Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutM022002 Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee Minutes Wednesday, February 20, 2002 Present: Vam Brooks, Marine Science Practitioner Dave Christensen, Jefferson County Natural Resources LaO)' Crockett, ex-officio, Port of Port Townsend Judy Damore, District I Jeff Gallant, District I Spike Hall, District 3 (Vice Chair) David Jenkins, District 2 Larry Lawson, Commercial Fishing Barbara Nightingale, Citizen Anne Murphy, District 2 Rex Rice, Environment Richard Wojt, Jefferson County Commissioner Absent: Bill Kalina, ex~officio, U.S. Navy, Indian Island Excused Andrew Palmer, District 3 (Chair) Excused Judy Surber, City of Port Townsend Staff/Guests: Barbara Bowen, Jefferson Co. Natural Resources John Cambalik, Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team Rich Childers, Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Kelly Curtis, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe Doug Dobyns, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission Gabrielle LaRoche, Citizen Paula Mackrow, North Olympic Salmon Coalition Betsy Peabody, Puget Sound Restoration Fund Joanna Sanders, MRC Meeting Secretary Anne Shaffer, Wash Dept. ofFish and Wildlife Jefferson County Commissioner Dan Tittemess OPENING BUSINESS Vice Chair Spike Hall called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM in the Natural History Building of the Marine Science Center, Port Townsend, W A. The minutes of the January meeting were approved with a correction to the list of attendees to include Neil Harrington of the North Olympic Salmon Coalition. The agenda was approved as submitted with the addition of Emergency Oil Spill Response under Other Administrative. Anne Murphy said the Education Committee of the Northwest Straits Commission is planning two derelict gear removal workshops. Each MRC is being asked to designate two MRC contacts for this project. Larry Crockett and Rex Rice agreed to be the contacts. OLD BUSINESS JANUARY PLANNING RETREAT: This topic will be tabled until the next regular meeting. NEW BUSINESS & REPORTS INTRODUCTION: DOUG DOBYNS, TRIBAL LIAISON TO NORTHWEST STRAITS: Doug Dobyns summarized his background experience which led to his work with the Nooksack tribe as harvest manager, field biologist, and water quality technician, as well as directing water programs and being involved in watershed negotiations. Through his subsequent work as a facilitator he has become somewhat familiar with the process in which the MRC is engaged. In the last four years, he worked as an environmental planner for a small tribe on Douglas Island in southeast Alaska and also facilitated a watershed council on Prince of Wales Island, west of Ketchikan. That work led to his joining the Alaska delegation at the watershed forum in Washington, DC last June. When he heard of the tribal liaison position, he decided to move back to Washington upon his retirement. Mr. Dobyns noted that since Judge Boldt's decision in 1974, tribes have been developing not only their ability to harvest but the species' productive capacity by investing in the science and technology of habitat/species protection. The MRC and the Indian tribes of this area share common goals and the complexities each faces are Marine Resources Committee - February 20, 2002 Page: 2 also the same. Matters of science, jurisdiction, management, social, ecological and economic issues are also tribal concerns. He observed that Washington tribes are unique because oftheir treaty rights to harvest off the reservation and to engage in harvest activities in what are called "usual and accustomed fishing areas" or U&As. Tribes are also unique because while they are finite and a very discrete population, they have to manage all the varieties of tasks that non-natives have parceled out to different agencies and different levels of government. Tribal representatives have enormous responsibility and must wear many hats. As a non~tribal member, his role is to carry the message to/from the tribes. Because this is a half-time position, he may be able to dedicate more of this time to aid the communications with tribes, although some tribes may choose not to engage He noted some of his responsibilities as a liaison are to organize workshops for tribes to attend and to break down the process into manageable bites for discussion which will give tribes the option of choosing issues in which they want to engage. He will also start a list serve for the tribes and will be reporting to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission on each of the groups he visits, such as tonight's meeting. He will also provide the Straits Commission with progress reports. Noting that Snohomish County and Jefferson County have meetings on the same night, he will attempt to attend one meeting of each per quarter. He believes some MRC projects may be of interest to the tribes, such as the removal of derelict gear - some of which may belong to their members. OLYMPIA OYSTER RESTORATION PROJECT - PRESENT A TIONIDISCUSSION: Anne Murphy spoke about the MRC's desire to work with local co-managers on this Year 3 Action Grant project. The MRC wants co-managers to feel their contribution is significant and that their input is welcome at any time. Anne Shaffer of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) provided a historical overview of the Olympia Oyster, reporting that at one time it was the dominant feature of Washington State. In 1890, about 130,000 bushels were taken from Washington's waters before over-harvesting, pulp mill effluent and other water pollution caused a decline. In response to the public's renewed interest in the oyster, the State Department of Fish and Wildlife in 1998 put together a stock rebuilding strategy. The Olympia Oyster restoration project then became a high priority of the Puget Sound Restoration group. She provided copies of a report published in the Journal of Shellfish Research. Ms. Shaffer recognized the importance of oyster beds for supporting other species, but said the absence of oysters doesn't necessarily mean that the ecosystem is stressed. Betsy Peabody described the efforts of the Puget Sound Restoration Fund to work with WDFW on the reintroduction of the Olympia Oyster. To date, they have spread over 600,000 Olympia Oyster seed in 5 different areas around Puget Sound. A NOAA grant will allow them to expand seeding into the Central Basin and North Sound. She stressed the importance of maintaining the genetic integrity in the search for brood stock and talked about the involvement of various agencies, including the Point Whitney Shellfish Lab, which produced the seed. She outlined next steps for the MRC's project as: (1) determine suitable habitat in Jefferson