HomeMy WebLinkAboutHSAB - Dec. 20 2011Nantucket Harbor & Shellfish Advisory Board
Minutes of Meeting held Dec. 20 2011
Approved:
Conference Room, 2 Fairgrounds Road
Call to Order at 4:33 p.m.
Members Present: Dr. Peter Boyce, Peter Brace, Bill Blount and
Bob Rank
Members Absent: Wendy McRae, Doug Smith and Michael
Glowacki
Marine Dept: Dave Fronzuto and Dwayne Dougan
BOS: Whitey Willauer
Others: Matt Herr
Approval of Agenda:
Unanimously approved.
Approval of Minutes:
Unanimously approved.
Chairman’s Report:
Edwardes Aquaculture Application Update - BOS Dec 21
Dr. Boyce said he was planning to attend this meeting to support
Mr. Edwardes, but Mr. Fronzuto said it wasn’t necessary because
he felt the selectmen would approve Mr. Edwardes’ application.
Meeting space booked for 2012
Dr. Boyce reported that the 2 Fairgrounds Road Conference Room
is where HSAB would be meeting for all of 2012 without having to
switch rooms with the Roads and Right of Way Committee.
Marine Department Report: Dave Fronzuto
Commercial Season Report
Mr. Fronzuto reported the bushel count at 11,000 as of Dec. 20. He
added that he hoped to reach 15,000 bushels and make that low
annual number in years to come.
Apprentice program
Dr. Boyce had wondered whether there were an apprentices fishing
with seasoned scallopers this season. Mr. Fronzuto said there
weren’t, but Mr. Dougan corrected Mr. Fronzuto, stating that there
had been one apprentice earlier in the season, but that this person
was no longer fishing. He added that there are two others who
didn’t get their applications in before the March 31 deadline, so
they had to wait 30 days from when they submitted their
applications and Mr. Dougan said it remains to be seen whether
they will start fishing.
Mr. Fronzuto said he thought the apprentice program works very
well compared to trying to deal with the hardships and that the 30-
day penalty does what it was meant to, especially in a season such
as the current one.
Mr. Herr said members of the Shellfish Management Plan
Committee discussed this topic at their last meeting. He said there
is still a lot of bad feelings among commercial scallopers about the
Marine Department giving out late permits. Mr. Fronzuto said that
six people entering the fishery late has far less of an impact than
the 50 that did it in 1990. Mr. Herr countered that one never knows
when a season happens that it isn’t a good thing for late entries.
Mr. Fronzuto said that there’s a lot of people who buy licenses, but
never fish at all or only when they need to.
Dr. Boyce suggested that late license fees should cost more. Mr.
Fronzuto and Mr. Herr liked this idea. Mr. Brace asked if there
were any complaints from scallopers that later entries are causing
those already fishing to not get their daily limits. Mr. Herr said the
late entry fishermen always have the potential to impact total
harvest in February and March because that many more fishermen
scalloping in December and January draw scallop populations way
down. Mr. Herr added that those late entry scallopers weren’t
really contributing to fishery by coming in late and that a higher
license fee would make them think twice about waiting so long to
be get their licenses.
Mr. Rank said he recalled the reason for selling licenses well ahead
of the coming season was to make it last for the fishermen who
committed to it. He added that by doling out late licenses, the
Marine Department is giving out what the regular fishermen can
harvest in February and March.
Mr. Fronzuto mentioned the “unpopular” notion of also raising the
cost of the commercial license for scallopers who buy their
licenses before the March 31 deadline. Mr. Rank and Mr. Fronzuto
both said they didn’t remember much complaining when this
license fee was increased in the past. Mr. Willauer asked what the
boat price was. Mr. Fronzuto said it was $12/pound. Mr. Dougan
noted that with the license fee currently at $250 that cost is well
under a day’s pay, which averages around $500.
Dr. Boyce said he would be put this issue on the Jan. 17 meeting
agenda for further discussion. Mr. Fronzuto said he would look
into whether the selectmen could set this fee or if it needed to be
decided at Town Meeting.
