Minutes
October
1, 2003
Members Present: Kelley Balcomb-Bartok, Peter Fromm, David Hoopes,
Terrie Klinger, David Loyd,
Kit Rawson, Dennis Willows
Absent:
Laura Arnold, Mike Bertrand, Brian Calvert, Tim Carpenter, Mary
Masters, Rich Osborne,
Kevin Ranker, Jim Slocomb
Guests:
Susan Bucknell, Shannon Davis, Ryan Drum, Jodie Kennedy, Skeeter
Lowe, MPA class from UW Labs
Acting
Chair, David Loyd, called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. in
the Community Room at Islanders' Bank, Friday Harbor.
Dennis
introduced Jeb Byers, Hunter Lanahan, and the team of 12 students
from the UW MPA class, noting that the teams of graduate and undergraduate
students are working together on MPA-related problems, some of
which are relevant to MRC activities. Jeb thanked the MRC for
letting the class sit in on the meeting today, allowing students
to experience what goes on in the civic process here governing
marine resources. He said that the students will be involved in
various self-motivated research projects this quarter that will
look at ecosystem level effects of marine protected areas; the
San Juan County voluntary bottomfish reserve system is of particular
interest as one type of MPA that the class will focus on. Jeb
said he hopes the team can work with the MRC to address needed
areas of research and to build upon known information and studies.
Terrie, Dennis, and Shannon will be working with the team to inform
them of MRC activities to date.
Kit
suggested that members read the report done by Brandon which focuses
on the fishing effort aspect of the MPA issue; he said that the
report shows that the state could be doing a better job of monitoring
fisheries. Skeeter Lowe pointed out that his job is to monitor
every major area and that bottomfish are a high priority.
Jody
Kennedy introduced herself as a new San Juan Island resident who
is interested in environmental policy and management. She said
that she has heard good things about the MRC and welcomes the
opportunity to get involved.
Kit
said that Mike McHugh is not able to attend the meeting today
but looks forward to a future visit. The Tulalip biologist will
be heading surveys in November and December with a small sea cucumber
fishery somewhere in the northern part of the San Juan Islands.
Also, Tulalip will be taking a portion of the urchin fishery opening
on November 1st; management will be different including Tulalip
tribal enforcement officers on every boat to prevent illegal harvest.
Kit defined co-management, saying that because of the 1850 treaties,
the tribes gave up their land in exchange for keeping their right
to share in the marine resources of the area; they also share
management authority and responsibility with the state, Kit added.
Chair
David thanked Kit for his excellent synopsis of the rockfish symposium.
Kit said he hopes it will serve as a good knowledge base for the
MRC. He explained that the MRC sponsored a two-day symposium on
rockfish biology at the UW Labs last week, bringing together a
good mix of people with different perspectives. Experts from up
and down the coast on rockfish life history biology, management,
culture, known science, tribal representation, and regulatory
view met to help the MRC and others to make knowledgeable recommendations
to the co-managers on rockfish management. Kit said that Mike
Sato and Tina Wylie-Echevarria did a great job of coordinating
the event and bringing together people of diverse backgrounds.
He noted that both the presentations and roundtable discussion
groups provided a good education on the topic. Kit proposed that
the presenters be invited to talk to the MRC.
Guest speaker:
Joe Gaydos said that the Marine Ecosystem Health Project (MEHP)
has changed its name to "Sea Doc." He said that the
owners of Island Dive and Water Sports in Friday Harbor are proposing
that interested local dive club members or divers from the general
public volunteer to monitor the voluntary no-take reserves in
San Juan County. Joe said that besides the qualitative data collected
by the volunteers, the biggest merit would be the stewardship
aspect. Joe referred to the paper, "REEF Trip Report for
the San Juan Islands Bottomfish Recovery Project (8/26 to 9/25/02),"
which he circulated about a month ago on environmental monitoring
and assessment. He said, at no cost to the MRC, the project will
bring in REEF training for local volunteers and will use the best
protocol available. Terrie said she hoped that the MRC would not
abandon plans to do quantitative dive surveys in the future and
Joe suggested that data from the two monitoring efforts could
be compared over time. There was committee consensus encouraging
the project which will be of great benefit to recovery efforts.
Joe
said that the new owners of Bell Island (between Crane and Shaw
Islands off Orcas landing) are interested in funding an MRC proposal
to mark the reserve with buoys and would like to see a proposed
budget and timeframe for the County to complete the project. The
question was asked whether this might be DNR's domain. Joe said
the residents regularly speak with visitors about the voluntary
reserve. David Loyd suggested that the committee re-visit the
issue of signage for the bottomfish recovery zones and some discussion
followed. Kelley offered to visit the spot with Joe to take publicity
photos.