County (Discovery Bay, the Dungeness, Port Townsend, and Marrowstone Island), (2) involve other interested partners; (3) collect brood stock, (4) select seeding methodology; (5) conduct a seeding event in Aug./Sept. Toward their long~term goal of establishing naturally~spawning populations of Olympia Oysters, they want to get private dock and marina owners involved in hanging and monitoring bags of Pacific Oyster shell during the spawning season. Kelly Curtis said the tribe is interested in getting involved in restoration efforts for the Pacific and Olympia Oysters. They are particularly concerned how upland activities affect restoration. She noted the tribes are involved in monitoring. She offered the use of a boat for collecting brood stock. Subsequent discussion brought out the following information: ¡;. Betsy Peabody said that there are certain areas where commercial growers would not recommend seeding the Olympia Oysters and it will be important to work closely with growers. the State and tribes on chosen areas. Bill Taylor would be good to consult with about the best sites. Marine Resources Committee - February 20, 2002 Page: 3 » Anne Shaffer agreed to investigate whether the State~owned land in Discovery Bay originally purchased for Olympia Oyster production is still suitable. She noted that the water quality issues of today are much different than those that contributed to the species' previous decline. Areas with poorer water quality may be more suitable for the Olympia Oyster. » The brood stock for the North Sound area is at Lopez Island. Possible collection options are for the MRC to do a field trip to Lopez or the Dept. of Health Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Coordinator. » Larry Crockett expressed interest in talking to PSRF about the possibility of their using some of the Port's shoreline for the project. » Yam Brooks suggested that if sedimentation is an issue in Discovery Bay, clam shell cultch be used to help strengthen the bottom. Betsy Peabody noted that this project is part of a bigger, regional effort with a lot of cohesiveness. The project will work because of the commitment by the State and tribes. She noted that the Point Whitney Shellfish lab has agreed to manage the resulting data. Rex Rice recommended two good books: "The Joy of Oysters" and "Salmon on the Half Shell." Recognizing that a project subcommittee needed to be organized at the workshop meeting, Betsy Peabody asked that the MRC get back to her within two weeks on its decision whether it wants to be involved in gathering the brood stock. Members expressing interest in being on the Olympia Oyster subcommittee were Spike Hall, Yarn Brooks, Anne Murphy, and Larry Crockett. REVIEW DRAFT OF FINAL FORAGE FISH SURVEY REPORT: Paula Mackrow asked for comments on the draft report which the MRC received yesterday. She circulated figures of sample sites that will be included in the report. Suggestions were to more clearly outline the recommendations possibly in the fonn of an executive summary. In response to questions about future sampling activities, Ms. Mackrow referred to the future sampling plan included in the report. She explained that the two-year sampling program will continue through a grant from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. Additional MRC questions and discussion related to the protocol and sampling methods. Ms. Mackrow noted that the technical team had not yet had an opportunity to review the draft report which was provided to the MRC to ensure NOSC was on the right track. Because March 7 is the deadline for the County's receipt of the report, additional MRC comments are to be forwarded within a week to NOSC. It was noted that there are links to and from the NOSC and MRC websites and links from the MRC website to the Washington Department Fish and Wildlife forage fish page. She suggested that the completion of this report presents a good opportunity for more outreach through the newspaper. REPORT ON COMMERCIAL FISHER AND SHELLFISH GROWER FOCUS GROUPS: Barbara Nightingale reported on the completion of six focus groups and one combined workgroup involving 55 community participants and outreach to 36 organizations, including shellfish growers. She distributed reports on workgroup participation and a synopsis of high priority issues and places of concern from the combined work group. A subset of the combined workgroup suggested an all-day workshop of networking with nongovernmental organizations to examine the issues raised and consider the types of projects that may evolve to address these concerns. She then talked about how the issues raised and the focus groups themselves addressed the benchmarks. Overall, there was good feedback and interest in continuing this type of outreach. EMERGENCY OIL SPILL RESPONSE: Barbara Bowen reported that she received the State's Northwest Area Contingency Plan from Bob Hamlin, the County's Manager of Emergency Response. As a follow up to the Emergency Oil Spill response summit in 2000, the MRC had intended to examine the plan, identify potential planning gaps, and compile an up~to-date inventory of local resources. However, to date the subcommittee has not yet been able to review the report or complete a list of resources. There was concern about the activities the MRC will report on this project as part of the Year 2 Action Grant. In response to a question whether the remaining Emergency Response budget could be used to hire someone to put the Marine Resources Committee - February 20, 2002 Page: 4 report together, the Emergency Response Committee and Staff agreed to work together to finalize a report. Jeff Gallant expressed concern about how the MRC will structure its grant oversight for the Year 3 Grant and whether it will again be the responsibility of the subcommittees. He noted that it is the County's responsibility to administer the grant funds and make sure that the substance is consistent with the Northwest Strait's benchmarks, etc. Others noted that members agreed to take on certain project tasks and in some situations may not have followed up with County Staff as promised. OTHER/ADMINISTRATIVE NEXT WORKSHOP: Tuesday, March 5. The Executive Committee will discuss possible workshop topics including electronics communication options. OBSERVER COMMENT Gabrielle LaRoche said as a new resident it is interesting to see how the MRC is working. She heard about the MRC from Terry Stevens and said it appears the MRC is doing good work. PREPARE AGENDA / ADJOURN The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 20, 2002 at 7:00 PM in the Marine Science Center Natural History Building, Port Townsend, Washington. The meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM. MARINE RESOURCES COMMITTEE Spike Hall, Vice Chair