Minutes
January 18th, 2006
Members Present: Laura Arnold, Michael Durland, (Alan) Skeet Lowe, Victoria Parker, Kit Rawson, Howie Rosenfeld, Joy Sevier, Jim Slocomb, Jonathan White, Tina Whitman
Staff: Barbara Rosenkotter, Helen Venada, Candace VerBrugghen
Absent: Terrie Klinger, David Loyd, Mary Masters, Ken Sebens
Guests: Alan Chapman, Phil Green, Dr. David Hoopes, Kari Koski, Jeff Shaw, Rowann Tallmon,
Tina Wylie-Echeverria
Guest presenter: Eric Beamer, Skagit River System Cooperative
Chair Kit Rawson called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Room at Islanders Bank Annex, Friday Harbor.
Citizen comments:
Kari Koski said that the research arm of NOAA Fisheries in Seattle has a socio-economic program that is doing profiles of fishing communities in the region. They are doing a mock-up for Bellingham and would like to also do one for the San Juans. Along with collecting anecdotal and baseline information on sport and commercial fishing, they are also doing a socio-economic study of the whale watch industry. Kari will provide copies of information from the project.
Kit introduced Jeff Shaw from the Northwest Fisheries Indian Commission (NWIFC). Jeff explained that the Commission provides technical support and coordination to 20 tribal fishery management programs. Jeff works in information servces and is a good point of contact for matters pertaining to the North Sound tribes. He distributed copies of the NWIFC News, Winter 2005. Kit pointed out the column by NWIFC Chairman, Billy Frank Jr., entitled “A Dead Fish is a Dead Fish.”
Minutes:
Revised minutes of the 1/4/06 meeting were approved.
Kit passed around the letter of appreciation for Lil Hamel for members’ signatures.
MRC membership:
Kit gave a brief update on membership. He said that he sent the committee’s letter to the County Council supporting Mike Ahrenius and the CDPD Director as new members. There has been no action on the letter and Councilman Kevin Ranker will attend the next MRC meeting to explain.
MRC 2005 Annual Report and 2006 Work Plan:
Copies of the draft documents were distributed and Kit explained that the Annual Report provides progress reports on each objective of the Work Plan. Members suggested edits and Kit asked that any other suggestions be sent to Jody within a week. Both documents will be updated and will be considered for approval at the February 1st meeting. It was agreed that the Westcott-Garrison Bay Plan should be a work session at a future meeting.
MSA Anniversary:
Candy asked members to sign thank you notes for speakers, the photographer, and the Tulalip drumming group. She also passed out posters for the event for others to put up around the Islands. Candy gave an update on the art contest and discussed the program for January 28th. There will be a meeting today of the organizing committee to finalize plans.
Guest presentation:
Barbara introduced Eric Beamer whose studies of juvenile salmon in marine waters will be important information for work being done in the San Juan Islands. Eric’s presentation was on his studies with Kurt Fresh and Paul Moran of NOAA on the “Origin of Juvenile Chinook Salmon in Northern Puget Sound: Mixed Stock Rearing Environments.” Eric said that he works for the Skagit River System Cooperative that deals with fisheries management for two of the three tribes whose reservations are located in the Skagit watershed (Swinomish and Sauk Suiattle). He has done over a decade of Chinook research. Eric said that a proposal submitted to the Pacific Salmon Commission’s Southern fund was rejected but it will be re-submitted for other funding. He thanked the MRC for its letter of support for the proposal.
Eric’s work has focused mostly on Whidbey Basin, which is part of the northern Puget Sound area. He said next to nothing is known about the origin of juvenile Chinook salmon using our shorelines; what is known is shaped by hatchery fish, he said. After the hatchery release period in May/June, stock from other areas are seen. There is a composite in Skagit Bay of non-Skagit fish with a wide variety of fish origins; fish from central or south sound are not seen and the assumption is that those seen are wild fish. Factors that influence juvenile salmon distribution are time of year, size of fish, habitat type, size of population, and position in landscape.
