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Home My WebLink AboutM072302 Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee Minutes Tuesday, July 23, 2002 Present: Judy Damore, District 1 Anne Murphy, District 2 David Jenkins, District 2 Larry Lawson, Commercial Fishing Judy Surber, City of Port Townsend Richard Wojt, Jefferson County Commissioners Absent: Yarn Brooks, Marine Science Practitioner excused Larry Crockett, ex-officio, Port of Port Townsend excused Jeff Gallant, District 1 Spike Hall, District 3 (Vice Chair) excused Bill Kalina, ex-officio, U.S. Navy, Indian Island excused Andrew Palmer, District 3 (Chair) excused Rex Rice, Environment Dave Christensen, Jefferson County Natural Resources Staff/Guests: Pat Pearson, WSU Cooperative Extension Barbara Nightingale Joanna Sanders, MRC Meeting Secretary OPENING BUSINESS Acting Chair Anne Murphy called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM in the Madrona Room, at the WSU Cooperative Extension, Port Hadlock, Washington. Minutes of the July 23, 2002 meeting were approved as written. INTRODUCTION Pat Buller Pearson, WSU/Cooperative Extension: New MRC staff support Pat Pearson introduced herself and provided a brief background on her past role as pollution director for the Puget Sound Keeper Alliance. Since joining the MRC in late June, her highest priority has been getting the contracts finalized for the Habitat Stewardship and Olympia Oyster projects. There was a question whether there is money in the budget for website updates and whether WSU might be a more appropriate link for the MRC website than the County. There was also interest in WSU's ability to assist the MRC with technical support, possibly even with a virtual office. Pat Pearson and Larry Lawson agreed to schedule a meeting to discuss website possibilities. OBSERVER COMMENT ~ None OLD BUSINESS Fair Booths - Jefferson County Fair & Low Tide Fest: Members discussed possible coordination with NOSC on a booth. Suggestions for engaging the public were DNR flyover videos, Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team near shore processes (Judy Surber), and colorful priority habitat maps. It was thought to be premature to recruit volunteers for the Habitat Stewardship or Olympia Oyster projects. The Fair subcommittee will meet at the Waterman Katz office on July 29th at 6:30 pm. Dave Jenkins agreed to contact Paula Mackrow of NOSC about coordinating booth coverage. Joanna Sanders agreed to check with Jeff Gallant about a fair sign-up sheet and logistics. Judy Surber agreed to help on the subcommittee. Geoduck Report: Larry Lawson reported that discussions about the DNR Geoduck program with bidders revealed there is wastage from illegal sampling, and wastage and cheating through upgrading or high-grading. Although the resource remains healthy, poaching appears to be a big problem. This may be in large part because divers can only go to 70 feet and geoduck have to be close together to be commercially viable. He Marine Resources Committee - July 23, 2002 Page: 2 believes changes in the way DNR's manages the resource such as assessing the value of the tract, giving the margin of profit for the harvester, and establishing a lottery system would eliminate wastage, allow monitoring of geoduck, and make the system more sensible. He inquired ahout the level of MRC interest in pursuing this topic. One suggestion was that this might be a good project for a thesis from which the MRC could choose to make a recommendation to DNR. There was also some interest in hearing from Fish and Wildlife about the total impact to the population, whether geoduck have a role in pumping water and filtering plankton, and in DNR's procedures for putting tracts out to bid. A suggestion was to send out a list of questions and concerns to the Point Whitney shellfish lab and other experts to see if they think it is a problem, before investigating what would be involved in recommending DNR policy changes. Larry Lawson agreed to contact Alex Bradbury of the Point Whitney shellfish lab to solicit his feedback on resource concerns. NEW BUSINESS & REPORTS Northwest Straits Commission Report: The Orca Pass vote information went to the MRC via email. Terry Williams is to present at the next meeting on the tribal perspective. The Derelict Gear project was initiated by pulling out the purse seine net, photos of which are on the Commission's website. The Commission has appropriated another $20K to do education and outreach on derelict gear. Larry Lawson requested there be biological information collected about the nets and documentation of the damage. Tim Smith is still