How Pollution Affects the Surf Culture and Habitat

Garrett Mugler

Global Connections

Instructor: Gregory Falls

December 14, 2016

 Table of Contents

Abstract. 2

Introduction... 3

Limitations. 4

Literature Review. 6

Discussion. 8

Conclusion.. 15

Citations.. 16

Abstract
 The sport of surfing has been around for hundreds of years. It has transformed

into more than a sport, it has turned into a culture. It starts from the clothes you wear, to

the way that you speak, and even where you live. Surfing is a lot more than just the

waves, it is about fully immersing yourself in the water. The well being of the ocean

and all its creatures is a huge part of the surf culture. Humanity is causing problems for

the ocean, pollution and humanities direct and indirect impacts are destroying the ocean

that surfers love. If we continue down this path it will cause the ocean to be hazardous

to step foot into. There are already thousands of beaches that are being shut down

annually due to bacteria in the water causing it to be unsafe. If we can all work together

there is still hope in saving the beaches and the ocean.

Introduction
 A surfing habitat includes waves, clean oceans, marine life, and coral reefs. The

surfing habitat is being threatened by the ongoing pollution in our oceans. The constant

development on the coastline is destroying beaches and indirectly causing sea levels to

rise. Humans not only affect the surfing habitat directly, but also indirectly by causing

global threats that negatively impact surfing habitats. Direct human impacts on the

surfing habitat are over-fishing, urban pollution and coastal development. The global

threats that humans are causing indirectly are rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and

ocean warming.

This is important to all surfers because ocean levels are expected to increase

drastically within the coming century. This will destroy many surf breaks worldwide

causing the sport and culture of surfing to take a horrible turn. Surfing is not only about

the waves. The surf culture is about the full immersion in the ocean. With that being

said, marine life is a significant part of the surf habitat. There is an increasing number

of threatened and endangered species due to overfishing and water pollution.

Research also shows that the ocean is a primary heat sink for the planet, and it has

absorbed 90% of the recent heating of the earth. This is greatly affecting the coral

reefs, If this is not stopped scientists estimate coral reef ecosystems will be threatened

with extinction within the twelve to fifteen years.

Limitations
 Preserving the beaches of the world is a prevalent issue nowadays. Making sure

the beaches arent polluted and clean is something the world needs to be thinking

about. The following limitations are present in the paper, geographical limitations,

survey limitations, and time limitations.

Geographical Limitations. In the paper it is mainly focusing on the east and

west coast of America. It talks about the Atlantic ocean and Pacific ocean, it limits the

waterways in the middle of the country such as rivers and lakes. All links to the

research show beaches on the east coast and west coast.

Survey Limitations. The paper only looks at people who live on a coast. It

doesn't look at any research from the the middle of the country, it looks at the coast of

Virginia, Florida and California. If it looked at research from the middle of the country

those facts would not be valid to the topic. It made it difficult to find websites and

sources that proved its facts with the region the paper was talking about.

Time Limitations. Many years ago they did not look at pollution as they do

today. A big part of the paper was showing how preserving the beaches has became a

bigger problem and how people have became more cautious about what they do to the

ocean. 10 years ago today they used to look at the ocean like a huge trash dump.

Within the last 10 years scientists have proven that trash in the ocean has greatly

affected marine life and killed a lot of species. They used to build hotels and houses

right on the beach that would greatly affect the sizes of the beaches and now there are
many beaches on the east coast that are barely accessible. Now when a house on the

beachfront is demolished by a natural disaster they are not allowed to rebuild.

Literature Review

Humanities Effects On the Ocean.

 Humans have had a large impact on the ocean, coastal development,

overfishing, urban pollution, and plastic trash are some of the many negative effects

humanity has on the ocean. 60% of the world's population live within 60 kilometers of

the coast and 80% of tourism is located on the coast. With the numbers rapidly growing

coastal development is only gonna increase causing beaches to erode and pollution to

fill the ocean in tons. Overfishing has also been a big issue. There are a large amount

of marine species that are becoming endangered due to overfishing. Laws are now

being made to prevent certain species from being killed, however once one is saved

there is another one that has become endangered. With the rapid growth of cities near

the coastline urban pollution is affecting the waterways. The runoff and sewage from

cities are getting into our waterways and making it to the ocean.

Global Threats to the Surfing Habitat and the Ocean.

The main global threat to the oceans are sea level rise, ocean acidification, and

ocean warming. The sea level rise is caused the melting of glaciers, ice sheets, and the

thermal expansion of the ocean. This is very threatening to many coastlines, it not only

will decrease the size of the coast and cause the development to be destroyed but it will

also create more devastating storms that create mass amounts of flooding. The

atmospheric CO2 levels are increasing due to the human fossil fuel consumption and

deforestation. As a result of the CO2 level increase the oceans are acidifying rapidly.

This creates a problem for any creature that uses calcium carbonate for its skeleton.

The ocean is also increasing in temperature. It has absorbed around 90% of the earth's

recent heating. It is having a great effect on coral reefs causing them to die.
Things That are Being Done to Prevent Coastlines From Disappearing.