Larger fish, for instance, are found in offshore habitat later in the season and smaller fish are found in shallow, more protected habitat earlier in the year. This may not be true in the San Juans since they are so far from mainland rivers. Sampling would therefore have to be done across time to learn all the fish stocks that inhabit these waters. Tina said that limited sampling in pocket estuaries here saw no juvenile salmon.
Paul Moran has run DNA samples from different habitats in the Columbia River which indicated that different stocks use different places. Kit hypothesized that if that trend holds and successful recovery efforts result in a population growing then the habitats in the Islands will be even more important. Eric said that 2005 figures for outward migration were four times higher than those of 2004 in the Skagit. He said the position of habitat seems to really matter and the processes that drive dispersal of fish early in the year may be different for the larger fish that come out in June.
Eric defined “north Puget Sound” to mean Admiralty Inlet, Hood Canal, Strait of Juan de Fuca, San Juan Islands, Whidbey Basin, everything north of Padilla Bay; he added that this area is really different than south Sound, as it is less enclosed, and probably represents a much bigger mixture. Hood Canal and Whidbey Basin were included in proposals because a lot of Chinook leave Whidbey Basin (chum for Hood Canal) and it makes sense to link the fair amount of knowledge of those stocks to the next polygon of water. The plan is to sample based on time, space, and habitat types; collect unmarked juvenile then sample ~50 per strata; compare composite DNA of each stratum to the known Chinook salmon baseline to determine the composite origin of each stratum. The study area is the twelve sampling areas within north Puget Sound, restricted to offshore and shoreline habitat types (i.e. 48 strata). The end goal is to build a stock-specific recovery plan.
Eric added that they are looking for more funding (or free labor) for the proposal. Kit said that stock-specific data is important in order to prioritize what happens in the San Juans. There was discussion on next steps to promote this work getting done. Kit added that it is important to get the message of the recovery plan out. Alan Chapman said that a letter to SRFB emphasized that we are working towards a regional effort. Kit said that the links need to be emphasized. Alan added that the Skagit is very important but the Nooksack is a major population group that is essential for recovery.
Tina Wylie-Echeverria said that she has been coordinating with Eric’s group over the last year, with one year left of funding. Only wild stocks were found in the nearshore sampling. Tina emphasized that the same protocol and data sheets as Eric’s are being used.
SRFB decision:
Barbara reported on Round 6 funding; all the projects submitted have been funded except for the genetic stock research (which went forward as a “project of concern” and, therefore, not fundable). She said that
there was lots of support for it and even though a good case was made, it failed. Barbara thanked David Hoopes, Jacques White, and Dave Castor for their efforts. She added that every lead entity was ranked and San Juan County came out close to the middle; this is due to the need for additional work on the strategy, actions of which were not prioritized. Barbara said the update is critical and will move us forward. Round 7 is expected to represent a new more regional approach, or it may be a small or non-existent round, Barbara noted. She said that Shared Strategy is stepping in to work with SRFB staff in order to mesh all the work. Kit added that there will be more on this topic at the next MRC meeting when Kevin Ranker is present. Kit said there will be a salmon technical group meeting today. Tina Whitman added that it seems appropriate to provide constructive feedback on the process to SRFB, dealing with organization over the next year.
Barbara said there will be a NOAA public meeting on February 21st in Anacortes; she added that it’s important to have several MRC members as well as others attend (travel will be paid) to show the broad spectrum of support for the Puget Sound Chinook recovery plan.
Tina Wylie-Echeverria showed a short video that will be edited for future educational use with FOSJ’s help. It was filmed in Blind Bay the first week in July (hi tides) and shows forage fish spawning. Schools of fish in shallow water were filmed during spawning activity all along the shoreline in an area of vegetative overhang. Tina said this will be a good education piece for outreach efforts.
MSA Core Team update:
Kit said that the core team will have a workshop (“the blitz”) on the targets on January 30th and 31st.
Citizen comment:
David Hoopes said that the University of California had a study group in the Pribiloff Islands area of Alaska researching the distribution of crested murrelets. They located four nesting colonies and children in the area helped them find twelve more. The message, David said, is that anecdotal information can be very helpful in augmenting scientific studies. He left paperwork on a proposal to gather such information from commercial and recreational fishers in the San Juans.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 am
Submitted by Helen Venada
