Surfers savvy on public health priorities

Photo: Chris Lofqvist on Flickr

Cleaning up the ocean and working to prevent drowning have topped a list of surfers’ funding priorities, reflecting the health issues which are most likely to affect them in the waves.

Despite the attention given to the risk of shark attack, the largest ever survey of NSW surfers found that shark detection and mitigation came in third on the priority list for funding.

The findings, published recently in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, were drawn from the Global Surfer Survey and analysed by researchers from the UNSW Beach Safety Research Group.

The desire to see more investment in drowning prevention reflects the stark reality that ocean users are 48 times more likely to drown than to be bitten by a shark.

With an average of 43 coastal drowning deaths in NSW every year for the past decade, surfers are much more likely to have known someone who has drowned than someone who had a close encounter with a shark’s bite.

Historically, surfers have vocally advocated for protection of our oceans, arguing for improved wastewater treatment and, in more recent times, against microplastics and other forms of pollution.

With an intimate knowledge of the ocean, surfers see the long-term effect of environmental issues on the marine environment and on their health.

The research raises questions about how government allocates finite financial resources for issues related to beach safety.

The surfers indicated they were aware of the risk of being in the water with sharks – half of those surveyed were worried about shark bites while surfing.

But when given a choice about their priority for government spending, that fear lagged a distant third behind the environment and the risk of drowning.

Despite the shark hype, this survey indicates surfers have much more practical concerns which reflect what they see when they are catching waves.

The next question is how surfers will choose to vocalise their priorities to government.

We hope this research will be a catalyst for greater engagement between those most likely to be in the water and the policymakers deciding how to best respond to all the challenges on the rising tide.

You can access the paper “Is further investment in shark management in New South Wales worthwhile? Surfer views on coastal public health issues” by Dr Amy Peden and Professor Robert Brander in the Australian New Zealand Journal of Public Health here.

Blog first published in Intouch Public Health