**REPORT TITLE**: A Summary of Knowledge of the Southern California
Coastal Zone and Offshore

Areas. Vol. III, Social and Economic Elements.

**STUDY TITLE**: Southern California Summary of Knowledge.

CONTRACT NUMBER(S): BLM: CT4-01.

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Pacific.

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): Southern California.

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 1974.

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: September 1974.

COST(S): FY 1974: \$116,065; CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: \$116,065.

PROJECT MANAGER(S): M. Dailey.

AFFILIATION: Southern California Ocean Studies Consortium.

ADDRESS: P.O. Box 570, 925 Harbor Plaza, Long Beach, California 90801.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)\*: M. Horn, L. Jobst, R. Outwater, G. Peters,
R. Riznyk, R. Rooney, E. Segelhorst, J. Splansky, A. Stern.

KEY WORDS: Southern California; California; socioeconomics; synthesis;
summary; literature review; coastal zone; shelf; Southern California
Bight; human population; economics and demographics; commercial fishing;
recreational fishing; wetlands; archeology; maps; transportation;
pipeline; development; Los Angeles; San Diego.

ACCESS NUMBER: CT4-01

**BACKGROUND**: Volume III, on social and economic elements, is part of
a report series that offers a description of economic and physical
forces, and biological and social resources existing in the Southern
California Continental Borderland. The complete report series analyses
the potential for future mineral development of the area, and assesses
environmental impacts that might result from proposed leasing actions.

**OBJECTIVES**: (1) To summarize current knowledge concerning
demography, land and water use, transportation, energy industries, port
activities, fisheries resources, wetland resources, and shipbuilding and
ocean‑oriented manufacturing.

**DESCRIPTION**: Geographic limits of this summary include the Southern
California Continental Borderland and the adjacent coastal zone. The
Borderland is defined as being south of 34N Lat, north of the
U.S.‑Mexico International Boundary, and east of 120W Long (including
the Channel Islands). The coastal zone is considered to be the
1,000‑yard strip adjacent to mean low water, although the limits have
been extended where appropriate for the purpose of this study. This
volume summarizes the current knowledge on the social and economic
elements of the Borderland.

**SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS**: Of the total population of California in
1970, 49.2% of the people lived in the southern California region,
composed of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties. Future land use
within the study area will be the result of the interrelationship of the
policies and goals set forth in the county and city general plans and
the pressures of national demographic variables. In the absence of
further discoveries in privately owned or leased onshore or offshore
areas, or the development of highly productive new secondary or tertiary
oil recovery technologies, oil and gas production in California is
predicted to decline by as much as 10% per year. The oceanic region and
shoreline of the study area is an intensively used maritime area and a
highly urbanized maritime region. The study area has a history as an
important center in the United States for both commercial and sport
fishing. Wetlands in the study area are essential habitat for migratory
and resident birds, molluscs, and fish. Ineffective management of
wetlands, caused by the lack of interest of local governments and by an
overlapping jurisdiction of a variety of government agencies, has caused
the loss of over 75% of the southern California wetlands. Shipbuilding
and repair, as well as a growing number of ocean and other resource
oriented manufacturers form an important element in the socioeconomic
structure of the study area\'s coastal zone.

**STUDY RESULTS**: Within the three county region of the study area,
there are two large population clusters; one which includes virtually
all of Los Angeles County, and the other in San Diego County. From Costa
Mesa to San Diego there is a lower density of population along the
coast, and cities in this area are relatively small. A study of the
demography of the study area focused on total population and population
of selected cities, sex and age structure, median family income,
employment and unemployment, manpower resources, and projected
populations of the metropolitan areas.

Current land use in the study area is a product of the history of the
southern California metropolis in particular and the history of land
settlement and development in general. The variety of governmental
agencies and quasi‑public bodies, which evolved to satisfy particular
institutional needs of the expanding metropolitan population, exercise
direct and indirect control over land utilization. The section devoted
to land and water use lists the environmental protection areas,
commercial recreation facilities, and major archeological sites. A
series of accompanying maps displays current land use patterns arranged
as a continuous set of data. A discussion is presented of land use
constraints, controls, and projections. There is no official
comprehensive regional plan for southern California.

The section on transportation focuses on modes of transporting petroleum
products within the study area, and includes tankers, petroleum
pipelines, motor vehicles, and railroads. Air transportation, although
not directly involved with the transportation of petroleum products, is
discussed in order to project a total picture of transportation in the
study area. Tankers are responsible for transporting offshore supplies
of crude petroleum from source points within the study area to U.S. West
Coast refineries, and for the importation of foreign crude petroleum.
Pipelines are the cheapest means of transporting large volumes of
petroleum and gas when the distance between gas supply and demand areas
is large. The crude and product pipeline network is extensive in
southern California. It is estimated that on the basis of truck miles,
one out of every two tanker trucks in California is hauling petroleum.
Trucks transport a minor share of crude and refined petroleum products
within the study area, due to the pipeline network and coastal access
for tanker transport. Railroads transport is used for a relatively minor
share of total petroleum crude and refined products.

The section on energy resources discusses the present and projected
future supplies and demands of energy within the study area,
environmental regulation of these energy resources, California petroleum
statistics, production histories of coastal fields, and petroleum
refining. The electric power industry is also discussed in detail.

The study area is one of intense maritime activity involving commercial,
military, and recreational waterborne traffic and extensive
marine/maritime facilities, activities, and operations. From an economic
and political standpoint, port activities of this area have local,
regional, national, and international ramifications and importance. This
section describes the regional coastal ports, commercial ports, the
effects of changing ship design on port facilities, recreational
boating, and military operations.

The discussion of fisheries resources includes both commercial and sport
fisheries. The principal groups of fish and shellfish are presented in
tabular form along with their relative importance in the commercial and
sport fisheries and their state of utilization. Many of the economically
important groups of fish and shellfish are sought by both commercial and
sport fisheries, thus creating conflicts and the necessity for
well‑planned utilization and management of these resources.

Wetlands are areas which may be covered periodically or permanently with
shallow water. Those in the study area consist of salt marshes and
mudflats of estuaries and lagoons. Eighteen wetlands areas within the
study area were individually surveyed, and divided into sections on
general description, ownership, resources, industrial and municipal use,
and total acreage.

The discussion of shipbuilding and ocean‑oriented manufacturing includes
results of a survey of major shipyards, drydocks, marine railways, and
repair piers in the study area, and an inventory of ocean‑oriented
products manufactured by the southern California industry. These
products fall into three distinct categories: recreational products,
underwater instrumentation systems, and sundry products such as water
purification systems, fuel cell materials, and oceanographic buoys.

**STUDY PRODUCT(S)**: Dailey, M. D., B. Hill, and N. Lansing (eds.).
1974. A Summary of Knowledge of the Southern California Coastal Zone and
Offshore Areas. Vol. III, Social and Economic Elements. A final report
by the Southern California Ocean Studies Consortium for the U.S.
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Pacific OCS
Office, Los Angeles, CA. Contract No. 08550-CT4-01. 859 pp.

\*P.I.\'s affiliation may be different than that listed for Project
Manager(s).