HomeMy WebLinkAboutHSAB - Nov. 15 2011Nantucket Harbor & Shellfish Advisory Board
Minutes of Meeting held Nov. 15 2011
Approved:
Conference Room, 2 Fairgrounds Road
Call to Order at 4:28 p.m.
Members Present: Dr. Peter Boyce, Bill Blount, Wendy McCrae,
Peter Brace, Michael Glowacki
Members Absent: Bob Rank, Doug Smith
Marine Dept: Tara Riley
BOS: Whitey Willauer
Others: Steve Heck, Matt Herr
Approval of Agenda:
Unanimously approved.
Approval of Minutes:
Unanimously approved.
Chairman’s Report:
Dr. Boyce reported he attended the Nov. 2 Board of Selectmen’s
meeting to represent HSAB’s interests in Petrel Landing and said
the Selectman Bobby DeCosta told the rest of the BOS that the
Nantucket Islands Land Bank’s plan for Petrel Landing doesn’t
work for commercial fishermen and would not support the
proposed finger piers and dinghy dock. Mr. Willauer confirmed
that the Land Bank removed the finger piers/slips and the dinghy
docks from their plan, noting that HSAB should be getting the
commercial fishing boat access it needs. He added that Mr.
DeCosta is taking the lead on this effort on behalf of HSAB and
for the selectmen.
Dr. Boyce reported that Mr. Rank was doing well although he had
had some chest pains, which his doctor said were the result trying
to do too much too soon. Mr. Rank was very, very appreciative of
all the help from HSAB and the fundraiser.
Eelgrass seed planting:
Dr. Boyce reported that he and Mr. Heck with Mr. Heck doing the
diving, planted 150 eelgrass seeds in Nantucket Harbor just to the
east of the finger pier off the Brant Point boathouse during the
second week of November.
Marine Department Report: 4:37 p.m.
Commercial Season Report:
Ms. Riley reported for the first two weeks of commercial
scalloping, around 3,400 bushels have been harvested.
Seed stranding:
She said the Marine Department received a few reports of seed
stranding of west of Pocomo and up in Wauwinet, but the scallops
are pretty spread out, so she and Mr. Herr are continuing to check
and monitor its location.
Shellfish Regulations:
Ms. Riley presented draft shellfish regulation changes that
included wording changes saying that for the free scalloping
licenses given to people 60 years old and older, they must be year-
round residents of Nantucket and must have proof, and wording for
areas closed to shellfishing that explains the penalties for taking
shellfish in prohibited areas.
Other Items:
On the boathouse, she reported that she received a grant from the
Great Harbor Yacht Club, so Ms. Riley will be using that money,
10,152 to build a new algae production system and she is ordering
it now, and will be assembling it in late February. The grant comes
from an annual contribution of $35,000 for 10 years from the
GHYC to harbor research project as part of a court settlement
between the club and 10 scallopers who sought compensation from
the club for destroying part of the harbor and its eelgrass to build
its piers and moor some of its boats.
Ms. Riley announced that she had been chosen by the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution to help it with a shellfish hatchery
project in Zanzibar, Tanzania off the east coast of Africa. Ms.
Riley said she would be helping to teach women from six villages
how to raise and sell oysters and clams. She’ll be gone from Dec. 9
to Feb. 15 and her trip would be good for her work on Nantucket in
that it’s collaboration with WHOI and that it’s timely because this
is her slow time of the year. Ms. Riley reported that she’d be
taking a leave of absence from her job.
Dr. Boyce proposed the following change to the draft shellfish
regulation changes under family licenses “or in an area defined as
closed by the state of Massachusetts, the Board of Selectmen or the
marine superintendent”. Mr. Glowacki asked if these regulation
changes had to be approved at Town Meeting and Dr. Boyce
replied that they do, but that HSAB must first recommend them to
the selectmen who would then put them into an article. Ms.