Aquaculture
Policy:
David Hoopes' emailed draft policy was well received by committee
members. David said that existing county regulations are quite
good and WDFW regulations establish restrictions for net pen operations
in Washington state. His draft recommends inserting in the state
regulations the caveat that all net pen operations will also adhere
to the Washington Fish Growers Association's Code of Conduct for
Saltwater Salmon Net Pen Operations adopted Spring 2002. Other
recommendations suggest the requirement to provide evidence of
all necessary federal and state permits, to allow only non-reproductive
populations, and to provide for locating net pens only in well-flushed
sites. It was noted that Island County and the state of Alaska
have regulations restricting all Atlantic salmon netpens. David
also pointed out that, with respect to the issue of potential
escapees, WDFW has just initiated new regulations whereby every
farmed salmon must be marked so that if it is found in the wild
its location of origin can be identified.
The
committee agreed that it is important to hear from commercial
fishermen, net pen operators, scientists, and locals who did much
research on the Griffin Bay proposal, before deciding on the draft
policy.
New/Old
Business:
The committee's proposed letter to the BOCC regarding Laura Arnold's
dismissal was discussed and dismissed as now untimely. Chair David
made note of the MRC losing the benefit of the quality support
that Laura has provided to the MRC since its inception. After
discussion, Dennis said that he will draft a letter urging the
BOCC to hire a consultant with deep local knowledge to provide
professional services in support of MRC work. There was consensus
that the county needs to provide funding for this support since
it cannot be funded out of MRC grant money. This liaison position
is much needed, especially in light of the all-volunteer membership
of the committee and the volume of work ahead. Examples from other
counties will be researched. It was noted that one upcoming need
is the annual report to the BOCC which is due in December and
which Laura has prepared in the past for presentation.
NWSC
meeting at Lummi:
Shannon will circulate by email a brief summary and minutes from
the meeting. Terrie reported that at the Olympic Coast Sanctuary
Advisory Council meeting last week, the Sanctuary said that it
is interested in putting an NWSC member on their Council ex officio
to foster interaction and better communication with the Commission
and the MRC's.
The
next MRC meeting on 10/15 will be a work session on the Marine
Stewardship Area proposal. Dennis reiterated from previous meetings
that the committee is considering layers of protection for proposed
MSA's; the has discussed presenting a layered map of protection
areas to residents of the Islands for their comments and added
information. He said that another proposed approach was to divide
the San Juan Islands area into four quadrants, denoting two quadrants
to be voluntarily protected for a set period of, for instance,
10 years, and then alternately designating the other two quadrants
for voluntary protection. Peter proposed that the protected areas
be down the three channels, with voluntary closure rotation every
5-10 years.
Chair
David gave a heads up to the committee that the local dive shop
is proposing an artificial reef. There was discussion about having
the proposal presented at a future meeting and of researching
related regulations and permit requirements. Shannon said that
she saw a sign on Sucia Island that says "artificial reef."
Outreach:
David Loyd said that both Waldron Island and Shaw island residents
are getting active and have stated "MRC auxiliaries."
David reported that at the well-attended meeting on Waldron last
Saturday, Ryan Drum gave a presentation on seaweed knowledge and
collection, e.g. how to make nori. Last night's Waldron meeting
was attended by several active fishermen; David said that one
concrete outcome of the meeting was that there will be a demand
for herring recovery. The Shaw Island "auxiliary" will
hold a formative meeting on October 11th. David presented his
draft newspaper article, for which he would like BOCC and MRC
member input.
Forage
Fish Project:
Shannon reported on Tina's update: 90 sites were sampled in September,
with 4 new smelt sites documented in West Sound on Orcas, northeast
corner of Shaw Island, and 2 in Hunter Bay on Lopez; November
is the last month for sandlance survey; forage fish field and
lab projects will continue with Friday Harbor Middle School, Spring
Street School and Waldron School. Tina also provided an update
on marine riparian restoration: analysis of the database is complete
(shade, land use, soils, spawning, fresh water runoff, priority
sites, landowner contact); a Western Washington University intern
has been contracted to help implement the project and do monitoring
this Fall. The herring spawn surveys will start this winter/spring
and historic information from WDFW has been compiled. The eelgrass
survey has been completed and the video is being reviewed.
Pipeline
Proposal:
Shannon said she received DOE's draft supplemental EIS on the
Georgia Strait Crossing pipeline project (available online). There
will be a hearing and workshop on October 14th at the Mullis Senior/Community
Center from 4:30 to 9:00 p.m. Terrie said that she heard a radio
report that the Duke Point power plant has been deemed inappropriate
and unnecessary, rendering the pipeline crossing dead in the water.
Reportedly, the Canadians would instead initiate a bid process
from multiple conventional and alternative source providers to
build other smaller plants elsewhere.
The
meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
Submitted
by Helen Venada
