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Section 3.12 Socioeconomic Resources

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Section 3.12 Socioeconomic Resources 3.12 Socioeconomic Resources MARIANA ISLANDS TRAINING AND TESTING FINAL EIS/OEIS MAY 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3.12 SOCIOECONOMIC RESOURCES ................................................................................................. 3.12-1 3.12.1 INTRODUCTION AND METHODS ..................................................................................................... 3.12-1 3.12.2 AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................................................. 3.12-3 3.12.2.1 Commercial Transportation and Shipping ........................................................................... 3.12-3 3.12.2.2 Commercial and Recreational Fishing................................................................................ 3.12-14 3.12.2.3 Subsistence Use ................................................................................................................. 3.12-23 3.12.2.4 Tourism .............................................................................................................................. 3.12-25 3.12.3 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES ............................................................................................... 3.12-28 3.12.3.1 Accessibility (to the Ocean and Airspace) .......................................................................... 3.12-29 3.12.3.2 Airborne Acoustics ............................................................................................................. 3.12-39 3.12.3.3 Physical Disturbance and Strike Stressors ......................................................................... 3.12-40 3.12.3.4 Secondary Impacts from Availability of Resources ............................................................ 3.12-44 3.12.4 SUMMARY OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS (COMBINED IMPACTS OF ALL STRESSORS) ON SOCIOECONOMICS ...... 3.12-45 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 3.12-1: WARNING AREAS, RESTRICTED AIRSPACE, AND AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL ASSIGNED AIRSPACE IN THE MARIANA ISLANDS TRAINING AND TESTING STUDY AREA ........................................................................................ 3.12-10 TABLE 3.12-2: GUAM COMMERCIAL FISHERY LANDINGS ................................................................................................ 3.12-17 TABLE 3.12-3: COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS COMMERCIAL FISHERY LANDINGS ............................ 3.12-22 TABLE 3.12-4: NOTICES TO MARINERS ISSUED FOR MILITARY ACTIVITIES OCCURRING AT FARALLON DE MEDINILLA AND WARNING AREA 517 FROM 2010 THROUGH 2012 .............................................................................................. 3.12-32 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 3.12-1: SHIPPING LANES WITHIN THE MARIANA ISLANDS TRAINING AND TESTING STUDY AREA .................................... 3.12-5 FIGURE 3.12-2: MARIANA ISLANDS TRAINING AND TESTING STUDY AREA AIRSPACE .............................................................. 3.12-9 FIGURE 3.12-3: COMMERCIAL AIRWAYS WITHIN THE MARIANA ISLANDS TRAINING AND TESTING STUDY AREA ......................... 3.12-12 FIGURE 3.12-4: FARALLON DE MEDINILLA RESTRICTED AREA AND PENDING 12 NM DANGER ZONE ........................................ 3.12-13 FIGURE 3.12-5: GUAM PUBLIC BOAT LAUNCH LOCATIONS AND FISH AGGREGATING DEVICES ................................................ 3.12-16 FIGURE 3.12-6: GALVEZ BANK AND SANTA ROSA REEF ADJACENT TO W-517 .................................................................... 3.12-19 FIGURE 3.12-7: MARINE PRESERVES ON GUAM ............................................................................................................ 3.12-21 FIGURE 3.12-8: POPULAR DIVE SITES WITHIN THE MARIANA ISLANDS TRAINING AND TESTING STUDY AREA ............................ 3.12-26 SOCIOECONOMIC RESOURCES i MARIANA ISLANDS TRAINING AND TESTING FINAL EIS/OEIS MAY 2015 This Page Intentionally Left Blank SOCIOECONOMIC RESOURCES ii MARIANA ISLANDS TRAINING AND TESTING FINAL EIS/OEIS MAY 2015 3.12 SOCIOECONOMIC RESOURCES SOCIOECONOMIC RESOURCES SYNOPSIS The United States Department of the Navy considered all potential stressors, and the following have been analyzed for socioeconomic resources: Accessibility (limiting access to the ocean and the air) Physical disturbance and strike (aircraft, vessels, in-water devices, and military expended materials) Airborne acoustics (weapons firing, aircraft, and vessel noise) Secondary (availability of resources) Preferred Alternative (Alternative 1) Accessibility: Accessibility stressors may result in impacts on commercial and recreational fishing, subsistence use, or tourism when areas of co-use are made