Protecting Surf Breaks and Surfing Areas in California
Abstract
In California, surfing is part of a 24 billion dollar coastal economy, a form of water-based
recreation recognized in state coastal policy, and is positively identified with the
state’s broad history and culture. Where surfing occurs there exist recreational opportunities,
history and culture, and economic impact. Yet, surfing’s value is often not recognized
or is ignored in coastal management and development decisions. Consequently, the surfing
experience may be diminished by a variety of threats. These threats may have broad
impacts on coastal environments, uses and user groups, but they are particularly acute
for surfing, which depends on surf breaks both as a site-specific biophysical amenity
and a cultural focusing point. When fully developed, these threats have resulted in
the permanent loss of surf breaks. In this project, case studies formed through key
informant interviews and a review of relevant literature compared international cases
of surf break protection to recent efforts in California. Protecting surf breaks
in other countries has been initiated either as a reaction to an imminent threat or
through a proactive interest in recognizing a surfing resource’s value, and has required
new collaborations between private sector project proponents and management authorities.
In California, where efforts have recognized and even honored surf breaks more than
protected them, such collaborations have yet to form. Emergent themes from the case
studies informed three conservation paths, or tracks, for surf break protection: recreational;
cultural or historical; and natural heritage. Federal and state statutory frameworks,
in particular the California Marine Managed Areas Improvement Act (2000), California
Coastal Act (1976), and National Historic Preservation Act (1966), match these tracks
and can be applied proactively, and likely in combination, to protect spatially-explicit,
site-specific areas such as surf breaks. However, to date in California and, more
generally in the United States, protected marine areas have overwhelmingly been established
to protect imperiled species and habitat. Developing program-level capacity to recognize
and protect other sources of coastal resource value – such as cultural, historical,
and recreational value – provides communities an opportunity to more fully express
their interests in the coastal and ocean public trust context.
Type
Master's projectPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9592Citation
Blum, Michael (2015). Protecting Surf Breaks and Surfing Areas in California. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9592.Collections
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