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
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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.
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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