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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022 12 20 NPC MRC Meeting Packet v.12 13.2 https://jeffersoncountypublichealth.org/715/North-Pacific-Coast-Marine-Resources-Com NPC MRC Regular Meeting 2nd Draft AGENDA Tuesday, December 20, 2022 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm THIS IS A HYBRID MEETING with Virtual or In-Person attendance options: JCPH Dabob Room; 615 Sheridan St., Port Townsend, or Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89248588984 Meeting ID: 892 4858 8984 One tap mobile +12532050468,,89248588984# US +12532158782,,89248588984# US (Tacoma) You may submit comments/correspondence to tpokorny@co.jefferson.wa.us up to 11:59 p.m. the day before the meeting. More information: tpokorny@co.jefferson.wa.us Introductions Public Comments Additions to and Approval of the Agenda (DECISION) Approval of the November 15, 2022 Meeting Summary Announcements Old Business New Business Quileute Hypoxia Moorings; Jennifer Hagen, Quileute Natural Resources Historical Context of SS Pacific Wreck; Rod Fleck, City of Forks Updates Coast MRC Update (Chris Waldbillig) Washington Coast Marine Advisory Council (Rod Fleck) - Last meeting: December 13th Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council (Jennifer) - Last Meeting: November 18th West Coast Ocean Alliance (Jennifer) Invasive European Green Crab (All) Marine Debris (All) Climate/Fossil Fuels Related (All) Administration & Fiscal Agent Update (Tami) Next Agenda: January 17, 2023 Public Comments/general Adjourn NPC MRC 11/15/2022 DRAFT Meeting Summary 1 November 15, 2022 NPC MRC 1st Draft Meeting Summary The Tuesday, November 15, 2022 NPC MRC meeting took place by Zoom connection from 4:00 PM to 6:04 PM ([00:00:01] to [01:52:34] on audio recording). Appointed committee members present at the meeting were Chris Butler-Minor (Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary [OCNMS]), Eileen Cooney (Citizen Rep., Jefferson County – Community Economics), Wendy Feltham (Citizen Rep., Jefferson County – Scientific Community), Jennifer Hagen (Quileute Tribe Rep.), John Hunter (Citizen Rep., Clallam County – Education / Environmental Groups), Katie Krueger (Citizen Rep., Clallam County – Scientific Community), Rebecca Mahan (Clallam County Rep.), Ian Miller (Washington Sea Grant, ex. Officio), Tami Pokorny (Jefferson County Rep., Coordinator / Facilitator), and Alice Ryan (Citizen Rep., Clallam County – Recreational Groups). A quorum was present at the beginning of the meeting. Rebekah Brooks (Rebekah Brooks Contracting) and Megan Juran (Washington CoastSavers) were also in attendance. Introductions Public Comments There were no public comments. Additions to and Approval of the Agenda There were no changes to the agenda. Approval of the October 2022 NPC MRC Meeting Summary Eileen Cooney made a correction to the paragraph on Sea Weaver: the second sentence should read “fish aggregation,” not “fish aggradation.” The October NPC MRC Summary was approved by consensus with this correction. Announcements Ian Miller announced the winter Olympic National Park’s (ONP) Perspectives: Winter Speaker Series. Kathy Troost will be presenting on 12/13/22 on the work her team has done at Rialto Beach. It is an online forum; for more information, go to Olympic National Park Perspectives: Winter Speaker Series - North Olympic Library System (NOLS). Old Business Tsunamis and River Corridors Tami Pokorny was able to submit a request for an update to page 9 of the Olympic Peninsula Tsunami Inundation maps. There may be an opportunity for a guest presentation to the NPC MRC to delve more deeply into local tsunami concerns. NPC MRC 11/15/2022 DRAFT Meeting Summary 2 New Business Washington CoastSavers Update New Washington CoastSavers Coordinator Megan Juran presented on the program’s recent cleanups, outreach efforts, collaborations, and the journey to get back to pre-COVID numbers. The program is supported by a steering committee made up of multiple private and public entities, including the Surfrider Foundation, OCNMS, ONP, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Debris Program, among others. Megan gave an overview of this year’s main cleanups: the Washington Coast Cleanup took place on 4/23/22 with 586 volunteers who collected 15,072 pounds of debris over 3376 hours; the Central and South Coast Cleanup in collaboration with the Grassroots Garbage Gang was on 4/5/22 with 715 volunteers who collected 35,267 pounds of debris over 3575 hours; and the International Coastal Cleanup was on 9/17/22 with 453 volunteers who collected 9138 pounds of debris over 2333 hours. Other projects included the Shi Shi Cache Cleanup in partnership with the Makah Tribe, which was held on 10/8/22 with 14 volunteers who collected 820 pounds of debris over 100 hours; and the efforts taken to remove remote debris caches within the ONP, which have been a long-term problem in the ONP wilderness. Megan is working with the ONP to organize remote cleanups, which require extensive paperwork, permits, presentations, and meeting of recycling goals. CoastSavers is also partnering with Net Your Problem and the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association on a NOAA marine debris program grant to recycle yellow ropes from shellfish farming into seed bags and crab gauges. Thanks to support from the NPC MRC, another big project is updating the Washington CoastSavers website, which involves a monthly blog post from Megan detailing past and future happenings, events calendars that groups and organizations can contribute to, partner bios including pictures, changing the format for better usability, and working out registration page kinks. Megan invited suggestions, which can be sent to her at coordinator@coastsavers.org. After acquiring a permit from ONP, and putting together a group with retired ONP superintendent Carol Bernthal and Twin Harbors Waterkeeper Lee First, volunteers successfully removed and recycled 1677 pounds of remote