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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-5-1Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road *HSAB meeting are video -recorded Members present: Andy Lowell, Peter Brace, Joe LiPuma, Ginger Andrews Members Absent: Frederick McClure, Ken Kuntz and Bill Blount Marine Dept: Natural Resources Dept: Jeff Carlson Others: CALL TO ORDER 5:03 p.m. APPROVAL OF AGENDA APPROVAL OF MINUTES Draft minutes of April 17, 2018 Mr. Brace had not completed the minutes by this meeting. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Summer meeting schedule For discussion at the May 15 meeting, Mr. Lowell asked that the board consider how many times it wanted to meet during July and August. MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT: General Marine Department report — Sheila Lucey No report. NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT General Natural Resources Department report — NRD staff Mr. Carlson said he's offered the full-time hatchery tech job to the best candidate who's now deciding on whether to take the job. He reported that operations at the hatchery are "full speed ahead". Mr. Carlson reported that using a state grant from the Division of Marine Fisheries awarded to the NRD, they were able to purchase seven new upweller tanks for shellfish growout, which will allow the hatchery to grow shellfish to larger size before releasing them into the harbor, giving them a better shot at survival. He reminded the board of the harbor water quality update that will be presented to the Select Board later this month and the NRD is still working on organizing an island pond management forum for sometime in June. Mr. Carlson reported that around 13,000 bushels of scallops were harvested during the 2017/2018 commercial scallop season. Mr. Lowell asked how much hatchery -spawned scallops impacts harvests. Mr. Carlson said the hatchery -spawned seed generally "stratify" the natural populations of bay scallops by adding different age classes, but he couldn't offer a certain number of bushels directly tied to hatchery -spawned scallops. Mr. Brace asked for an update on the oyster growout in the harbor. Mr. Carlson gave the board a refresher on where the eight leases are in the harbor, ways leaseholders can transfer their permits, how potential growout habitat is identified and the current status of such habitat in the island's harbors. He reported that there were two island residents on the waiting list permits and he said that there are currently two permit holders who are going to be giving up their permits soon because they intend to move off island. PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT No public comment. OLD BUSINESS Staff attendance — Joe LiPuma — Discussion Mr. Lowell asked Mr. Carlson what his meeting attendance protocol is for the NRD. Mr. Carlson said his office looks at the HSAB's agendas to see if he or other staff members should attend meetings. Mr. LiPuma said he requested this topic because recently, there's been no NRD staff at HSAB meetings. He added that he understood that NRD staff couldn't always get to HSAB meetings. Mr. Carlson acknowledged that he had several staff members that could attend meetings if he couldn't make it. Mr. Lowell heard back from Erika Mooney that town advisory board's aren't allowed to have alternate members. Proposed school -to -work commercial bay scalloping program at Nantucket High School — Discussion Mr. Lowell reported he was unable to discuss this idea at the most recent Nantucket Shellfish Association meeting. He added that actuate his idea, he had to find interested scallopers to help and gain the support of the high school principal. Instilling cohesiveness in commercial bay scallop fishery — Discussion Mr. Lowell said he wanted to work to bring scallopers together as a group fishing together rather than a fleet of individuals. Mr. Brace cautioned that this was a challenging goal. He suggested some sort of buddy system on the water. Hazardous waste disposal — developing an outreach program - Discussion Mr. Brace updated the HSAB on production of the Nantucket Blue Pages. Mr. Brace reported that funding had been secured from the Nantucket Land Council and that they have not committed to paying for the Spanish version of the blue pages. Ms. Andrews asked how extensive the blue pages are. Mr. Brace briefly explain its scope and then told her how to check out the Vineyard's Island Blue Pages online. Ms. Andrews suggested that there might be sections of the blue pages that could be pulled out and distributed as standalone information sources in the form of brochures and rack cards. Mr. Lowell agreed. Mr. LiPuma said he had high confidence in Public Works director Rob McNeil, and that maybe the board could appeal to him to possibly set up collection receptacles at the dump for daily collection of hazardous waste. Mr. Lowell agreed with this idea Mr. Lipuma said the blue pages sounded like a document too long for people to be interested in reading and that shorter, simpler information products might be the way to go. Mr. Brace said there's probably a good reason that the town hires Clean Harbors to collect hazardous waste and that the HSAB should fmd out what that is before proposing a daily collection idea. NEW BUSINESS Seed stranding rescue protocol - Discussion Mr. Brace refreshed the board on the seed -stranding plan it had developed several years ago with town shellfish biologist Tara Riley and Nantucket Police Chief Bill Pittman. Mr. Carlson said that plan was never fully implemented and used. Mr. LiPuma asked what resources are needed when a stranding occurs; boats, boxes, people? Mr. Lowell said volunteers and Mr. Carlson said it varies with the size of the stranding. Mr. LiPuma suggested a fairly large phone tree to corral volunteers when there is stranding. He added that social media should be used to get the word out and Mr. Brace said that this approach worked really well during the last major stranding four or five years ago. Mr. LiPuma said the board needs to rethink the way we want to do this. Mr. Brace said he thought the shellfish association should spearhead this effort. Mr. Lowell said fishermen involvement needs to be the basis for a seed -stranding rescue protocol. The board discussed various incentives for fishermen who help rescue seed. Goals & Objectives for 2018/2019 — Discussion Mr. Lowell asked that HSAB bring their ideas for 2018/2019 to the May 15 meeting. Water quality testing in shellfish beds — Discussion Mr. Lowell reported that there is interest at the Nantucket Shellfish Association for securing funding for a water quality testing lab to be built on Nantucket. He added that he'd like to hear from town water quality specialist Kaitlyn Shaw on her latest water quality testing results. Mr. LiPuma said the HSAB has never seen the data on water quality testing. Mr. Brace said the board can request that Ms. Shaw come present her data to the HSAB. Mr. LiPuma agreed that the board should do this and should, whenever it needs the data and or information to fulfill its advisory role, request that other experts attend HSAB meetings. Mr. Brace reminded that board that it was the HSAB was the main driver behind filling the town biologist (water quality specialist) position again. He added that Ms. Shaw is very enthusiastic about water quality and explaining it to those who need the information. Proposed pesticides workgroup — Ginger Andrews — Discussion Ms. Andrews reported that as an outgrowth of Article 59 on the 2018 annual Town Meeting warrant, which sought a ban on glyphosate herbicides, the idea for a post -Town Meeting workgroup was proposed. She added that the Nantucket Land Council felt that if herbicides with this ingredient in it were banned, more toxic ones might come on the market. Mr. LiPuma said the research on this chemical, known as hormone interrupters, is inconclusive that it causes genetic damage. He said it's been ban in the European Union and some Middle Eastern countries, and that the World Health Organization has banned it. The board discussed this herbicide is being used in an attempt at getting rid of common reeds (phragmites) in island ponds. Mr. Brace noted that common reeds wither in salt water, although Ms. Andrews said these reeds are somewhat tolerant of salt water. Ms. Andrews said she would keep the HSAB updated on the formation of this workgroup. She added that Town Meeting referred this issue the Health Department. PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT No public comment. RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING Mr. LiPuma said that the board should really work on getting specific people to come to the HSAB meetings to inform the board on various issues. Mr. Brace said the board could hold more workshop meetings where just one topic is discussed. ADJOURN Unanimously approved, 4-0, at 6:42 p.m. Future Meetings: May 15 and June 5 Respectfully Submitted, Peter B. Brace, Secretary