Puerto Escondido, Mexico – Significant progress has been made at the newly nominated Puerto Escondido World Surfing Reserve in restoring the world class wave at Zicatela. Months ago, when Hurricane Erick made landfall in Oaxaca, the fishing groyne at the north end of the beach was severely damaged. Preliminary studies carried out by a coalition of organizations including Save The Waves, Wildcoast and the Stewardship Council of Puerto Escondido World Surfing Reserve have shown that the groyne may have trapped sand leading to a widening beach and Zicatela, and consequently, deteriorating wave quality and closeout conditions.
Nature always knows best and restores surf ecosystems in due time. With the groyne partially disassembled, the community of Puerto Escondido under the leadership of the local fishermen and the World Surfing Reserve organized a large “tequio”, the Oaxacan tradition of community service, to remove as many rocks as possible by hand. While this was an incredible start and was a visible symbol of the community’s unity in removing the breakwater, professional equipment and resources were needed to continue the work of removing the rocks.
The World Surfing Reserve, working closely with local government partners, fishermen, lifeguards and Save The Waves created a community fundraiser to raise the necessary resources to finish removing a substantial portion of the scattered boulders. Now, thanks to this diligent community effort, the groyne stands about half of its original size. This is in line with recommendations from scientific studies to fully remove half of the breakwater and do continuous environmental monitoring of conditions and sand transport to ensure that there is incremental progress and to also ensure that beach businesses are not inadvertently impacted by the new coastal dynamics.
Save The Waves will continue supporting our partners on the ground with monitoring and technical support as the waves of Zicatela hopefully make a comeback and we have a success story of returning a surf ecosystem back to its natural state.
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