temporarily inaccessible to ensure public safety during military training and testing activities. No impacts on commercial transportation and shipping are anticipated. The military will continue to collaborate with local communities to enhance existing means of communication with the public that are intended to reduce the potential effects of limiting accessibility to areas designated for use by the military. Physical Disturbance and Strike: Physical disturbance and strike stressors are not expected to result in impacts on commercial and recreational fishing, subsistence use, or tourism because the vast majority of military training and testing activities would occur in areas of the Study Area far from the locations of these socioeconomic activities. Furthermore, the large size of the Study Area over which these types of military activities would be distributed, and adherence to the Navy’s standard operating procedures, would further reduce any potential for impacts. Airborne Acoustics: Airborne acoustic stressors are not expected to result in impacts to tourism or recreational activities, because the vast majority of military training and testing activities would occur in areas of the Study Area that are far out to sea and far from tourism and recreation locations. Secondary: Secondary stressors are not expected to result in impacts to commercial or recreation fishing, subsistence use, or tourism, based on the level of impacts described in other resources sections. 3.12.1 INTRODUCTION AND METHODS This section provides an overview of the characteristics of socioeconomic resources in the Mariana Islands Training and Testing (MITT) Study Area and describes in general terms the methods used to analyze potential impacts on these resources from the Proposed Action. Regulations from the President’s Council on Environmental Quality implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) state that “when an environmental impact statement is prepared and economic or social and natural or physical environmental effects are interrelated, then the Environmental Impact Statement will discuss all of these effects on the human environment” (40 Code SOCIOECONOMIC RESOURCES 3.12-1 MARIANA ISLANDS TRAINING AND TESTING FINAL EIS/OEIS MAY 2015 of Federal Regulations [C.F.R.] 1508.14). The Council on Environmental Quality regulations state that the “human environment shall be interpreted comprehensively to include the natural and physical environment and the relationship of people with that environment.” To the extent that the ongoing and proposed United States (U.S.) military training and testing activities in the MITT Study Area could affect the economic or social and natural or physical environment, the socioeconomic analysis evaluates how elements of the human environment might be affected. The U.S. Department of the Navy (Navy) identified four broad socioeconomic elements based on their association with human activities and livelihoods in the MITT Study Area (Chapter 2, Description of Proposed Action and Alternatives, and Figure 3.12-1). Each of these socioeconomic resources is an aspect of the human environment that involves economics (i.e., employment, income, or revenue) and social conditions (i.e., enjoyment and quality of life) associated with the marine environment of the MITT Study Area. This evaluation considered potential impacts on four socioeconomic elements in the MITT Study Area: Commercial transportation and shipping Commercial and recreational fishing Subsistence use Tourism These four elements were chosen as the focus of the analysis in this chapter because of their importance to the local economy and the way of life on the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the potential for these elements to be impacted from military activities. As described below, the ports in the CNMI and Guam serve as an important link for commercial transit between Japan, Asia, and the United States. Fishing continues to be both a way of life and a source of revenue, either directly or indirectly, for many if not most residents of the CNMI and Guam (Kerr 2011; Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council 2009). In addition, tourists visiting the Marianas archipelago also take part in recreational fishing activities. Being dependent on the resources of the marine environment to obtain the necessities of life (e.g., food, shelter) is what is meant by subsistence use in this section. Although, resources (e.g., fisheries) of the marine environment were essential to the ancestors of the Chamorro for survival, other sources of income mitigate the dependence on harvesting natural resources (Amesbury and Hunter-Anderson 2003; van Beukering et al. 2007). The military recognizes the cultural and economic value of these activities and their dependence on having access to areas of the marine environment essential to preserving local culture and sustaining the local
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