| Recife was not just a single
wave or break but rather a stretch of
coast in Brazil thirty-eight miles long
that has been closed to surfing. It is
now illegal to surf within his boundary
and violators often have their boards
confiscated and monetary fines in return
for their surfing.
This band of coast
that has been closed contains many
good waves too like; Olinda, Praia del
Chifre, Recife, the area of Boa Vigem,
Acaiaca reefs, Abreus reef breaks, the
reefs of Quebra Mar, the beach breaks
of Paiva and Pedra Preta. The Brazilian
government trying to protect their tourist
friendly image closed this stretch of
beach.
The government decided to build a harbor
at Boca de Suape. The harbor required
that a huge 1-kilometer jetty be built which severed south to north sand flow
in favor of allowing larger ships to pass by. The plans for harbor construction
resulted in major course changes for two nearby rivers, Jaboatao and Suape, and
the subsequent loss of significant mangrove habitat.
The developers then used
dynamite to create an opening in the barrier reef to allow ships to pass
through. This harbor development changed
the habitat significantly. The problem
was then multiplied by the increase in
garbage left behind from the ships using
the Suape harbor. Significant local tourist
developments also leaked large amounts
of sewage into the adjacent coastal area.
Another ecological disaster caused by
this harbor was the subsequent over fishing
in the nearby area. Fishery wise the
estuary was ruined resulting in a large
loss of nutrients and habitat. Nearby
shrimp trawling produced large amounts
of by catch too.
All these ecological
changes resulted in significant changes
to the food chain. The significant result
of the harbor construction was that shark
attacks skyrocketed. The shark attacks
originated nearby the Suape River
and then radiated out as the ecosystem
got worse and worse. Since 1992 there
have been 47 shark attacks in the Recife
region with about a third of them being
fatal.
This huge spike in shark attacks
has been scientifically linked to the
harbor development. The government turned
the blame around by claiming that the
increase in attacks
was the surfer’s fault
for paddling offshore to surf. Therefore,
the government outlawed surfing in
an attempt to curb the number of attacks.
The government used the surfers as
a scapegoat for their development. Their
motivation was to stop the bad press
that would in turn hurt their tourism
revenues.
Therefore, the harbor construction directly
caused an increase in shark attacks which
had the following effects; closed the
coastline to all water activities, crippled
the local surf industry and caused increases
in localism at nearby beaches. The closed
region used to be home to 10 to 15
thousand surfers that now are all denied
the right to surf. |
