in Wollongong Harbour, where divers will take to the sea bed to remove whatever rubbish they can find.

“We did this a month ago and we got so much rubbish,” Ms Crick said. “But this one we’ve got probably triple the people, and it’s going to be an all-out effort.

“So we’re inviting everyone with their SUPBs (stand-up paddle boards) ... in their canoes, to come out on Wollongong Harbour and Belmore Basin and get our harbour sparkling clean.”

Ms Crick said in tribute to Kiernan, it would be appropriate for a bag ban to become state law.

“Out of respect to this great Australian legend, we believe it’s time that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian finally gave Ian what he always wanted: get the plastic bag ban over the line.”