4.8 Socioeconomics
on up to 3.2 acres of reefs that support some giant kelp at five locations and 0.3 acre of reef with feather
boa near the three receiver sites from North Carlsbad to Solana Beach. While increases in turbidity and
sand burial will occur from the proposed project, these effects are similar to those of beach replenishment
projects that have been ongoing for over four decades with no apparent effect on resources. Therefore,
the proposed projects may have an adverse impact on the area's ability to function as juvenile lobster
habitat, but this effect is judged to be short-term and less than significant. Localized impacts are predicted
to occur over the combined 3.7 acres of reef areas supporting surfgrass, kelp, and feather boa that may
experience partial sedimentation under worst-case assumptions, and may be significant for small areas, but
are not expected to result in a significant impact to lobsters at the local population level.
Natural turbidity and silting of reefs from coastal lagoons and river discharges following winter storms does
not seem to produce the same effect as catch rates generally remained high in these areas (Guth 1999).
This suggests that it may not be strictly turbidity or siltation effects causing perceived resource loss off of
replenished beach sites, and other unmeasured or unknown factors may be responsible. These factors
could include sediment contaminants and pathogens that are exposed during dredging and redistributed
during beach replenishment. Testing of borrow site sediments found no evidence of chemical contamination
(Section 3.3). The closest wastewater outfall to any proposed borrow site is at SO-6 which is over 4,000
ft from the discharge area. The other borrow sites are in excess of two miles from wastewater outfalls.
Thus, there is little potential for the borrow site sediments to be a reservoir of pathogens.
Direct impacts from dredging the borrow sites would not cause significant impacts to the lobster fishery.
The area that would be affected by dredging the borrow sites represents from less than two percent of the
available nearshore habitat and the dredge activity at any one location would be limited. Turbidity and
siltation from dredging would also be localized and short-term (Section 4.3 and 4.4). After dredging,
borrow sites would be deeper than surrounding areas but these areas are not expected to affect lobster
movement or distribution. Therefore while increases in turbidity and siltation from dredging the borrow sites
would be considered adverse in the short-term, no long-term significant impacts are expected to
commercial species.
The second most important commercial fishing resource, on the San Diego countylevel, is red urchins. This
fishery, however, is highly concentrated outside of the North County area, with the La Jolla/Point Loma
fish block alone accounting for 99 percent of the catch. This part of the fishery would not be affected by
the proposed project. However, for a few fisherman in the North County, red urchins are an important
resource. Red urchins inhabit kelp beds and nearby hard bottom reefs. These habitats will not be affected
Regional Beach Sand Project EIR/EA
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