Rocky Intertidal Habitat off Mussel Shoals

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7_BEACON Tech Report (FINAL)

The survey shall be repeated following beachfill operations and again at the end of the summer

season during the period of maximum sand cover. If project-generated sand deposition is

observed to be affecting adversely the reef, subsequent beach fill activities at Oil Piers shall

either be modified in a way to prevent deposition of sand on the kelp bed or ceased entirely at

this site. If the project is observed to cause extensive damage to the reef resulting in a loss of

kelp plants or hard bottom habitat, additional mitigation may be required.

Rocky Intertidal Habitat off Mussel Shoals. The rocky intertidal habitat off Mussel Shoals

upcoast from the Oil Piers site will be monitored for sedimentation and health. A baseline shall

be established prior to beach fill activities at Oil Piers. The baseline will include installing

reference stakes to measure sand deposition. Permanent transects shall be established to monitor

the sand height over the reef and surfgrass, percentage of sand and rock substrate along each

transect, percent cover of sand and organisms on rocks, percent cover of surfgrass, and blade

length of surfgrass.

The survey shall be repeated following beachfill operations and again at the end of the summer

season during the period of maximum sand cover. If project-generated sand deposition is

observed to be affecting adversely the rocky intertidal habitat, subsequent beach fill activities at

Oil Piers shall either be modified in a way to prevent deposition of sand on the rocky intertidal

habitat at Mussel Shoals or ceased entirely at this site.

Grunion. If beachfill is planned to occur during the grunion spawning season of March to

September, a biological monitor shall be onsite during any predicted grunion runs within two

weeks before or during the planned beach fill. If grunion are observed to spawn during the

spring high tides immediately prior to the proposed sand placement or during sand placement

operations, all beach fill activities will be curtailed until after the next spring high tide series

when the grunion eggs will have hatched and been carried into the ocean. In addition, sand

berms will be placed around the spawning area, if possible. The buffer zone would be kept in

place until the next predicted grunion run (about 14 days) to allow for the eggs to hatch and

surveys to show that no subsequent spawning occurred in the area.

5.3.2

Physical Monitoring

It is proposed that turbidity monitoring will be conducted during construction of the beach fills

by visual observation to ensure that the turbidity plume does not increase significantly over

ambient conditions for an extended duration and area. Beach profile surveys will be conducted

prior to and after construction of beach fill operations to track movement and retention of sand.

5.4

SURFER'S POINT

5.4.1

Biological Monitoring

There are no sensitive habitats located within or near the Surfer's Point beach fill site. However,

steelhead trout are found in the Ventura River upcoast of the beach fill site. Therefore, as part of

the monitoring the mouth of the Ventura River shall be monitored during and after beach fill

operations at Surfer's Point. If construction causes closure of the mouth BEACON proposes to

reopen the mouth using a bulldozer to insure no adverse impacts to steelhead trout.

5-4

Moffatt & Nichol Engineers