Minutes
July
16, 2003
Members Present: Brian Calvert, Peter Fromm, Terrie Klinger, David
Loyd, Mary Masters, Rich Osborne,
Kit Rawson, Jim Slocomb, Dennis Willows
Absent:
Laura Arnold, Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, Mike Bertrand, Tim Carpenter,
Kevin Ranker
Guests:
Shannon Davis, Chris Ogle, Fred Perez
Chair
Jim Slocomb called the meeting to order at 4:30 P.M. in the pavilion
at Roche Harbor Resort on San Juan Island. He welcomed guests
to this informal public outreach meeting and asked MRC members
and guests to introduce themselves.
Chris
Ogle said that he has been a sport fishermen in the San Juans
for the last 20 years. Fred Perez is a mechanical engineer and
is the Rear Commodore for the Friday Harbor Sailing Club. Jim
said the MRC would like to attend a future meeting of the Club
(meets on Turn Island).
Proposed
Marine Stewardship Area: Shannon Davis, MRC Coordinator, has been
organizing the public outreach element of the project. She did
a PowerPoint presentation that explained the MRC's advisory role
and its membership make-up of 15 members (1 short at this time).
She discussed the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative,
adopted in 1998, and said that the San Juan County MRC is part
of the Northwest Straits Commission (NWSC) which was developed
as an alternative to the National Marine Sanctuary program. Shannon
listed the goals and strategies of the two-phased marine stewardship
area proposal and read the 2002 federal Executive Order 13158
definition of marine protected areas: "...any area of the
marine environment that has been reserved by Federal, State, territorial,
tribal, or local laws or regulations to provide lasting protection
for part or all of the natural and cultural resources therein."
Shannon included some harvest data illustrating, for example,
that the herring population has been in steep decline, bottoming
out in the 1980's.
Fred
Perez asked about the proposed voluntary no boater zones (in the
presence of whales); he wondered if this would apply to sailboats
and said that he has been in several sailboat races in the area
when whales surrounded the boats and powering down was not an
option. Rich answered that sailboats are included in the federal
Marine Mammal Protection Act's (MMPA) 100-yard distance regulation;
he added that, generally, Soundwatch has not tried to redirect
sailboats to avoid the whales. Rich added that voluntary rules
allow for such flexibility.
Fred
asked if the proposed voluntary restrictions would lead eventually
to regulations. Jim explained that the county has very little
authority on the water to regulate boater behavior, although it
might be able to regulate speed limits. He said that the MRC's
focus, therefore, has been on public awareness of impacts and
on voluntary behavior change. Jim reiterated that here in the
San Juan Islands the environment is our economy; without whales,
there would be no whalewatching industry; without our beautiful
natural environment, there would be no tourism industry or home
building to support a construction industry.
Brian
said that the whalewatch industry is to be commended for setting
up its own voluntary guidelines and for doing a very good job
of self-regulating. Federal regulations concerning interactions
between boats and whales do supersede, he added. Brian said that
sailboat racing rules do say that a boat is disqualified if laws
are broken and a boater that sails into a pod of whales is breaking
the MMPA regulations. Rich said that the MMPA says that disturbing
the whales is a violation and the 100-yard distance is a guideline.
Jim
said that the MRC is holding public outreach meetings around the
county to lay out ideas and hear back from interested parties
about the proposed marine stewardship area concept. He noted that
David Loyd's comment on existing and proposed marine protected
areas that ":This is a park and you are the ranger"
could be applied here if the idea of stewardship were to be adopted.
Chris
Ogle said that as a serious sport fisherman he releases 98-99%
of his catch; although he fishes strictly for salmon, he occasionally
snags a bottomfish when trolling. Since most bottomfish die by
the time they get to the top, he quit bottomfishing five years
ago; he said that, to him, this is a big issue. Brian concurred
that many former bottomfishers have also quit for that reason.
