Surfers are constantly on the search for a good wave, and聽being in the right place at the right instant is a skill born of experience and dedication to the ocean. By studying waves and feeling the ocean鈥檚 rhythm, surfers are a聽valuable source of what is commonly聽known as 鈥渨ave knowledge.鈥� This broad term encompasses聽the collective wisdom of people who devote聽their lives聽to聽the water, and聽with each passing yearit鈥檚 becoming more important聽on our coasts聽as聽coastal聽populations聽grow聽larger, development continues,聽and聽climate change聽wreaks greater havoc.

Coasts are regions of ongoing transformation. They鈥檙e home to the majority of earth鈥檚 inhabitants and economic activity, and are聽subject to shifting demographics and changing climate. They're also where the waves are, and waves, we're learning, .聽That makes the decisions for coastal managers鈥攆rom the California Coastal Commission, for example, to municipal planning departments鈥攁ll the more challenging: To build a harbor or preserve a wetland? To permit a seawall or let the ocean reclaim a structure? These actions have implications, and in some cases the聽relevant expertise to support informed decision-making has been lacking.聽

Our understanding and stewardship of natural resources is increasingly informed by the聽so-called 鈥渓ocal knowledge鈥� of resource users themselves. This could come from a commercial fisherman who鈥檚 trawled a patch of ocean for his entire life and knows better than anyone where the fish are. It could come from indigenous people who have lived on a stretch of shore for millennia and recognize shifts in habitat that occur over generations. In either case, as scholars, elders, and expert users have argued, such individuals have a lot of perspective and insight to offer contemporary resource managers and decision-makers.

That insight can also come from surfers鈥攁 group聽that聽the late oceanography professor and early North Shore called 鈥渕agical oceanographers.鈥� Research I conducted that was published in the May issue of suggests that surfers鈥� intimate familiarity with the coastal ocean constitutes a significant repository of knowledge that could fill a data gap for coastal management鈥攊f only we knew how to channel it.

In the spring of 2014, I surveyed more than 1,000 California surfers in the spring of 2014, hoping to gain a better understanding of the length and strength of their connections to waves. Many surfers I heard from had developed lifelong relationships with specific surf-spots, visiting the same surf-spot daily or weekly over years or, in many cases,聽decades. In so doing, they learn the seasonal cycle, the pulse, and the personality of their favorite waves, and they learn how coastal development can affect them.聽

One respondent described how his waves 鈥渉ave deteriorated since [the city] began grading the bluff and sand dunes in the mid to late 1980s…The sand dunes provided a constant flow of fresh sand to the beach and the constantly changing sandbars that make for better surf at this spot.鈥澛燦atural dunes aren鈥檛 just good for waves,聽they鈥檙e good for ecosystems and .

We face tough decisions about how we continue our lives on the coast as climate change and sea level rise beset the earth, and as near-shore populations continue skyrocketing. Balancing these forces against the preservation of good waves and fun beaches requires that management agencies consult with聽biologists, geologists, economists, and planners; perhaps聽theyshould also consult local expert surfers.聽When it comes to waves, surfers are聽more than another stakeholder group, they are coastal resource experts聽whose local knowledge can inform decision making.

is a postdoctoral research fellow聽studying coastal sustainability聽at Stanford. For more information on this and other surf research, visit .

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