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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-4-4Agenda Shellfish Bylaw Review Workgroup Thursday, April 4, 2013 6 P.M. Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road MEMBERS PRESENT: Bill Blount, Jo Perkins, Ron Shepherd, Stephen Estabrooks, Peter Brace, Carl Sjolund, Doug Smith, Matt Herr MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF: Jeff Carlson, Tara Riley, J.C. OTHERS: UMass students, Neil Cocker, Dan Pronk CALL TO ORDER APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA o Approved unanimously a �. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES � 3 m Approved unanimously M m CHAD2MAN'S REPORT o f v 3 < rn OLD BUSINESS Ca N r„m M Quahogs — Carl Sjolund Mr. Blount recounted what the group agreed on for quahogs at the March 21 meeting for Mr. Sjolund. Mr. Blount expressed the need to speak with Dan Pronk about setting a size of the cutting blade for quahog dredges to limit the size of boats doing this to smaller boats. He suggested that boats using jet dredges fish outside of the 20 -foot contour line outside of the harbors regardless of the 20 -foot -plus depths within the harbors and that only quahogging by hand be allowed inside that line. Mr. Herr, who had recently attended a state Division of Marine Fisheries hearing on revising conch regulations offered that because of discussions at this hearing on whether conch pot fishermen could set four hundred pots if two permitted fishermen were on board, the workgroup needed to decide if this practice would be allowed in Nantucket waters for commercial quahoggers. He added that if state - permitted quahoggers can double up on the number of licensed . fishermen in their boats, it might make sense for Nantucket to do the same. Mr. Blount asked Mr. Sjolund if the town should designate certain recreational -only quahogging zones and should there be commercial -only zones. Ms. Riley said she asked former harbormaster Dave Fronzuto about this and he said that there are no such zones designated and nothing written down to substantiated them. Mr. Sjolund said he thought places recreational shellfishers can reach easily such as along the Monotony shoreline should be strictly recreational because commercial guys could clean out that area in two weeks. Mr. Sjolund said he wasn't slue about the Horseshed, but that overall, there should be recreational -only quahog spots, especially in the harbors, because these shellfrshers are the majority of those buying permits to go for quahogs. Tuckemuck, Sjolund said, could be both. Mr. Blount said that Ms. Riley's quahog - seeding program could really enhance quahog populations. Ms. Riley suggested allowing recreational quahoggers to dig anywhere, but keep commercial people out of certain areas. The group agreed with this idea. Ms. Riley asked for suggested locations in the harbor. Mr. Sjolund said Monomoy, Shimmo Bend, Polpis Harbor, East Pond and North Pond on Tuckermick, and possibly the Horseshed. Mr. Blount suggested commercial quahoggers get to take just two bushels in the Horseshed, but Mr. Carlson said this would be tough to enforce. Mr. Brace asked whether or not commercial quahoggers were really depleting beds traditionally used by recreational people. Mr. Blount and Mr. Sjolund said there were only a handful of commercial quahoggers on Nantucket. Mr. Blount offered that for recreational and commercial quahoggers could share the Horseshed and First Bend and Shinano Bend, Polpis Harbor and Monomoy shores, from the Steps to Abram's Point for recreational only. Ms. Perkins asked Ms. Riley where she would be seeding the harbor with quahog babies. Ms. Riley said off Monomoy this summer and then re- distribute them around the harbor next year. Mr. Carlson said that clear up any misunderstandings of where people can quahog, all permits would come with maps of the islands showing quahog areas for recreational, commercial and both. Mr. Sjolund suggested that Monomoy might be another recreational -only quahog digging spot. Mr. Brace suggested the group check out the tide chart Brant Point Marine hands out each year that has the map of Nantucket on the back showing where all the good quahog digging spots are. NEW BUSINESS Bay scallops Mr. Blount ran through the regulations as they exist today including fishing on Saturdays for which Ms. Riley said there is no restriction on fishing on Saturdays. Mr. Smith explained reason for Monday through fishing was that the island buyers had problems holding scallops caught on Saturday until Monday when they would ship them off island. But, having recently spoken with Charlie Sayle, Smith said that Sayle had no problem holding scallops from Saturday until Monday in November and December, but during the rest of the season the scallops develop bacteria in the juice that can degrade the meat over time. Mr. Smith added another reason fishing on Saturday doesn't work is that when the fleet can fish six days a week, the scallopers who fish through to the end of season on March 31 have fewer scallops to catch. Mr. Sjolund said he believes a majority of the fleet likes the five -day fishing schedule and can deal with the one day of fishing on Saturday during Christmas week. Mr. Hen said that the fishing on Saturday idea is being pushed by people who work on land during the week, namely, a teacher who talked to Bill Pittman about it, but Mr. Sjolund said these people shouldn't be allowed to go until they go through the apprentice program. Mr. Herr added that Saturday is perceived to be a day when you can't commercially scallop even though it is permitted. Mr. Hen recalled that Blair Perkins was given a day off for taking nub scallops and when the town tried to give him a day off for taking nub scallops, he got lawyered up and the lawyer proved to town counsel, who agreed, that town regulations allow the taking of nub scallops. And Mr. Hen said the same thing could happen with fishing on Saturday