A Rapid Protocol for the Preliminary Selection of Sites with Potential to be Surfing Reserves through Self-diagnosis

Abstract

Surfing reserves (SRs) have been created all around the world as part of international or national programs. They can represent relevant initiatives for the local coastal management and protection of surfing spots and their surrounding areas. The process for establishing a SR relies on a set of attributes, of four main themes (wave quality, environmental characteristics, culture and surf history, governance capacity and local support). In this research, we proposed and tested some forms of organizing and comparing these attributes and themes, in order to provide a simple and easy form of preliminarily evaluating a candidate site to be a SR. Four beaches from the coast of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, were compared (Maresias, Itamambuca, Guaraú and Praia Branca), and the themes and attributes were combined by qualitative and quantitative approaches. All approaches indicated Itamambuca beach as presenting the highest potential to be a SR. The stratified approaches, in which each of the four themes was evaluated separately and then combined with the other, appeared to be more consistent and easier to use and understand. We hope that these approaches are useful to surfing communities involved in SR candidatures, especially in the initial phases of analysis and diagnostic.