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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHSAB Minutes - December 20, 2011_2014020513485847911 Nantucket Harbor & Shellfish Advisory Board Minutes of Meeting held Dec. 20 2011 Approved: Jan 3, 2012 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. Erika had promised him SHAB would not be moved. 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 any apprentices fishing with seasoned scallopers this season. Mr. Fronzuto said there weren’t, but Mr. Dougan reminded Mr. Fronzuto 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 2 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 more fishermen scalloping in December and January harvest more of the available scallops earlier, leaving fewer to be caught in February and March. Mr. Herr added that those late entry scallopers weren’t really contributing to the 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 the harvest last for the fishermen who committed to it. He added that by doling out late licenses, the Marine Department is cutting back on 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 with 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 home rule 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. 3 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