There are organizations such as Surfrider that work to make sure beaches are

accessible and the water stays clean. They were started to preserve the beaches and

prevent plastic from pollution our waterways. North Carolina also passed a habitat

protection plan to try to ensure the coastline was preserved.

Erosion: Where Has All The Sand Gone?

Every winter, the newspapers show pictures of oceanfront buildings falling into

giant surf. Beach sand is primarily a product of the weathering of the land. Sand can

also come from ocean organisms such as coral.

Most of the sand along the world's beaches comes from rivers and streams.

When natural processes are interfered with, the natural supply of sand is interrupted

and the beach changes shape or can disappear completely.

Sand production stops when coral reefs die from pollution, when coastal bluffs are

"Armored" by sea walls and when rivers are dammed upstream for flood control and

reservoir construction. The sand that collects behind upstream dams and reservoirs is

often "Mined" and sold for concrete production.

Discussion

Pollution is greatly affecting the surf habitat. There are 5.25 trillion pieces of

plastic floating around in the ocean. That weighs over two hundred and fifty thousand

tons. There are over twenty thousand beach closures and advisories in the United

States annually. A newly released annual report by the Natural Resources Defense
Council shows that beach closings due to bacterial contamination reached unusually

high numbers last year for the second year in a row. (Onion, 2016) Pollution in the

ocean can be a real health hazard. It can cause a variety of illnesses including fever,

gastroenteritis, vomiting, skin rashes and ear, nose and eye infections. Runoff of

sewage and chemicals are the leading causes of the bacteria in the waterways.

(Rinkesh, 2016) According to the National Resource Defence Council, Discharges of

polluted urban runoff result in elevated bacteria levels and increased illness rates

among swimmers, and the association between heavy precipitation (leading to

increased runoff) and waterborne disease outbreaks is well documented. We must

prevent the pollution of our waterways because soon enough we will not have a place to

swim.

A large part of the surf habitat is marine life. There are many species that are

becoming endangered due to humanities effects on the ocean. The negative impact of

humans has reached global proportions. If this continues, the outlook is bleak for ocean

creatures and humans alike. In a study released in the February 2008 journal Science,

researchers found that human activity from overfishing, greenhouse gases, global

warming, and the introduction of toxins into the environment has affected every square

mile of ocean on the planet and strongly impacted roughly 40 percent of marine

ecosystems. (Pattero, 2016) Species such as the hammerhead Shark, the blue whale,

and the Florida manatee are endangered due to pollution and the impact of humanity on

the ocean. For example the hammerheads are subjected to being victimized for its fin.

The result has been devastating as the demand and high price paid for it in the Asian
market drives the illegal harvest system, endangering this marine species. The blue

whale has been subjected to excessive commercial hunting, or whaling that has caused

a drastic decrease in their population. A study says around two hundred thousand blue

whales have been killed which has left them with an existing number of three thousand

to five thousand whales. Loss of habitat, high rate of stillbirths and the consumption of

pesticides and herbicides are the main factors of why the Florida manatee are

endangered.(Dasgupta, 2016)

Coastlines are becoming more and more developed every year. Coastal areas

are some of the most productive and biologically diverse on the planet. They're also the

most densely populated, according to the UN, 60% of the world's population live within

60 kilometers of the coast. On top of this, 80% of all tourism takes place in coastal

areas, with beaches and coral reefs amongst the most popular destinations. (Sayes,

2016) This amount of tourism on the coastline is a leading cause of pollution in the

ocean. The size of the beaches in the United States are also decreasing at an alarming

rate. If you look at the coastline of North Carolina the beaches are eroding away.

One specific cause of the erosion is the building of houses directly on the sand.

This along with the many hurricanes North Carolina has experienced has caused the

beaches to almost disappear. In North Carolina's 2010 Habitat Protection Plan they

began shoreline armouring. Shoreline armouring, or hard stabilization, involves

construction of hard immovable engineered structures, such as seawalls, rock

revetments, jetties, and groins. Seawalls and rock revetments run parallel to the beach.

Seawalls are vertical structures, constructed parallel to the ocean shoreline, and are
primarily designed to prevent erosion and other damage due to wave action. (North

Carolina 2010 Habitat Protection Plan) Another preventative measure North Carolina is

doing to prevent the erosion of beaches is by passing legislation to limit further

construction on shorelines. The state passed a law that says if your house is directly on

the waterfront and it gets destroyed in a storm you may not rebuild in that spot.

Humans also have an indirect impact that causes global threats to the ocean.

One example is coastline development, which can inadvertently cause the sea level to

rise. Sea level rising, also known as the permanent high tide at every surf break, is

caused by the melting of glaciers, ice sheets, and the thermal expansion of the ocean.

