Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Tour.
Sec. Behaviors and Behavior Change in Tourism
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frsut.2024.1387081
This article is part of the Research Topic Surf tourism in a post-pandemic world View all articles

Place attachment, wellbeing, and conservation in surf destination communities

Provisionally accepted
Leon Mach Leon Mach 1,2,3*Elizabeth Rothrock Elizabeth Rothrock 4Sydney Stark Sydney Stark 5Jacob Nahmias Jacob Nahmias 6
  • 1 Center for Tropical Island Biodiversity Studies, School for Field Studies, Bocas del Toro, Panama
  • 2 Sistema Nacional de Investigacion (SNI), SENACYT, Panama
  • 3 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama), Panama City, Panama
  • 4 University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States
  • 5 University of San Diego, San Diego, California, United States
  • 6 Hamilton College New York, Clinton, New York, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Frequently visited surf breaks are nested within unique ecosystems that face many underappreciated threats. This manuscript first explores the contribution of surfing to local wellbeing and analyses how wellbeing is impacted by different threats to surf ecosystems. The second aim is to gather local knowledge of, and desires for surf break protection in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Through qualitative interviews (N = 17) and surveys (N = 46), findings suggest that place attachment is tied to frequently visited surf breaks and is strongly correlated to the wellbeing derived from surfing. Surfing was also found to be the main reason 68% of the respondents moved to the archipelago. Length of time residing in Bocas, however, was not a predictor of place attachment. This might suggest that people migrate for certain aspects of surf ecosystems and that place attachment can perhaps be selected for and grow through experiences. Positive surfing experiences were also found to be under threat from several converging challenges related to sea level rise, coastal development, declining reef health, and overcrowding. Local surfers recognize that these threats are tied to global forces but seem more reactive in their fight to alleviate imminent visible threats. This research emphasizes the urgent need for dedicated institutions to effectively preserve frequently visited surf ecosystems in areas that are neither covered by global non-governmental surf protection organization campaigns nor dedicated legal protection frameworks. We also call for more attention dedicated to understanding how the benefits of surfing are nuanced, context based and tied to vulnerable places.

    Keywords: place attachment, wellbeing, protected areas, SURF, conservation, development

    Received: 16 Feb 2024; Accepted: 16 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Mach, Rothrock, Stark and Nahmias. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Leon Mach, Center for Tropical Island Biodiversity Studies, School for Field Studies, Bocas del Toro, Panama

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.