Avila Beach, Calif., Business Owners Encourage Moderation After Shark Attack

By Zach Fox, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

Apr. 28–Businesses in Avila Beach, about 11 miles southwest of San Luis Obispo, struggled intermittently for years after a great white shark killed a swimmer in 2003.

Though it is too early to ascertain the effects of Friday’s fatal shark attack on North County businesses, Central Coast’s experience after a great white killed a woman swimming among seals provides perspective on how a shark attack can alter the bottom line for restaurants or hotels.

Entrepreneurs in Avila Beach say their economic struggle was caused not by consumer fear, but by governmental regulation. In response to the Central Coast fatal attack in August 2003, the Port San Luis Harbor District instituted a policy that closed its beaches, including Avila, for five days following any shark sighting — though businesses remained open.

So far, San Diego County instituted a beach advisory, a warning to beachgoers to avoid the water, through Monday morning but has not officially closed any beaches, said Larry Giles, lifeguard captain for Encinitas.

If there is a shark sighting, the warning could be expanded to other beaches or changed, he said.

A change from an advisory to a closure might mean tough times for beachfront business if Avila Beach’s experience is any indicator.

Revenues at Leonard Cohen’s Avila Beach restaurant dropped 50 percent when the beaches closed, and the policy rekindled painful memories, Cohen said.

“We lived with it for four years,” said Cohen, owner of the Olde Port Inn Restaurant. “It’s like, dang, how many times do we have to have this girl killed?”

When shark sightings didn’t close down the beach, Cohen said business was normal.

Last November, the harbor district changed the policy so that shark sightings elicit only advisories, not beach closings.

Cohen said he and other business owners petitioned county officials with complaints.

The policy shift came about as a regular review of the district’s rules, said Steve McGrath, harbor manager.

“I can’t imagine a more traumatic event for the friends and family, first and foremost, and for a lifeguard or a community,” he said. “So I wouldn’t say it was too restrictive. I would say policies like this always warrant review.”

Pismo Beach, just six miles south of Avila Beach, is its own city, meaning its beaches were not subject to the shark sighting closures to the north.

The city decided not to institute a similar policy. It saw no change in business revenues from the attack, said Rebecca McMurry, chief executive officer of the Pismo Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Beach closures in Avila actually served as a bump in business for the Shell Beach Surf Shop, its owner said. Shell Beach is also located just south of Avila and immune from the closures.

“Surfing resonates so deep with people that it takes more than a shark to get them out of the water,” said Ryan Milliman, owner of the surf shop. “If anything, (the beach closure) was beneficial because Avila was closed so more people came here.”

In 2004, there was a fatal shark attack in Mendocino in Northern California. Because that attack was on a diver in a non-tourist area, there was virtually no impact on local businesses, said Debra De Graw, chief executive officer of the Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce.

However, Mendocino and Avila Beach are different in many ways than Solana Beach.

California’s central and northern beaches are typically too cold to attract swimmers. And there are no recent Southern California fatal shark attacks to gauge whether Friday’s attack might deter beachgoers and hurt beachfront revenues.

Another business owner, Michael Kidd of the Inn at Avila Beach, also said it was the closures from subsequent sightings, not the initial attack, that hurt business.

Along with beach closures from shark sightings would come media attention and an avoidance of Avila Beach by tourists and locals, he said.

“The sensationalism can cause much more harm than that one day, not to take anything away from the family. It’s a terrible, tragic thing that happened,” Kidd said. “We changed ours (beach-closing policy) after sanity came back. We realized that if (sharks) walk down the boardwalk, yeah, we should close down the boardwalk. But if they’re in the ocean, that’s where they’re supposed to be.”

Though business owners said beach closures put the brakes on revenues, San Luis Obispo County’s tax collectors reported no noticeable loss in revenues. They said any drop-off would not show up because Avila Beach represents a very minor portion of the county revenues.

Several business representatives said any economic slowdown was not the result of the attack itself.

In contrast, the shark attack appeared to spur business, they said.

“It was almost a tourist thing where people came to look for the shark in the water,” Kidd said. “There was a sensationalism to come and see, which was a positive, in a bizarre, psycho, unfortunate way.”

Shark attacks in general provide a spike in business for Griff McConal, inventor of Sharkcamo, a low-tech product that claims to stem shark attacks on surfers.

McConal’s business, based out of Grover Beach near San Luis Obispo, sells black-and-white striped patterns attached to the bottom of surfboards. The stripes, McConal said, discourage shark attacks because they resemble markings on poisonous fish.

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Copyright (c) 2008, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.

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