McCrae made a motion encompassing Dr. Boyce’s proposed
change. Dr. Boyce seconded her motion and the board voted
unanimously to approve it. Dr. Boyce asked if the board wanted to
add the word “year-round” to the 60 and over free license language
change. Mr. Glowacki said town council would have to check the
language anyway before it’s written into a Town Meeting article.
Dr. Boyce said “resident” says it all. Mr. Brace said that the same
language used for getting a commercial scalloping license would
likely be used in this instance. The board agreed not to change the
language of this part of the shellfish regulations changes.
Old Business: 4:50 p.m.
Aquaculture Application - Simon Edwardes:
Ms. Riley said she got an aquaculture application from Mr.
Edwardes in September who wants two acres of Pocomo Meadows
adjacent to where Steve Bender’s oyster farm is just outside Polpis
Harbor to grow oysters on the bottom. She added the board’s
endorsement of Mr. Edwardes’ application would really help his
plans to grow oysters and that he’s been extremely cooperative
with and helpful to the Marine Department during oyster studies in
2010. He rebuilt one of boathouse’s floating upweller systems for
free. Ms. McCrae made a motion to accept Mr. Edwardes’
application and to approve Ms. Riley’s recommendation for his
application to be forwarded on to the BOS. Mr. Brace seconded
Ms. McCrae’s motion. Dr. Boyce asked that if Mr. Edwardes
application is approved by the selectmen and the state would there
be any space left at Pocomo Meadows for more aquaculture plots.
Ms. Riley said yes and that Mr. Edwardes and Mr. Bender would
be happy to accommodate the town if it needed space for its
projects. HSAB voted unanimously to approve Ms. McCrae’s
motion. Ms. McCrae thanked Mr. Edwardes for his efforts. Dr.
Boyce also thanked Mr. Edwardes for his help around the
boathouse. Mr. Willauer asked where the oyster seed comes from.
Ms. Riley replied that all oyster farmers on island get their seed
from certified disease-free hatcheries approved by the state. Mr.
Willauer asked why native Nantucket oysters aren’t used and Ms.
Riley replied that there isn’t enough native stock oysters on
Nantucket. She added eventually Nantucket will be able to grow
enough of its own oyster seed to supply aquaculture farmers. And
she said that she is currently testing the water quality of
Sesachacha Pond to determine if it can be used for aquaculture.
Petrel Landing:
See Chairman’s Report.
Seed stranding update
Mr. Herr said he’s been contact with all the usual people who help
rescue see during after a blow and they’re all going to be in contact
with Mr. Herr during the next storm, will be walking beaches to
look out for stranded seed and will be in contact with Mr. Herr.
Meanwhile, he’s working on formalizing a seed stranding team
proposal over the next couple of weeks.
Mooring systems – schedule discussion:
Dr. Boyce said he put this item on the agenda because he wanted to
keep the discussion on this going and to at some point, get the
mooring companies to attend a HSAB meeting to help the board
work through this.
Mr. Willauer said he got some complaints about the Nantucket
Boat Basin being exempted from mooring. Dr. Boyce explained
that other slip areas are being charged mooring fees for slip usage
and said Dave Fronzuto could answer Mr. Willauer’s question. Mr.
Willauer said the yacht clubs collect slip fees from their boat
owners and then pay the Marine Department, a system he said
should work for the boat basin as well. Mr. Willauer said he would
bring this issue up at the next BOS meeting. Mr. Glowacki asked
what the mooring fee revenue is used for. Dr. Boyce said it goes
toward waterways improvement and maintenance. Mr. Glowacki
stated that these fees may not be entirely fair if some boat owners
don’t use all the services the fees are assessed for. Dr. Boyce
replied that all boats use some of the services provided by the
town. Mr. Willauer noted that there is no “knowledgeable voice”
involved. Mr. Glowacki suggested getting an opinion from town
counsel and added that if inequities are found, then there are a
bunch of boaters out there not paying a fair share of the fees.
