Surfonomics: It's more than a wave

As a wave comes, a surfer makes choices—where to go, how to maneuver, when to dig, when to back off. Those choices come quick, based on who’s around and what’s been happening. It’s an internal calculus for each surfer, one that keeps going after the wave picks them up and they glide down the line. The thing is, that awareness of place and that sense of community is important out of the water, too, especially when it comes to managing development around a surf break. It’s another valuable aspect of surfing.

The value of surfing is nearly impossible to calculate. There are physical, emotional and spiritual benefits every surfer knows and every surfing community celebrates. Those are hard to put a number on because they’re as much gratitude as attitude, defying the concept of quantity. That said, impressive economies have come up at surf spots around the globe. The money spent on surfboards, gear, lessons, food, lodging, cars, boats, drinks, clothes, ding repairs, massages and suntan lotion can run a surfer into the hundreds of dollars, or thousands of pesos, each day. Multiply that expenditure times the number of surfers, times the number of surfable days and that number can get a lot of zeros behind it.

For a minute, let’s pretend you’re in a place where every surfer drops $100-a-day into the local economy. Let’s say on any given day there are 30 surfers in town. Let’s say there are 330 surfable days. That sort of math puts the baseline economic value of surfing at $990,000 USD per year for that town.

Let’s say you’re in Saladita or Troncones where, in both towns, the cost of a hotel or a house rental is typically more than $100-a-night, where there are more than 30 surfers on any given day, and where there are irresistible, rideable waves 360 days a year. Let’s add a modest 10% to that $990,000 for those for those extra 30 days and double that new total, to account for both Saladita and Troncones. That would put the annual economic value of surfing here at about $2,200,000 USD, or almost $40,000,000 MXN. Give or take. And likely way under. That’s before a surfer decides to build a house, or tell their friends about the great time they had.

Surfonomics. Surfing is a big-money business and it attracts all the complexities of big-money businesses—more people, more waste, more needs, more businesses to support the more people, which creates more waste, more needs. It goes on. All over the world, surf towns, most of which exist in somewhat isolated and delicate natural environments, often find themselves over-run by real estate and business development. That’s true in the United States, in Montauk, New York, in Santa Cruz, California, in New Smyrna Beach, Florida and all over the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It’s happening in Mexico, too, in Sayulita, Nayarit, in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca and throughout Baja California. And it’s becoming an issue here in Guerrero, too.

All along the Costa Grande, from Barra de Potosí, south of Zihuatanejo, to El Rancho, north of Saladita, there are surf spots seeing booms in population and investment, surges that threaten the very thing that’s attracting so many visitors and newcomers—the waves. It’s as if the local surf has created another sort of wave, this one on land—a wave that requires the same community-minded sensibility needed for everyone to stay safe in the water.

Saladita resident Frank Cruz, who’s a partner in Hacienda Plaza and its neighboring Las Huertas development, sees what’s coming when he says, “As a developer, I can’t come in and do what I want. That would destroy the place I love. We need to create guidelines for development here so we don’t damage the surf spots. People from all over the world come to Troncones, Majahua, Saladita and El Rancho to surf. The communities here are familiar with the economic impact of tourism and surfing. While that’s been beneficial to our community, we must consider the environmental impact of development on the land, the ocean and the waves.”

Save The Waves

Frank’s Hacienda Plaza is hosting a screening of eight surf films on Saturday, October 25 at 6 pm. Those same films are being screened in Troncones, two nights before, on Thursday, October 23, also at 6 pm, at the basketball cancha (covered court). The gear and seating for both screenings are coming from the municipality of La Unión, with the full support of el presidente José Francisco Suazo Espino and his administration. The films are being provided by Save The Waves, an organization based in Santa Cruz that has gained international recognition and protection of 14 surf spots around the world.

[Those “world surfing reserves”, include Noosa Beach in Queensland, Australia; Ericiera in Mafra, Portugal; Huanchaco in Trujillo, Peru and Surfrider Beach in Malibu, California. Also among the 14 are two breaks in Mexico—Bahia de Toros Santos in Baja California and Punta Conejo in Oaxaca. In each locale, Save the Waves creates environmental programs to sustain bio-diversity, the health of people, plants and animals, while working with local public and private agencies to fend off the perils of unchecked real estate development.]

