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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