until it no scalloping on Saturday becomes a regulation. Mr. Brace said that the average person's working mentality is one of work during the week, play on the weekend and that because of days missed for bad weather during the winter, Saturday fishing could be a way to get some of those lost days back. Mr. Sjolund suggested making it Monday through Friday unless someone wanted to challenge this in a public hearing. Mr. Blount said it would be much easier to regulate if it's Monday through Friday. Mr. Sjolund reminded the group that the state (DMF) allows Saturday fishing and that Nantucket can restrict fishing further by prohibiting Saturday fishing. W. Carlson this "regulation" is one of many that fishermen assumed were on the books but actually were not and that this process will correct this. Mr. Sjolund said that the five - day fishing week stretches the season out and keeps the price decent enough. Mr. Blount agreed. Mr. Smith said Mr. Fronzuto had said that the town would have to pay its shellfish wardens overtime on Saturdays if fishermen were going on that day. The workgroup agreed that the regulations should be rewritten to reflect scalloping Monday through Friday only despite the no-fishing- Saturday tradition that, despite being written on commercial licenses, has never been written into the regulations. On the regulations that state legally harvestable scallops must have a well - defined annual growth ring at least 10 millimeters up from the bottom of the shell and or the total shell height be 2.5 inches, the workgroup had the following to say. Mr. Blount said sometimes there isn't a real growth ring and just a nub. He suggested coming up with an alternate measurement; two measurements would protect the seed better. He added that the recreational scallopers, specifically, the non - residents, seem to have no idea what a well - defined, raised growth ring is, so requiring two measurements, he believes, would really protect the seed better. Mr. Herr said that Mr. Blount's idea has already been proposed to the state by Nantucket, but DMF said that it needs more data to allow this. Mr. Blount suggested that Ms. Riley measure the thickness of scallops that Mr. Smith will be gathering this summer during his Nantucket Shellfish Association study, so data can be compiled and given to the star. Mr. Smith said scallopers in Long Island Sound were using a 2.5 -inch measurement to measure their scallops, but they ended up losing their fishery because much of it was larger than 2.5 inches. He added that last year, a lot of seed scallops from Abram's Point up to Polpis Harbor put on a shock ring and were larger than 2.5 inches and almost all of it was harvested because scallopers were confused between the shock ring and a raised, well - defined growth ring. He said he agreed with Mr. Blount that the height rule should be aided by a thickness rule of no less than one inch. Mr. Blount clarified his idea, saying that the language should ready something like, "in the absence of a raised, well - defined growth ring, these other measurements can relied on ". Mr. Sjolund recommended that the workgroup leave this part of the regulations as is and continue to gather research data on the thickness measurement in relation to a scallop having spawned. Ms. Riley said this measurement could be a potential research project for local biologists. M. Blount, on the advice of Mr. Carlson, agreed to pursue this issue with the Shellfish Management Plan Implementation Committee when it's formed and the workgroup agreed to leave the bay scallop measurement regulation as is for the time being. Mr. Herr said that the practicality of using two gauges in the commercial fishery most likely won't happen and this third measurement would just add another confusing layer of regulation that would frustrate commercial scallopers. Ms. Perkins suggested handing out adult scallop shells glued together of the legal size proportions to recreational scallopers to educate them, but Ms. Riley said something like that is already happening now. She is working with the Madaket Conservation Association to put information kiosks at key access points to popular recreational scalloping spots in Madaket. The info posts will have legal size, catch limit and fishing days and hours on them. Mr. Sjolund said the weight of scallopers' dredges need to be strictly enforced and that the 40 -pound weight should be enforced better. Mr. Blount and Mr. Smith agreed. Mr. Smith added that maybe after Jan. 1, all weights should be prohibited. Mr. Sjolund stressed and the rest of the workgroup agreed that the weight -heavy dredges unnecessarily destroy the bottom of the harbor and rip out too much eelgmss. He added that the weighted dredges shear off all the eelgrass fronds and eventually dig up and cut off the roots, making it extremely difficult for the eelgmss to survive and hence, the bay scallops and other marine harbor life. Mr. Sjolund said some scallopers double up on their chain bag rings to increase their dredges' weight. Mr. Brace asked if wardens should have scales on their boats to weigh scallopers' dredges and the workgroup agreed that they should. Mr. Herr asked if the group would be amenable to prohibiting weights during November and December. There seemed to be a lot of support for this idea, but most of the group wanted to wait until Mr. Sjolund could weigh his dredges report back to the group. Mr. Smith said that good fishermen know the tricks to catching scallops, getting a feel for the bottom, knowing which direction to tow in during the tides and different conditions. Mr. Blount asked Mr. Sjolund to weigh his dredges and suggested that maybe the weight be reduced from 40 to 35 pounds for all dredges. The group wanted to know what was meant by the language, "the bar of the dredge cannot be more than 18 meshes long" for the next meeting. PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING ADJOURN— Future Meetings: April 18 and May 2