4.8 Socioeconomics
SOCIOECONOMICS
4.8
As stated in Section 3.8, NEPA requires consideration of "economic" and "social" effects (40 C.F.R.
1502.16 and 40 C.F.R. 1508.8) but CEQA only requires evaluation of population and housing such
that increased population or housing results in physical impacts. There would be no housing constructed
with this project and no increase in population so there is no applicable CEQA analysis.
The social and economic effects of the action would be beneficial. The nourished beaches would have
wider and larger sand areas, or would replace cobblestone beaches with sand-covered beaches.
Expansive sandy beaches provide greater recreational opportunities, opportunity for public access, and
enhance tourism in the region. Public property and infrastructure would have additional protection from
wave action and storm events while the sand remained at the wider location. Either of the two action
alternatives would result in satisfying the project purpose and need of replenishing eroded beaches.
The primary focus of this impact analysis therefore, is the socioeconomic effect to commercial fisheries,
kelp harvesting and recreation fishing/diving from a NEPA perspective. There would be no substantial
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difference in effect based on season of construction because this analysis considers the larger, regional
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fisheryand long-term health. As with Section 4.4, it considers potential impacts overtime with no particular
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start date. NEPA does not require explicit definition of significance criteria. Potential impacts specific to
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environmental justice concerns are addressed in Sections 6.6 and 6.7.
Alternative 1
4.8.1
Impacts of Alternative 1a
Commercial Fisheries
Numerous interactions with commercial fisherman and their representatives have identified four main areas
of concern regarding the beach replenishment project. These concerns all focus on the potential for loss
of resources and income and can be summarized as follows:
Sand placed on the beaches will move from the beaches onto sensitive habitat areas causing immediate
loss of commercial resources associated with these habitats (e.g., lobster, crab, urchin), effectively
causing area preclusion for some period of time,
Regional Beach Sand Project EIR/EA
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