HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-6-5Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board
June 5, 2012 at 4:30 p.m.
Conference Room, 2 Fairgrounds Road
Members present: Chuck Connors, Bill Blount, Dr. Peter Boyce, Doug Smith, Peter
Brace, Michael Glowacki,
Members Absent: Wendy McCrae
Marine Dept: Sheila Lucey,
BOS: Whitey Willauer
Natural Resources Dept. Jeff Carlson, Tara Riley, Kelley, Coughlan, Stephen
Heck, Leah
Cabral ,�,
Others: Police Chief Pittman, Dan Pronk, Matt Herr, Oliver Bender, Mary dawacaire
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CALL TO ORDER C-)
4:30 P.M. r n
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APPROVAL OF AGENDA o
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Unanimously approved z
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Dr. Boyce added that Oliver Bender would be giving part of his report. c>
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Unanimously approved
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
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Mr. Brace spoke to Mr. Fronzuto and Dave believes that the money for water quality
sampling which now comes from the water ways improvement fund should instead come
from the town's general fund. Mr. Glowaki called it fundamental and believes that
because it is so important to the town it should be funded by the general fund. Mr.
Glowaki suggests we go the BOS and ask them whether they feel that it's as important as
we do, and if they agree with us we can then go to the Finance committee with it. Whitey
said that water quality issues include more than just SHAB's mission. It includes things
such as building up the jetties, capping the dump and sewage.
Mr. Blount asked what the money in the water ways improvement fund would go to if it
wasn't being used for water quality testing. Sheila Lucey explained that the money in the
water ways improvement fund goes towards things such as aids to navigation, boats,
engines, online mooring systems and stressed that it is extremely important. Point being,
the money taken from the water ways improvement fund which is currently being used
for water quality testing could be put to better use elsewhere and we should try and get
money for water quality sampling taken from the general fund. Mr. Brace asked Ms.
Lucey if she would go to Fincom with us and she said yes.
For the water quality sample analysis work there was only one proposal, and it was from
the School of Marine Science and Technology at Umass Dartmouth. We got the bid down
to $35,000 which breaks down to $100.00 per sample and around $5,000 for report
writing. They will be doing 286 samples. We have the option to extend the contract for
2 years at the same price if we choose to. Mr. Smith asked if we would be getting real
time data for the testing sighting the old way which had us waiting a long time to get
results. Dave said we will have things written into the contract that addresses the time
issue. Their reports will be on tighter deadlines and they will have to report to us more
then previously.
MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT
Shellfish biologist's goals for 2012 - Tara Anne Riley
Ms. Riley introduced her new intern Leah Cabral.
Some of the hatchery improvements that were made to the boat house were that both
filtration and algae production capability has double since last year.
She spoke on how last years larval release methods were successful and she will be doing
more of them this year. She said that it's important to focus on releasing the larvae early
in the season (May, June, and early July). She is deploying spawn cages into the harbor
at different area's to help increase the chances of successful natural fertilization. She said
we have to come up with a seed management program that would allow us to tend to the
seed that's been released. She described that the managing of them could be done similar
to how a farmer would manage his crops, thinning them out and moving them if need be,
She is also working with the oyster growers up in the head of the harbor and Pocomo
meadows, helping them to figure out what types of oysters grow best up there and the
proper densities to grow them at.
Ms. Riley reported that she has already matched her production numbers from last year,
having released 70 million thus far. She was happy to report that she has reached 50% of
her goals for this year at such a short period of time. It's obvious that doubling her algae
production capabilities and the extra filtration is helping her accomplish more than she
could in previously.
Whitey asked Ms. Riley what are the long range objectives she is trying to accomplish.
Tara responded that she would like to see an upward climbing trend in the scallop
populations in both harbors. She would also like to enhance the other shellfish
populations recreationally.
Dr. Boyce said the goal of the shellfish management plan is to have a sustainable
shellfish fishery and to improve the catch, to in a sense make waters of Nantucket a
shellfish farm.
Mr. Smith pointed out that the loss of habitat runs parallel with catch rates. Mr. Smith
noted that water quality in Nantucket harbor has declined dramatically and that is the
reason why we don't the big natural spawns Nantucket's harbors once had. He added
that without Ms. Riley and her propagation efforts that we wouldn't have a scallop
fishery at all.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT
No public comments
OLD BUSINESS
Chief Pittman said he would speak to Eileen about Line items for research grants.
Mr. Glowaki expressed his willingness to help with this.
NEW BUSINESS
Presentation by Dr. Peter Boyce and Oliver Bender on their summer research
Dr. Boyce explained how he does his spat bag monitoring and showed us that a good
amount of the spat from natural spawns taking place in the harbor are being washed out
the jetties and traveling along the islands cost down to Dionis and 4e pole and then back
around to Coutue.
He will continue taking his water temperature readings around the harbor. He also
mentioned that the temperature gauge put in place by NOAA located at the steamships
fast ferry slip failed and 2006 and still doesn't work.
Dive Surveys: He has been sampling the harbor bottom since 2006 in 48 different spots.
Early results show the head of the harbor has had a dramatic increase in the number of
scallops and it's pretty obvious that those scallops are almost all from Ms. Riley's release.
Oliver Bender gave a report on his larval crab settlement in spat bags. He mapped the
spawning patterns for the crabs and compared the results to those of the scallops. As
with the scallops there were a lot more crabs found in the spat bags outside the harbor
then the bags inside the harbor.
Request for support by Dan Pronk for his quahog operation
Mr. Pronk would like SHABS support for a pump dredging quahog operation. He would
be fishing the grounds east outside the blue contour line towards great point. Concerns
were made about the dredge itself as well as the proposed plans impact on the current
conch fishery that's taking place in that same area. We talked about limiting the bi -catch
which would mainly be conch. We decided that we would table this issue until we have
more information. We need to know more about the environmental damage and what
would happen with the conch and other species being caught.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT
No public questions or comments
RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
Dan Pronk's quahog permit request.
Water quality funding update.
ADJOURN
Unanimously approved
Future Meetings;
July 3
Respectfully Submitted,
Chuck Connors, Secretary