Frank was brought into the Save The Waves film project by Omar Sierra Gutiérrez, a lawyer by profession and an environmentalist by vocation, who happens to be a part-time Troncones resident. As a sometimes guide for Costa Nativa, the Troncones-based eco-tour company, Omar found himself one day leading a hike to La Cienega (in the hills above Lagunillas) and talking about his passion for Guerrero’s plants and animals. One of the “clients” happened to be Donna Meyers, also a part-time Troncones resident, who is the Director of Conservation Impact for Save The Waves. Their conversation led Omar to apply for a grant to protect the surf breaks and mangrove areas along the Costa Grande.

Assembling a team to help him with his application, Omar began gathering information on the 79 kilometers of coastline between Barra de Potosí and El Rancho. His application chronicled the history and bio-diversity of the region, as well as its most recent development challenges. It also proposed community outreach by way of network-building workshops and environmental awareness programs suited for every age group, accessible to all sectors of community, from here-for-a-week surfers to long-time local politicians.

The grant applications was approved this past April and as Omar explains it, “The film festival is the real first step in getting closer to the community, to introducing Save The Waves and to letting everyone know of our work, that we are not an invasive project but one that thrives on multidisciplinary involvement, from developers, scientists, fishermen, surfers, business owners, teachers, students, all aspects of the community. In Troncones, Alejandro Rodriguez Pruneda of Costa Nativa and builder Gonzalo Rolando have been helpful in making those connections for us.”

Omar sees the next step as being, “Bringing together the leadership of the three municipalities, Petatlán, Zihuatanejo and La Unión. Everything about tourism and development is interconnected. The region is one region, one project, and the goal is nature conservation and cultural protection. We want to talk about strategies and programs that serve everyone, that make sure we preserve what we have and make room for what’s coming. And we can see what’s coming by looking at other communities, seeing what’s worked and what hasn’t.”

Omar is well-versed in the facts and factors that are a concern to Troncones residents and visitors alike—Mexico consistently being an international top-ten tourist destination; Guerrero being ranked eighth of Mexico’s 32 states for bio-diversity and anthropological significance; and La Unión being designated Guerrero’s fourth tourist destination this past August, putting it on par with Acapulco, Taxco and Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. He points out, “That makes this the perfect moment to begin this sort of conversation within the community. There’s change coming and we want to empower people to be part of that change, for the better.”

The Surf Films

As intense and high-minded as that all sounds, the films promise to be entertaining and informative. And free. There is no charge for the screenings, either in Troncones or in Saladita. There will be raffles, t-shirts, donation tables and food, like any other festive community event, like any other kermes (charity fundraiser). “Community integration” is one of Omar’s favorite phrases, adding, “We want people to come to these screenings to have fun and to talk to each other about what’s important to them. Having the support of el presidente José Francisco and La Unión assures we’ll have people there who can help make a difference.”

The films are from different places—California, Portugal, Greenland, Sri Lanka, Mexico, the United States, Australia and South Africa—and all are true stories, featuring people engaged in travel, conservation, climate change and surfing. It’s an 80-minute screening, the headliner being the 38-minute Riding the Sardine Run which follows a group of surfers getting waves on a remote stretch of the South African coast during the annual migration, showing the surfers among the sharks, whales, dolphins and birds that chase the sardines. All the films will be subtitled in Spanish.

One film is entirely in Spanish (with English subtitles), the 10-minute Baja Born and Raised, by Jesús Salazar, which tells the story of a multi-generational family of fisherman and surfers and their shared joys and traditions, despite their different approach to the sea. The other films offer stories of people surfing calving glaciers in Greenland; a female surfer overcoming male bias in Sri Lanka; a craftsman who makes the housings for the underwater cameras in Hawaii (for big waves); a 71-year-old American surfer who feels best on his board and surfers engaged in coastal ecology in Baja California and in the Azores.

Don’t expect to discover the actual “surfonomics” tallies for Troncones and Saladita at the screening, but Omar says, “That part of the project is coming. Knowing the money flux will help us make better decisions as we work to protect our coast and its resources. Our waves make our economies stronger and bring us revenue year-round. We need to make sure we do everything we can to keep them accessible and pristine.”

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Omar’s grant-writing team

Alejandro Rodriguez Pruneda, owner of Costa Nativa in Troncones, an oceanographer

Frederic Bochet, owner of Mero Adventure in Zihuatanejo, a professional diver (and brother of Mi Jardin’s Juan Pascal)

Ramiro Arcos-Aguilar, Science and Analysis Coordinator of Red de Observadores Ciudadanos A.C. in La Paz, Baja California Sur

Links

https://www.savethewaves.org/stwfffilms/

https://www.savethewaves.org/surfonomics/

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