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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-11-7Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017 at 5:00 p.m. a Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road s 4 �Z2 Members present: Andy Lowell, Peter Brace, Bill Blount, Frederick McClure Z . Members Absent: Ken Gullicksen, Ken Kuntz, Joe LiPuma v n C) Marine Dept: Sheila Lucey -o �-f, Natural Resources Dept: Jeff Carlson 3 )3 -- Others: --Others: Jr CALL TO ORDER 5:04 p.m. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Unanimously approved. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Draft minutes of Oct. 17, 2017 Minutes not completed in time for the meeting. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Update on former harbormaster Dave Fronzuto's retirement send-off on Oct. 17 Mr. Lowell reported that this party went well and was well attended. Mr. Lowell said he wouldn't be available for the Nov. 21 meeting. Mr. McClure also said he wouldn't be around for this meeting. Mr. Brace reminded the board of the Nov. 9 landfill groundwater monitoring information session. Mr. Brace told the board that HSAB meetings aren't, in fact streamed live. Additionally, the town is offering to pay for Channel 18 to film the meetings if the board wants this to happen without taking a vote, the board confirmed that this would be the right way to go. MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT: General Marine Department report - Sheila Lucey Ms. Lucey reported that she and her staff have pulled out most of the navigational buoys from the harbors, leaving in only those needed by scallopers in both harbors. She reported that the Children's Beach boat ramp project is underway and the boat ramp is closed. She said the contractor is ahead of schedule and the ramp should be open by Jan. 15. Ms. Lucey reported some boat owners still haven't pulled their moorings from the harbor and that some of the moorings are in areas where scallopers are fishing this year. She added that she'll be contacting these mooring owners. Ms. Lucey reported that scallopers are allowed to tie up at the town pier for free this fall/winter because of the Children's Beach boat ramp being closed through mid-January. She said she has two patrol boats in the water in Nantucket Harbor and one in Madaket, but the Marine Department has yet to get any calls for assistance. Ms. Lucey also reported that she's the pump -out boat to Crosby Boatworks in West Barnstable, MA to get refitted. Mr. Lowell asked for an update on the M/V Nautical Lady still anchored just east of Hussey Shoal in the Harbor. Ms. Lucey corrected a recent story in the Inquirer & Mirror, stating that there, in fact multiple safety and environmental concerns related to this vessel. She added that the boat's owner, Dwayne Dugan, is no longer living on the boat. She added that every day it remains on anchor, it continues to be a violation because it's been anchored in the harbor for more than 48 hours without permission of the harbormaster and without going to a mooring. NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT Natural Resources Dept. report — NRD staff Mr. Carlson reported that the hatchery is being shut down for the winter including fixing and maintenance. Mr. Carlson reported that the NRD had completed its water sampling for the year and that he expected a preliminary report at the first of the year. He added that unofficially, it didn't look like water quality got worse as compared to last year. Mr. Carlson reported that fall pond openings were delayed, as the town is working with new contractor Final Touch to do the openings and that the weather conditions haven't been right for pond openings. On the 2017/2018 commercial scallop season, Mr. Carlson reported that fishermen are getting earlier than in past seasons, some guys getting in at 8:45am. Likewise for the recreational season, which people had described it as better than it had been in the last two or three years. Mr. Carlson reported that the NRD is partnering with the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station to track hatchery raised scallops in the wild. He also announced the town's efforts to create a Hazard Mitigation Plan and a Coastal Resiliency Plan, the former to prepare for natural disasters and storm events and the latter, long-term planning for sea level rise and in general global warming. PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT OLD BUSINESS Cruise ship anchorage — Discussion Mr. Blount asked Ms. Lucey if it would be possible if the town could put in large moorings in deep water for cruise ships to rent from the town. Ms. Lucey said she didn't have enough information to fully answer this question. She added that she needed to do some research. She added that right off, she felt the anchorage was already very crowded and that if it were to happen, the mooring would probably need to be at least a 20,000 - pound concrete block. Mr. Blount added that there would need to be safeguards to prevent cruise ships from discharging their holding tanks into the harbor. Mr. Lowell said he was concerned about cruise ships' impacts on eelgrass and shellfish. Ms. Lucey said currently, cruise ships are in the correct anchorage and currently aren't impacting these resources. She said that some of the larger ones are happy to anchor out in the Cord of the Bay. Ms. Lucey reported that to combat gulls dropping shellfish along the town pier and pooping the on the pier, she's attached two-by-fours to each piling and strung fishing line between them. She added that this solved the problem and Mr. Blount agreed. Local commercial fishing dragger survival - Discussion No discussion Boat basin oil accumulation - Discussion No discussion Eco -friendly moorings - Discussion Mr. McClure said he wanted to see the board make some sort of recommendation to the Select Board on environmentally sound moorings and tackle early in the new year. He indicated that he'd experienced resistance to his proposal from mooring handlers. Ms. Lucey clarified this, saying that the boat owners won't invest in these moorings unless they're easy to install and remove. She added that the mooring handlers are wary of the mooring manufacturers trying to force them into buying these moorings. She continued that mooring owners need to be convinced that this is a good thing before this process can move forward. She added that the mooring handlers will go along with this kind of mooring once their customers buy into the idea. Mr. McClure asked how the HSAB could help out. Ms. Lucey said he could help by being in the room the next time the mooring companies come to the island to make their presentations to the mooring handlers. Mr. Carlson added that gradual implementation in sensitive areas is key, but that requiring these moorings in the main anchorage all at once where the resources aren't as present as the other parts of the harbor isn't going to work. Ms. Lucey advised starting along Monomoy with 50 trial people to by it first because if the moorings break, the boats would only wash up on that beach whereas along Hulbert Avenue, there's the potential for the boats to drift out of the harbor. NEW BUSINESS Follow-up discussion on Department of Public Works director Rob McNeill's Q&A at the Oct. 17 HSAB meeting No discussion Environmental educational outreach program for island newcomers, visitors — Andy Lowell - Discussion No discussion PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING ADJOURN Future Meetings: Nov. 21 and Dec. 5 Respectfully Submitted, Peter B. Brace, Chairman