HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-4-2Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board
April 2, 2013 at 4:00 p.m.
Conference Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road
Members present: Peter Brace (Chair), Wendy McCrae, Dr. Peter Boyce, Michael
Glowacki, Doug Smith, Bill Blount
Members Absent: Chuck Connors
Marine Dept: Sheila Lucey
Natural Resources Dept. Jeff Carlson, Tara Riley
Others: Jo Perkins, Mary -Adair MacAire
CALL TO ORDER
4:04 P.M.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Unanimously approved after adding two new items under new business from Mike
Glowacki and Peter Boyce
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Minutes for the February 19th HSAB meeting were amended for spelling corrections.
Unanimously approved as amended
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
Rescheduled NRD report: The SHAB will hear this on April 16.
Shellfish Management Plan: This was presented to the BOS an April 20 and will come up
for final BOS approval on April 19.
Rescheduled Seal Abatement Coalition discussion: The SHAB will deal with this on April
16.
Petrel Landing: Peter Brace had a discussion with Eric Savetsky who indicated that they
are planning landscaping now. There will be no slips, but will have dinghy dock.
MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT:
Harbor: Working on repairing damage. They will repair the main dock in house. Toscana
will be hired to repair the floating dock. There was a lot of flood damage in the offices
which is being repaired now. They will be ready to issue moorings. They will open as
close to May 1 as possible.
Alternate tie -up spots for scallopers: No one inquired about alternate arrangements.
The three boats at the Town Dock made other arrangements. Wendy McCrae was
concerned that the Town made no offer of alternate solutions. Sheila Lucey said she had
no alternative tie -up options to offer, but that she would have made mooring
arrangements if she had been approached. She would have helped if she had been
asked. She reported that she does work with scallopers who come to her with problems.
Grants: The Town has proposed to the Nantucket Shellfish Association for replacement
navigation aids. They have lost 11 anchors and several poly balls which are used for
winter markers as they are much cheaper than the standard navigation buoys in the
summer. The scallopers on the Board expressed thanks for the winter markers.
NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT
Scallop Season Report: The final bushel Count is 18,102 bushels. Doug Smith
commented that the state allows reports in either bushels or pounds of meat. Scallopers
should be told to report their catch in bushels to maintain consistency with the Town.
General Report: The Town has advertised for iterns. The NRD programs have received
$45,000 in grants. The Town has mailed 158 copies of the Fertiliaer Best Management
Practices to landscaping companies on Nantucket. The final report on water quality
during last summer has arrived from SMAST. There will be a public presentation made
by therm during the latter half of April.
Possible Scallop Season Extension: No requests for an extension have been made by
the scallopers. Ms. McCrae noted that we had discussed this in the past when a lot of
days had been lost to weather. Mr. Smith said there are no scallops left to catch.
Scallopers have been getting their limit all the way to the end. Mr. Blount confirmed this,
and said the percent of dead scallops has risen dramatically. Tara Riley noted that she
will put this topic on the agenda earlier next year.
This raised a discussion on the accuracy of the Town's count. The numbers seem small
compared to last year when the total was 20,OOObushels. Mr. Blount thinks a lot of
scallops did not get counted by the Town. Mr. Smith noted that at least 1,000 bushels
must have been lost due to strandings this season.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT
No Public comment
OLD BUSINESS
Shellfish Bylaw Review Workgroup update: The group is making progress. For Blue
Mussels the committee is proposing a size of 1.5 inches, and limiting the dredges to a
maximum of 4. Scallop regulations will be discussed this week.
NEW BUSINESS
Public Forum on Harbor Topics: Jeff Carlson said the Town wants more public outreach
on harbor and water related topics. They were hoping that SHAB cold sponsor a number
of talks at their meetings to draw more public interest. Peter Boyce commented this
would be a good idea, provided that we arranged for sufficient publicity.
Town Budget: Mr. Glowacki described an amendment he was thinking of proposing at
the Town Meeting which would provide more money to the Department of Natural
Resources for a full time person to do water quality and other related jobs. However, in
consulting with other people, he had decided that this could be counterproductive, so
he will not be proposing an amendment. Instead he wants to get to the BOS before they
make their budget directive to the Town Manager next year. The Board generally
agreed this was the best way to approach the issue of funding for water quality
monitoring.
Support for State DMF Recreational Angler Survey: Dr. Boyce noted that the time was
late, but that he would like the SHAB to show public support for the state's efforts to
quantify the recreational fishing catch. He will bring up this issue at a future meeting.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT
RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 5:00pm
Future Meetings:
April 16 and May 7, 2013