HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-19-16Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board
Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.
Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road
Members present: Peter Brace, Fritz McClure, Kenneth Kuntz, Joe LiPuma
Members Absent: Andy Lowell, Bill Blount, Ken Gullicksen
Marine Dept:
Natural Resources Dept: Tara Riley
Others:
CALL TO ORDER
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Unanimously approved.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The April 5, 2016 minutes were not available to be voted on.
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
Election of officers
With three of the HSAB members absent from this meeting, Mr. Brace informed those
members in attendance that the board would elect officers when all seven HSAB
members were present, hopefully at the May 3, 2016 meeting.
Proposed amendment to conch regulations — BOS public hearing reminder
Mr. Brace reminded the HSAB that the Board of Selectmen were holding a public
hearing on April 20, 2016 to consider commercial fisherman Dan Pronk's proposal to
amend the town's shellfish regulations on conch (whelk snail) fishing to allow permit
holders to set 100 trap each and fish the harbors every year.
HSAB Goal setting session — future workshop meeting
Mr. Brace explained the need for an annual goal- setting meeting for the HSAB and
pitched the idea for holding workshop meetings to the board.
Mr. LiPuma said this idea would work well for the HSAB and it would give the board the
chance to catch up on certain issues. Mr. Kuntz and Mr. McClure agreed.
MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT:
General Marine Dept. report — Sheila Lucey
Ms. Lucey was not present at this meeting, so there was no Marine Dept. report.
NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT
General NRD report — Tara Riley
Ms. Riley reported on the moving of around 100 bushels of seed by herself and four
scallopers from the Fourth Bend side of Bass Shoal to deeper waters in Nantucket Harbor.
Ms. Riley announced the showing of "The Last Scallop" at the Dreamland Theater. Mr.
LiPuma noted a condensed version is also playing online.
She reported on the NRD's deployment of 50 cages of scallops for enhancing scallop
spawns in the bends in the harbor and in Madaket Harbor. When these scallops spawn,
they trigger those outside the cages to spawn, thereby increasing the overall spawns.
Ms. Riley said the boathouse renovation is more or less on schedule to have the work
done by July 1, 2016. Mr. Brace asked how the construction impacts scallop larval
production in the lab. Ms. Riley said that she most likely wouldn't be running the lab
until later in the summer or fall.
Ms. Riley reported that the town opened Sesachacha Pond and Hummock Pond on April
12 and 13, respectively and added that Town Water Quality Specialist Kaitlyn Shaw took
water samples before and after the openings in the ponds.
When asked by Mr. Brace on the matter, Ms. Riley said she'd heard the bushel count for
the 2015/2016 commercial scallop season was 10,000. She added that the annual bushel
amounts have been ranging from 15,000 to 25,000.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES
REPORT
No public comments.
OLD BUSINESS
Proposal to amend town shellfish regulations to change commercial scallop bushel
limits to four bushels per license just for November 2016
Mr. Brace updated the HSAB on Carl Sjolund's proposal to amend town shellfish
regulations to change commercial scallop bushel limits to four bushels per license just for
November 2016.
Mr. LiPuma said he liked this idea and Mr. Kuntz agreed. He then asked Ms. Riley if the
scallops are at risk for staying in the water longer. Mr. Brace said he was concerned that a
hard winter could prevent the harvesting of the scallops not harvested in the fall. Mr.
LiPuma suggested make -up days at the end of the season.
Mr. McClure said he wanted to hear what commercial scallopers think of this proposal.
Mr. LiPuma asked Ms. Riley what she thought. Ms. Riley said she likes the idea and is
open to seeing if it would work. Mr. Brace suggested that Mr. Sjolund and his supporters
might try his idea on their own without changing the regulations.
Mr. Brace said he would alert the Inquirer & Mirror about running a news brief before
the next HSAB meeting to inform the public of this discussion happening at May 3
meeting.
Shellfish Management Plan — ideas on helping implement the SMP
Mr. Brace explained that with a lack of an implementation committee for the SMP, the
HSAB is going to be helping implement this plan over time, possibly during HSAB
workshop meetings. Ms. Riley clarified that the SMP was designed as a guide and that
they advertised twice to form the committee, and that the NRD has already completed
around 40 percent of the tasks in the SMP. Mr. Brace said suggested that the SMP would
make a good topic for the first HSAB workshop. Mr. LiPuma said the NRD should solicit
potential members for this committee. Mr. McClure agreed, but said he'd like to read the
matrix and the plan first.
NEW BUSINESS
Refining shellfish warden seed confiscation policy and protocol — brainstorming
Mr. Brace explained the seed confiscation incident of Nov. 13, 2015 that caused the need
for adjusting this policy and how the town's seed regulations work. He also explained
how the current adult scallop identification regulations were created because of a heavy
nub scallop year.
The board discussed how to go about refining the seed confiscation policy. The board
also discussed how to determine adults from seed and how the town might better inform
the public on how to do this.
New HSAB member ideas, thoughts and first impressions
The three new members of the board expressed the need to read up on the background of
HSAB issues. Mr. Brace suggested they meet with NRD and Marine Department staff to
get their questions answered. He added that attending Nantucket Shellfish Association
meetings would help with their understanding of island shellfisheries.
Mr. Kuntz's ideas for discussion at future meetings:
Exploring scallop dredges that don't tear up harbor bottoms
Mr. Kuntz suggested that the board explore possible, less destructive alternatives to the
dredges currently used by commercial scallopers.
Securing funding from the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration
for planting eelgrass in Nantucket Harbor
Mr. Kuntz suggested that the town and the board look into funding from NOAA for
planting eelgrass in the harbors to replace the eelgrass that is slowly thinning in the
harbors. He noted that NOAA funded such a project for Martha's Vineyard.
Installing a pipe beneath the Haulover for better tidal flow between the harbor and
the ocean
Mr. Kuntz offered that opening up the harbor at east end of the harbor to let ocean water
flow in from the ocean with a flapper valve to keep harbor water from going out to
increase harbor circulation. Mr. Brace explained that the Jetties reconstruction project is
going to happen this year and that this should help with overall harbor circulation.
Mr. McClure's exploration of less destructive moorings
Mr. McClure said he wanted to explore moorings that do less damage to harbor bottoms.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT
No public comments.
RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
ADJOURN
Unanimously approved
Future Meetings:
May 17 and June 7
Respectfully Submitted,
Peter B. Brace, Chairman