Other items
Old Business:
Water Quality Funding – next steps
Mr. Willauer said he would be discussing it would Town Manager
Libby Gibson and that Selectman Bobby DeCosta was for the idea
that money generated from the Madaket Landfill wind turbine
could fund the town’s water quality program. Mr. Fronzuto said
he’d provide the board with dates when the FinCom would be
discussing this proposal. Mr. Fronzuto said he would also draft an
amendment to the enacting legislation that directs 75% of shellfish
license fees to the propagation fund so that 100% of it goes to that
fund. This amendment would be in the form of a homerule petition
to be voted on at Town Meeting.
Shellfish Management Plan – almost complete
Mr. Herr said that during the last couple of meetings, the
committee finished reviewing the draft SMP and in the coming
weeks, the committee would find two independent people to
review the plan with fresh perspectives, hopefully someone from
another harbor town and another “Dale Levitt type of guy”. And
then in the middle of January, a meeting with Urban Harbors will
be held to assess where the plan is. There would then be several
public forums for the public’s review of the plan after it had been
put online for their review.
Mr. Willauer asked what the selectmen’s role is in finishing the
SMP. Dr. Boyce said the committee wants the selectmen to adopt
the plan. Mr. Fronzuto said there should be public forums and the
plan on the Internet first and then the committee should bring the
plan to the selectmen for adoption. Mr. Herr added the committee
also wants to have the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries review
the plan, but because the plan is all recommendations/action items
with no regulation changes, the DMF would merely be reviewing it
to advise on any improvements or deletions needed to be made.
New Business:
Coastal Zone Management Plan Principles – comment period
open
Dr. Boyce stated he put this on the agenda to let people know that
this document is online and that there’s a comment period open
until Jan. 6. Mr. Fronzuto said that the current focus is on coastal
erosion and that they held a public information-gathering session a
couple of weeks ago. He added that about 20 people went to the
previous sessions and 50 people were at the most recent session
and the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund’s new project was
discussed. He stated that these principles are being designed for
town-owned land where the new SBPF project is proposed. The
group working on these principles plan to go back to the selectmen
for their approval in late January. Dr. Boyce asked Mr. Fronzuto to
ensure that public access along the beaches owned by the town
continue to be maintained. Dr. Boyce stated that these principles
were a mandate from Town Meeting voters several years to not
allow any more coastal erosion projects on any town land until
these principles were in place. Mr. Fronzuto added that the town
has two-year consultation grant from Massachusetts Coastal Zone
Management to deal with all coastal zone issues.
Mr. Rank asked what the timeline was for SBPF’s project. Mr.
Fronzuto said SBPF is currently before the Conservation
Commission with a proposal to place bags of rocks at the toe of the
bluff and cover them with sand and added that it’s kind of
complicated.
Seed-stranding project
Mr. Herr told the board that he had compiled a list of people,
mostly scallopers, that he felt confident calling whenever there was
a wind event. He added that Marina Finch and Mr. Brace will,
during his month-long vacation, be in charge of contacting these
people if and when there is such an event. Mr. Fronzuto asked for
Mr. Herr’s list so he could pass it to Mr. Dougan who would create
a database for the Marine Department of all the names and contact
numbers. Mr. Rank asked how they got the seed off the beach
during the early November 2011 blow. He then suggested that
some sort of float be anchored near seed-stranding prone areas and
when a stranding occurred, the float could moved close to shore,
full totes of seed could be loaded onto the float and then towed out
to where the seed would be released. Mr. Fronzuto said several
floats could be anchored around the harbor for this purpose. He
added that HSAB should discuss this at a future meeting and that
he would come up with a design for a float. Mr Herr agreed that
there should be a meeting specifically on this topic to flesh out all
the ideas and make a plan for proceeding.
Adjournment: 5:28 p.m.
Unanimous approval
Next Meetings:
January 3 and 17, 2012
Respectfully submitted,
Peter B. Brace, Secretary