providing good updates from Fish and Wildlife. Doug Dobyns is going to be presenting to MRCs on U&As. He has also finished his scope of work for the first year and would like tribal involvement in the next scope to be project specific. The Northwest Straits Commission newsletter was distrihuted. Remaining copies are for the fair booth and other uses. Anne Murphy will provide some to WSU. She noted a typographical error regarding oyster seeding, which actually should have listed Skagit instead of Jefferson County. While this issue targeted citizens, the next edition will be aimed at legislators. She polled the entire MRC about training topics for the fall conference, returning the following suggestions: (1) protection is not a dirty word/impediments to protection (politics, lifestyles, ignorance about impacts, fear of unknown, fear some other interest group will benefit at their expense, status quo - fear of change, economic hardship); (2) sessions on little successes; (3) show success stories of MP As. Hiriug Committee Report - Habitat Stewardship & Olympia Oyster Projects: Barbara Nightingale was hired as the contractor for these projects. The subcommittee will work up final contract, which needs to be revised to include the Olympia Oyster Project. Habitat Stewardship Project: Judy Damore reported that there was a subcommittee meeting today to slightly modify and finalize the scope of work. She noted that Barbara Nightingale has assembled a lot of good data from her work on the limiting factors analysis with priority habitats and species. Beginning in September, they will look at areas identified in the MP A focus groups (Killisut Harbor, Thorndyke, Quilcene, Dabob, Chimacum Creek, Discovery Bay). After eliminating some sites based on whether there is potential for them to be positively impacted, scientific advisors would address the remaining sites as well as provide input about other areas they feel were omitted. The expected outcome is a map with identification of the problems and risks. From that information with the help of the MRC, one or two priority sites would be identified. As site recommendations come forward, the MRC would receive a presentation and have the opportunity to provide input on potential problems and risks. Anne Murphy agreed to ask the Straits Commission whether an grant extension might be possible. There was some concern about whether an extension would also delay submitting a letter of intent on the next grant. Olympia Oyster Restoration Projects: Anne Murphy will set up meetings with contractor Barbara Nightingale and Betsy Peabody. A possible seeding date is August 9, which might involve Betsy and one other MRC member. Property owners expressed concern about the tribes doing the monitoring. Judy Surber offered to provide a report on a 1992 survey about public perceptions on aquaculture. Discussion of Speaker/Presenter for September: Ideas submitted to date are 1) a NOSe map review, 2) dialogue about the Fred Hill Shine project, 3) zone management system on MP As. There was an expanded Marine Resources Committee - July 23, 2002 Page: 3 discussion regarding a meeting format for hearing more ahout the Fred Hill project presentation, with education about marine risks and clarification of issues among the desired outcomes, It was noted that the application received hy the County is to change the designation on 6,000 acres from forest to mineral land. Because the Comprehensive Plan indicates that the proposed area is accessible for mining, it is likely the County will change the designation. There was interest in letting Fred Hill know of the MRC existence and concerns, such as the long~term risk to marine habitat recoverable and nonrecoverable and affects to groundwater. The desire was to approach the parties about their interest in presenting to the MRC (Fred Hill and Hood Canal Coalition), but prior to that inviting Randy Kline to explain the permitting process, There was also interest in getting an update/input on Fred Hill's participation in beach restoration efforts. Pat Pearson agreed to contact Randy Kline about coming to the September MRC meeting to discuss the Fred Hill Shine project. OTHERlADMINISTRA TIVE Judy Damore invited the MRC to go on a trip on the Mendes, which is used for scientific research and education. She will try to coordinate a good date over the list serve. PREPARE AGENDA / ADJOURN The next meeting is tentatively scheduled on Wednesday, August 21, 2002 at 7:00 PM in the Madrona Room, Port Hadlock, Washington. The meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM. MARINE RESOURCES COMMITTEE Anne Murphy, Acting Chair