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

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

Frontiers in Marine Science, 8

March 29, 2021

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.

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CITATION

Reineman, D. R., Koenig, K., Strong-Cvetich, N., & Kittinger, J. N. (2021). Conservation Opportunities Arise From the Co-Occurrence of Surfing and Key Biodiversity Areas. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8. doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.663460