Aberavon, South Wales. Boulders at the top of the beach have degraded the quality of the wave as well as making the break unsurfable at such a high a tide as previously possible.
Lyme Regis. An extension to the outer sea wall has reduced the amount of swell which comes into the beach.
Freshwater, Isle of Wight. The outwards extension of a sea wall about ten years ago has increased backwash. The break is much worse, and it cannot be surfed at such a high tide as previously. .
Niton, Isle of Wight, where the importing and movement of boulders to protect the cliff and houses, has seriously degraded what was a good and consistent spot.

Additionally, there are threats to other areas, such as:

At Aberdeen, coast protection is required and we understand that the current proposal is for fishtail groynes. These are “Y” shaped rock groynes, a sort of groyne with attached breakwater. Needless to say, this would be an anathema to surfers.
At Borth in West Wales, the Welsh National Assembly is reviewing options, which originally included fishtail groynes (still a possibility we assume), and at the other extreme, a multi-purpose reef, which would provide great surfing as well as coast protection.

We think that there are a number of other areas which could on one hand, be degraded by structures like fish-tail groynes or rock, breakwaters, or on the other hand, be enhanced by using multi-purpose reefs. The author has campaigned over many years to try to protect surf breaks and promote the use of multi-purpose reefs as a coast protection device.

There are probably other examples around the UK of degrading of surf spots through coastal engineering. Would surfers please alert the BSA if their break is threatened by coastal engineering work, and we’ll see what we can do.

Regarding what we could do, we need better guidance on our rights. There have been plenty of research studies on reefs and related environmental matters, but as far as we are aware, there has been none on surfers rights. There are useful precedents and parallels to work from, such as pechery rights. This is where the fishing of an area over a long period will accrue rights to continue. Also, the Californian legislation, (which was used to win compensation from the destruction of a surf break by Chevron Oil), is based on principles of English and Roman law.

Would students of environmental law, please consider a dissertation on this matter, to account for English Law, Scottish Law and European law.

Ideally, this will establish:

What rights we have with regard to future problems.
Rights to sue or claim for remediation of site in respect of previous damage, such as on the Isle of Wight, where be believe that the authority did not comply with Defra guidelines.
Recommendations on the way forward to help improve our rights and legal protection.

The British Surfing Association are keen to protect our beaches, and aim to be more active in this matter, and will endeavor to provide support for such a study or studies.

David Weight. Tel. 01202 – 749920.