New Business:
Scallop boat prices:
Mr. Blount decried the drop in price down from $12 to $8 and said
it was an insult to Ms. Riley and all the work she’s done. He
accused three island fishmongers of working together to set the
price so they all could get make good money. He added that if
there’s 60 boats fishing, 45 pounds per five bushels, one third of
the guys are getting a double limit and a loss of $4/pound; and that
the loss to the community per day is $152,000 by the boat price
being dropped by $4. He said that bay scallop money on Nantucket
multiplies 10 times (based on a town study in 1979), a loss of
$1,780,000 lost from Nantucket by this recent boat price decrease.
Mr. Blount asked if HSAB could examine ways to prevent the
buyers from purposely dropping the boat price to their benefit. He
added that he’s been working with Jeff Henderson on ways to sell
groundfish other than to island seafood buyers, but he’s been
“butting heads” with them and said that he’s been threatened by
one of them. He suggested trying to get other buyers to come to the
island to buy bay scallops from fishermen. Dr. Boyce agreed. Mr.
Blount said health inspections could be a problem because they’re
only done twice a year. He suggested maybe repealing the town or
state law requiring ownership of a place of business to buy
scallops.
Mr. Herr recommended that the commercial scallopers get
organized before tackling this issue, which comes up every season,
and he added that they need to be so organized that they could
refuse to fish on given day as show of solidarity let the
fishmongers know they won’t be bullied with low prices, and also
create their own buying situations. Mr. Herr said the fishermen
needed to be organized enough to find new buyers, but also to not
fish in order to make the price go up. He guessed that there may
some collusion between the island buyers to keep the boat price
low. Mr. Blount said he knows of such buyers in New Bedford
who would be willing to pay up to $20 a pound for bay scallops.
Mr. Brace asked how upset the fishermen are. Mr. Herr said some
are more upset than others. Mr. Brace said that if this is such a
crisis, why haven’t the fishermen organized by now and taken
action?
Ms. McCrae said that historically, the price always opens low and
that after Thanksgiving it tends to go up. Mr. Blount admitted that
the price is going to rebound and Mr. Herr agreed, saying that in a
couple weeks, the scallops would be scarce and scallopers would
be working much harder to get them.
Dr. Boyce said he didn’t think it was HSAB’s job to organize the
fishermen, but he added that the board could explore regulation on
shanty ownership in relation to buyers. Mr. Blount reiterated the
importance of getting new, younger buyers to establish
relationships with scallopers, but Mr. Herr said a danger is that if
any of these new buyers can’t make it, scallopers that sell to them
might not be welcomed back by Nantucket’s buyers. But Mr. Herr
admitted that it could work if enough scallopers got together,
found a buyer and secured a shanty to work out of. Dr. Boyce
repeated this is not a discussion for HSAB but that it would only
really work if Ms. Riley’s efforts continue to be successful. Ms
McCrae stated that when she was chairperson of HSAB, she would
try to keep the board’s discussion away from the boat price, but
she said this particular situation sounded like a monopoly and that
something should be done to address it. Mr. Blount said there is
price-fixing, mixing of scallops and a price drop passed onto the
fishermen, and mislabeling. Mr. Brace said these things might be
solved by branding Nantucket’s scallops.
Going forward, Mr. Blount said he would discuss possible
solutions with Mr. Henderson. Mr. Herr said research on this idea,
organizing the fishermen and working with NSA is the only way
this would get done. And then once a proposal is created, Mr. Herr
said the fishermen should come back to HSAB for its endorsement.
Recap and Items for Next Meeting:
Dr. Boyce said he would be speaking with Mr. Fronzuto about the
shellfish regulations, the mooring system discussion and what his
position in on charging the boat basin slip fees.
Adjournment: 5:36 p.m.
Unanimous.
Next Meetings:
December 6 and 20, 2011
Respectfully submitted,
Peter B. Brace, Secretary