2001, Surfers Against Sewage, COWRIE Research, Guidance on Environmental Impact Assessment on surfing resources and recreation

The aim of this report is to highlight the impacts offshore renewable energy development will have on surfing resources and recreation. Using data from a 2001 survey of surfers in Cornwall a profile of surfer's habits has been drawn up, this along with UK and Australian surfer spending data has been used to project an estimate of the economic input surfing has on UK surfing areas. An EIA study was carried out on Round 1 offshore sites and the effects on quality of surfing waves was negligible, however, when these results are scaled up to incorporate the larger Round 2 and Round 3 developments it is shown that they will have an effect on surfing wave quality and therefore potentially harm the local economy or surfing regions.