PRATTE'S REEF POSITIONING PAPER

      Construction of Pratte's Artificial Surf Reef is scheduled to begin during the last week of September, 2000 in El Segundo, California after more than twelve years of negotiations, research and planning. The Reef is the result of a landmark ruling by the California Coastal Commission (CCC) in 1994. The ruling determined that a rock groin, built by Chevron, U.S.A. between 1984 and 1986 to protect its El Segundo refinery from storm waves, was responsible for diminishing a surf break at Dockweiler Beach and eroding the adjoining public shoreline.
     The precedent-setting CCC ruling represents the first time a governmental agency has acknowledged that breaking waves are a natural and public resource. Further, this acknowledgment determined that the act of surfing waves is of significant recreational value to the American public.
     As a result of the 1994 ruling, Chevron, U.S.A, entered into a joint effort with the Surfrider Foundation and the California Coastal Commission agreeing to pay $300,000 for the construction of what has now become known as "Pratte's Reef." Pratte's Reef, named after the late Thomas Pratte - one of the founders of the Surfrider Foundation and a key player in the outcome of the CCC ruling - represents the first attempt in the United States to restore surfing to an area depleted of its waves by a man made structure.
     Surfrider, which has donated a great deal of time and money to the research and development of Pratte's Reef, considers the construction effort as an acceptable outcome of the mitigation process. The Reef should not be viewed as a replacement of a natural surf break but instead as compensation for the loss of a natural resource. Surfrider's efforts represent a bold initiative to rehabilitate a surf break that was lost to the public as a result of coastal armoring.
     The construction of Pratte's Reef is very much an experiment in the relatively new science of surf break restoration. Pratte's Reef will be built using an ecologically sound geotextile sandbag construction and will be continually monitored to insure that no negative environmental effects result. If a problem arises, the Reef can be removed from the water quickly, easily, and without damage to the surrounding ecosystem.
     Surfrider's efforts surrounding this project strengthen the public's ability to prevent further destruction of the nation's coastline. The recognition of surfable waves as a natural resource will further serve to limit unsound coastal development; particularly those forms of development, such as fabrication of groin structures, which have consistently proven to be detrimental to our coastline.
     The construction of such a man made structure by Chevron, U.S.A. at Dockweiler Beach - and the resulting erosion of public shoreline and destruction of a popular surf break - is the reason for the construction of PratteÕs Artificial Reef.