Comprehensive Legal Protection for Surf Breaks and Surf Ecosystems: A Synthesis of International Lessons Learned

Abstract

Surf breaks and surf ecosystems are important coastal resources that can be harmed or destroyed by conflicting coastal uses and development patterns. These resources should be recognized and prioritized for protection because they are relatively rare, are highly diverse in their characteristics and associated values, and for the many benefits and other inherent values they support. Surf breaks often intersect with significant natural ecosystems where wave-riding activities can be a compatible and nature-oriented form of non-extractive resource use, as well as an additional reason to protect these resources. Thus, protecting surf breaks from degradation can simultaneously protect important natural and social-ecological systems. Protecting these natural coastal resources is needed now more than ever given the fast pace of anthropogenic land use changes and other development in many coastal environments. Several international jurisdictions have enacted legislation to specifically protect surf breaks and other conservation, and environmental protection laws and policies have also been applied to protect them. This paper builds upon previous research that characterized and catalogued surf break protection laws to identify key themes and lessons learned that can inform and improve efforts to draft legislation designed to protect surf breaks. Using a comparative analysis of legislative approaches that have been implemented globally to date, we identify five key principles for the design of comprehensive surf break protection legislation to address the known threats to surf breaks. These five principles (threat-oriented, geographically specific, socially equitable, legislatively integrated, and adaptive) draw attention to both the aims of a surf break protection law and what is necessary to effectively protect surf breaks in different governance settings. These principles can assist policymakers to give due regard to surf breaks and their interdependent social-ecological systems in any community context and jurisdiction.