On
the issue of whalewatching, Chris said he's very concerned that
the feds are not out there enforcing existing regulations; he
added that each time he turns on his radio, he hears announcements
of federal violations. Rich explained that federal law does not
specifically permit ticketing and there is no state or county
law to do so either. He said that enforcement money always falls
short and reserves are patrolled only twice a year. Chris said
it's a very frustrating situation. Terrie agreed that it is the
responsibility of the federal agency, the National Marine Fisheries
Service, to provide enforcement but it's a budgetary issue. She
added that if there were sufficient input to the NMFS from groups
such as the MRC's and from other concerned citizens enforcement
funds might be re-allocated.
Brian
asked if, in Chris' opinion, the situation is worse or has improved.
Chris said that there seems to be more boats and flotillas of
commercial whalewatchers now. He added that the larger ones don't
keep the 100-yard distance from the whales and the many diesel-engined
boats add both air and water pollution that can't be healthy for
the whales. Rich said the Whale Museum has been tracking the number
of boats for 11 years now. The numbers peaked in 1997, he said,
with 26 boats traveling with the whales; the number is down now
to 16 (a few more Canadian than American this year). Rich added
that although the number is down, the number of boats out there
is still significant. Fred said that a resident who lives on the
west side of San Juan Island regularly uses an electronic megaphone
to tell boaters to leave the whales alone. Rich said that the
whalewatch industry's guidelines are stricter than the federal
ones and they are trying to minimize impacts. He said that an
Australian study in 2000 on noise impacts to whales has led to
commercial industry regulation requiring boats to reduce speed
to 5 knots when within a mile of whales.
Jim
asked the audience about voluntary speed limits along sensitive
shoreline (e.g. forage fish spawning beaches). Chris suggested
that a more effective tactic than no wake zone signs might be
to post signs that read, "Slow: forage fish habitat."
He added that perhaps boaters could also get such information
when they were purchasing their tags.
Rich said that studies on dead harbor seals have revealed contusions
from vessel impacts. Brian said that the local Sheriff's Department
is not capable of catching up to boaters exceeding 25 knots. Peter
said that education can change even time-honored inappropriate
behavior.
There
was discussion on Jim's question about public acceptance of the
proposal that boats not anchor in depths under 30 feet. Eelgrass,
Jim pointed out that eelgrass does not grow in depths over 30
feet. Terrie said that there is excellent evidence worldwide that
anchoring destroys eelgrass. The seaward extent of eelgrass is
an indicator of healthy water quality, Jim said. Sucia Island
is being mapped now for eelgrass beds. Chris said that eelgrass
gets mowed every 4th of July at Fishermen's Bay. Brian said that
too often people who write regulations don't have practical knowledge
of the area; for instance, if anchoring in water less than 30'
was to become illegal, you could not anchor at all at Deer Harbor,
one of the two most popular anchorages here. Jim related the discussion
to the issue of identifying specific reserve zones.
Chris
addressed the issue of Indian fishing rights. He said that over
the last 20 years he has seen all of the local commercial fishermen
go bankrupt. With the lack of commercial boats out there, the
situation on the water has improved from 15 years ago, he said,
when you could not drive down the west side of San Juan Island...all
the way to Port Angeles. Now it's wide open, with the exception
of Indian gillnetters, long liners, purse seiners. He wondered
why there aren't more tribal regulations. Kit Rawson, fisheries
biologist for the Tulalip tribes, said that the tribes brought
sportfishing into the family of managed fisheries. The tribal
system of managing harvestable numbers for each species of fish
is complicated, he said, and is different from the state's. Kit
said that the tribes do have regulations and recently beefed up
enforcement due to an infusion of money. He said tribal management
plans and regulations are available to anyone.
MRC
Fair Exhibit:
Peter reported that rent for an indoor booth is $200 for a non-profit
group; he will make wooden racks for displaying handout information
such as the marine resources survey, the PowerPoint presentation
on the stewardship area proposal, maps, etc.
The
next regular meeting will be held on August 6th at 8:30 a.m. in
Islanders Bank, Friday Harbor. The next outreach meeting will
be on Waldron Island on Saturday, August 9th.
The
meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
Submitted
by Helen Venada