Sea levels are expected to increase 4-6 feet in the coming century. (Stewart, 2016)

There are consequences that will take place if the sea level continues to rise. When

sea levels rise rapidly, as they have been doing, even a small increase can have

devastating effects on coastal habitats. As seawater reaches farther inland, it can cause

destructive erosion, flooding of wetlands, contamination of aquifers, and not to mention

lost habitat for fish, birds, and plants. When storms hit land the higher sea level can

cause devastating flooding with the amount of water it brings. Not only will the rise of

sea level destroy the environment, but it will also ruin the sport of surfing. It will result in

the loss of many surf breaks world-wide. While projected sea level rise happens on a

100-year time scale, the geologic processes that form surf breaks happen on a 1000-

year time scale. Surfers look foward to low tide and if the sea level continues to rise

then there will be nothing to look forward too and no waves to catch.
 Ocean acidification is now becoming a huge problem. Ocean acidification is

when carbon dioxide is absorbed by seawater and a chemical reaction occurs that

reduces seawater pH, carbonate ion concentration, and saturation states of biologically

important calcium carbonate minerals. These chemical reactions are termed "ocean

acidification" or "OA" for short. (Roberts, 2016) It is one of the many global effects

caused by humans that is threatening the ocean and the marine life. Many humans do

not agree with global warming, some call it a myth. However, no one can deny that

atmospheric CO2 levels are increasing as a direct result of human fossil fuel

consumption and forest clearing. Fossil fuel emissions are the gases that are produced

by most cars, airplanes, power plants, and factories that are burning fossil fuels, such

as oil, coal and natural gas. Since the industrial revolution, fossil fuel consumption has

risen exponentially to create many climate change related issues, including ocean

acidification. Burning down the forests, or deforestation, is similar to burning fossil

fuels, it emits a large amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Forests are

important in keeping the carbon dioxide, CO2, level balanced. A large amount of plants

can be known as a carbon sink because it takes in CO2 for photosynthesis. (Van Dein,

2016) Deforestation not only creates more CO2, but it also destroys one of the very

things that helps absorb it. The current level of 390 ppm CO2 is about 100 ppm higher

than the highest level in the past thirty five million years, and the rate of change is 1000

times higher than has ever happened in the geologic history of the planet. The result is

that oceans are acidifying at an increasing rate, which causes problems for any species

that use calcium carbonate for its skeleton or shell. Some of the species that are being

affected the most are pteropods, shellfish, and coral. Ocean acidification is an
emerging global problem, there is no telling how it could affect the food chain if it

continues.

The oceans are drastically increasing in temperature. The oceans are a heat

sink for the planet, and have absorbed roughly 90% of the recent heating of the Earth.

This is having a negative impact on coral, which have a narrow window of temperatures

in which it can survive. When seawater gets too warm, coral lose the algae that live

within their bodies, which is a process called coral bleaching. (National Geographics,

2016) Without the algae, corals have less nutrition causing it to no longer be a

sustainable home for marine life. When ocean warming is combined with ocean

acidification, marine pollution, and overfishing, scientists now expect 90% of all coral

reef ecosystems to be threatened with extinction by the year 2030. Other organisms

affected by temperature change include krill, an extremely important link at the

base of an aquatic food chain. Research has shown that krill reproduce in

significantly smaller numbers when ocean temperatures rise. This can have an

ongoing effect by disrupting the life cycle of krill eaters, such as penguins and

seals, which in turn causes food shortages for higher predators. (Van Dein, 2016)

Warmer sea temperatures are also associated with the spread of invasive

species and marine diseases. If an ecosystem becomes warmer, it can create

an opportunity where outside species or bacteria can suddenly live where they

were once excluded. This can lead to forced migrations and even species
extinctions. Scientists also worry that warmer water could interrupt the ocean

conveyor belt, the system of global currents that is largely responsible for

regulating Earth's temperature. Its collapse could cause catastrophically rapid

climate changes. If there was a rapid climate change it would be devastating to

low lying areas. When water heats up, it expands. Therefore, the most readily

apparent consequence of higher sea temperatures is a rapid rise in sea level

which would flood low lying areas.

Every issue with the ocean is directly or indirectly being caused by

humanity. However, there are ongoing efforts to fix these issues. A foundation

called Surfrider is leading a substantial effort to preserve the beaches. Their goal

is to ensure beaches are accessible, keep our water clean, protect our ocean,

preserve our coasts and keep plastic from polluting our waterways. (Surfrider

Foundation, 2016) The Surfrider foundation has had countless campaigns and actions

to help preserve the coastlines. As a foundation, they are continuing to grow with more

volunteers, allowing them to do more campaigns and conquer global tasks that will

protect our environment.

 Conclusion

The surfing habitat consists of a clean ocean, waves, marine creatures, and coral

reefs. Humans have had an enormous negative effect on the surfing habitat, It has

affected it directly and indirectly. Some of the direct human impacts are urban pollution,

overfishing, and coastal development. Humanity has indirectly affected the ocean by

causing global issues to occur such as rising sea level, ocean acidification, and ocean

warming. If we continue down the path we are on, we could cause the ocean to be

uninhabitable within the next century. Although there are efforts to stop pollution from

getting into our waterways, such as the Surfrider Foundation and laws being passed to

prevent over development along the coast, it needs to become a world issue. Everyone

will have to participate in the saving of our oceans. Everyone must become educated

on the benefits the ocean brings to everyday life and also educated on the proper way

to dispose of trash and waste. With everyone working together, it will be much easier

than small organizations trying to make an impact.

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