debris cached at South Sand Point in ONP. A storymap Megan created on the cleanup can be found at Remote Marine Debris (arcgis.com). Discussion followed on planned CoastSavers efforts, which include the development of a 5-year plan, outreach to schools, effective communication of the reality of marine debris to help people understand the severity of the problem, and more collaboration with tribes and ONP. Chris Butler-Minor noted that 11/15 is America Recycles Day; more information can be found at America Recycles Day | US EPA. Bylaws Tami Pokorny introduced a review of the CC MRC Bylaws. The Committee has not gone over them in about 10 years, and the legislation for the Open Public Meetings Act has recently changed. In a conversation with Chris Waldbillig and the other coastal MRC coordinators, the issues of having a code of conduct and aligned benchmarks were raised. *Tami asked the Committee members to read through their documents and note where there might be items to revise. *Tami will send out a link to the new ordinances. Discussion followed on the Ocean Caucus, and whether officers, representative alternates, or an alternate coordinator should be appointed in the CC MRC. *Rebecca Mahan volunteered to serve as Alternate Coordinator in the event that Tami is unable to attend a meeting. Katie Krueger directed the group to more information on the Open Public Meetings Act: Washington’s Legislature Makes Notable Changes to the Open Public Meetings Act (schwabe.com). Ground Rules Tami Pokorny asked the group to consider whether the Ground Rules needed to be revised, and whether they could be considered the code of conduct for the NPC MRC. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has not provided a template for the code of conduct, but they are now being required to resolve potential conflict. Discussion followed on level of member involvement and the consensus process. MRC Program Benchmarks NPC MRC 11/15/2022 DRAFT Meeting Summary 3 While the Benchmarks are reviewed annually as part of the application requirements, climate change is not one of them. Tami Pokorny asked the Committee whether they should consider adding it. The group agreed to review the documents again at the next NPC MRC meeting. *Rebecca Mahan will provide the Clallam County MRC materials so they can be used as a resource. Updates Washington Coastal Marine Advisory Council (WCMAC) The next meeting is scheduled for 12/14/22. Jennifer Hagen gave an update on the last meeting, which included a listening session for elected officials to hear presentations from several members of the committee that put together the report of recommendations for the Governor. WCMAC meeting materials can be found at the Ecology website: Department of Ecology - Committees, Boards, and Workgroups (wa.gov). Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council The next meeting is scheduled for 11/18/22. Tami Pokorny commented on the beautiful new OCNMS website. Chris Butler-Minor said the upcoming meeting will be a hybrid with the in-person component in Neah Bay. Agenda items include Superintendent and member reports, a presentation from the whale working group, and scoping for the management plan review process. West Coast Ocean Alliance Jennifer Hagen said that a funding proposal was submitted to support staff membership, a coordinator for the tribal caucus, and tribal participation. It has been well received, and staff should be brought on before the end of the year. Invasive European Green Crab Wendy Feltham said that she and Eileen Cooney are volunteers for the European green crab team, but trapping has stopped for the winter season; it will resume in April. Jennifer Hagen reported that no green crab had been found in the Quillayute system so far. Chris Butler-Minor said that OCNMS is working with the Makah Tribe on a possible citizen science project and other public outreach. Rebecca Mahan added that Clallam MRC members are interested in helping with trapping efforts and asked to be included in any discussion on volunteer projects; there is also potential funding available from the Clallam County MRC. Marine Debris Chris Butler-Minor announced that OCNMS is partnering with Oregon State University scientists on a four-year multi-stressor research project that will look at temperature, ocean acidification, hypoxia, and other impacts on Dungeness crab. Climate/Fossil Fuels Related (All) Tami Pokorny said that there was a lot to talk about on this topic, and suggested a climate-related agenda for an upcoming NPC MRC meeting. Administrative Update Tami Pokorny said that projects are being finalized except for one, which might have some turnback funding that can be reallocated. The projects are on track with their deliverables. Next Agenda (December 20, 2022): The next NPC MRC Meeting will be held on 12/20/22. *Megan Juran offered to give an update on her meeting with the ONP regarding remote caches. *Jennifer Hagen volunteered to give a presentation on the Quileute Tribe’s lander recovery. She would also like to invite a presentation from a grad student who conducted her PhD thesis on human waste on ONP beaches, but the student might not have her analyses ready in time for the December meeting. Data was collected on water, shellfish, and sediment. NPC MRC 11/15/2022 DRAFT Meeting Summary 4 Public Comments/General There were no public comments. Adjourn at 6:04 PM Action Items: *Tami Pokorny asked the Committee members to read through their documents and note where there might be items to revise. *Tami will send out a link to the new ordinances. *Rebecca Mahan volunteered to serve as Alternate Coordinator in the event that Tami is unable to attend a meeting. *Rebecca will provide the Clallam County MRC materials so they can be used as a resource. *Megan Juran offered to give an update on her meeting with the ONP regarding remote caches. *Jennifer Hagen volunteered to give a presentation on the Quileute Tribe’s lander recovery. Draft summary compiled by Rebekah Brooks (Rebekah Brooks Contracting).