Conservation Opportunities Arise From the Co-Occurrence of Surfing and Key Biodiversity Areas

Dan R Reineman,John N Kittinger,Nik Strong-Cvetich,Kellee Koenig

doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.663460

Abstract

Conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services requires diverse models that empower communities to steward and benefit from resources. Here we investigate the potential of surfing resources, a new conservation asset class, and the surfing community, an underutilized conservation constituency, to conserve marine biodiversity. We conducted a spatial analysis of the overlap among Key Biodiversity Areas, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), and 3,755 surf breaks globally. We find that 62.77% of surf breaks are not within MPAs and that 25.81% of all surf breaks are within 5 km of a Key Biodiversity Area, but are not within a MPA, suggesting that strategic conservation opportunities arise from the co-occurrence of surfing resources and biodiversity priorities. Establishing or extending protections to surfing ecosystems could increase protection for biodiversity at one-quarter of surf breaks. Sustainable management of these resources ensures their ability to provide for the character, economy, and development of coastal communities worldwide.

Highlights

Ocean ecosystems provide critical social, economic, and cultural life support systems for communities globally, yet are subject to an increasingly intense onslaught of anthropogenic threats that diminish these benefits
We explore the potential impacts of joint conservation and sustainable development initiatives that will protect biodiversity and the important values and benefits that surfing resources provide to communities
Surf breaks are globally distributed (3,755 distinct surf breaks among 93 countries); representation by country varies in the dataset, with 50 countries containing 10 or more surf breaks accounting for 94.57% of surf breaks and 6 countries accounting for 59.15% of the global total

Summary

Introduction

Ocean ecosystems provide critical social, economic, and cultural life support systems for communities globally, yet are subject to an increasingly intense onslaught of anthropogenic threats that diminish these benefits. Governments, communities, and organizations have employed a range of approaches to better protect species, habitats, and ecosystem functions to mitigate human threats. Global targets have been established to drive governments toward agreedupon conservation goals, in order to protect a minimum percent of ecologically critical land and seascapes necessary to sustain global biodiversity and the services it provides to humanity (Hannah et al, 2020). Most ocean conservation efforts focus on specific resources, including targeted species or iconic ecosystems (e.g., fisheries or coral reefs). We focus on surf breaks, an asset class of ocean resources that harbor underappreciated conservation and sustainable development

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