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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-5-21Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board May 21st 2013 at 5:00 p.m. Conference Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road Members present: Peter Brace (Chair), Charles Connors, Wendy McCrae, Dr. Peter Boyce, Michael Glowacki Members Absent: Doug Smith, Bill Blount Marine Dept: Natural Resources Dept. Jeff Carlson, Tara Riley Others: CALL TO ORDER 5:00 P.M. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion to approve made by Mrs. McCrae, Seconded by Mr. Connors and unanimously approved APPROVAL OF MINUTES A motion to approve the minutes was made by Mrs. McCrae, seconded by Dr. Boyce and unanimously approved. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT SBRW update — The group had finished its work on by -catch and came up with what they feel is an expectable percentage of 5% for all species. As long as the species being taken is in season. An example given was if you take 5 bushels of bay scallops you are allowed to take 5% by -catch of quahogs. A proposal to drop the maximum weight of bay scallop dredges down from the current weight of 40lbs to a maximum weight of 35lbs, plus eliminating the use of weighs of any kind is being discussed. MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT: No Marine Department Report was given NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT Coast Guard station dredging — The Brant Point Coast Guard station was having trouble getting their 47' vessels to their pier due to the increased amount of sand that has accumulated around their docks over time. They have been dredging around the docks and dumping the sand at Brant Point Beach near the lighthouse. The CG got permission for this dredging by petitioning their section who then petitioned the state DTP for the final approval. The contract was given to a company called AGM. When asked about shellfish concerns Tara Riley's answer was that the hatchery is treating the dredging as they would any other event that may be perceived as harmful. PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT No Public comment OLD BUSINESS Mondays Seal Forum — discussion: HSAB discussed briefly what was talked about at the recent Civic League seal forum. The migration of seals to Nantucket, as well as our similarity in size to Sable Island was brought up. The decline in striped bass off of Madaket was also discussed. NEW BUSINESS Shellfish Management Plan Implementation Committee — HSAB member selection: The Board voted unanimously to elect Dr. Boyce to the Shellfish Management Plan Implementation Committee. The motion was made by Ms. McCrae, seconded by Mr. Connors and unanimously approved. PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT No public comment RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING ADJOURN Motion was made by Mr. Glowacki, seconded by Ms. McCrae and unanimously approved. Future Meetings: June 0'. June 18th Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board June 4, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. Conference Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road Members present: Peter Brace (Chair), Wendy McCrae, Dr. Peter Boyce, Doug Smith, Members Absent: Chuck Connors, Michael Glowacki, Bill Blount Marine Dept: Chief Bill Pittman Natural Resources Dept. Jeff Carlson, Tara Riley CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 5:03 P.M. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Unanimously approved. APPROVAL OF MINUTES No minutes to be approved. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT SBRW Update: The Committee is finished with updating the bycatch regulations. The limit will be no more than 5% of the catch of the target species. The scallop regulations are also finished. The main changes are that dredge weights will be reduced to 35 pounds total. No extra weight will be allowed. This is a measure to protect the eelgrass. The next meeting will be June 6. MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT: Harbormaster Sheila Lucey was not able to be present owing to the exigencies of having to get navigation buoys placed by the deadline set by the Coast Guard. However she sent a detailed written report and a list of her activities during this spring as she has worked to repair the extensive damage from last winter's storms. The entire building at the Town Dock was flooded out, the standing pier lost 200 dock boards, and the floating dock snapped in 9 places. The department staff, which is now down to three people, had to deal with all of this as well as complete all normal preparations for the season. The building had to be stripped to the studs and sheetrocked and painted. That and the repairs to the standing pier were completed in house by the Marine Department staff. In closing, Ms. Lucey pointed out that the Town Pier and facilities have not experienced this amount of damage in over 20 years. The Board applauded Ms. Lucey for her ability to get these extensive repairs done by the opening of the season. To get ready for the Figawi weekend the pumpout facilities had to be repaired, including the sewer pipe under the full 872 foot length of the Town Pier, and the five floating dinghy docks had to be launched and put in place. There were no significant incidents with the Figawi race itself. However, during the weekend, there were two rescues from life threatening situations which had to be made during early evening and night. Chief Pittman recounted the circumstances of each one and reported that the rescue protocol 1 worked effectively, with the Police and Marine Departments working in close - coordination. NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT Summer staff: Leah Cabral is in charge of the water quality sampling program. The other interns are Shaun Lafferty, David Berry, and Douglas Smith. Activity and plans: The May water quality sampling has been completed. The Department is now also sampling the bathing beaches for fecal coliform which the Health Department used to do. Doug Smith will be working on the seed stranding protocols, as well as moving seed in the shallow areas where they would be at risk of being washed ashore in a storm. The Nantucket Shellfish Association has donated three new floating Upwellers (FLUPSY) One of them has been assembled. The GHYC /Nantucket Land Council grant has been used to purchase the parts for a new downweller system for raising seed at the smallest sizes. Presently there are Nantucket spawned quahogs in that system. They have reached a size of 400 microns (0.4 mm). As a backup, Tara has ordered an additional 40,000 quahog seed from a commercial hatchery. In addition she has 10,000 oysters in the FLUPSY, in an experiment to monitor oyster growth under local conditions. The first bay scallop spawn will be tomorrow (June 5). The larvae will be released in 5th and 2 "d Bends when they are ready to settle. The proposal to expand the areas for aquaculture will be presented to the BOS tomorrow for their approval. OLD BUSINESS Funding for a Year -round Town Biologist: Since three members of the Board were absent, this topic was deferred to the next meeting. NEW BUSINESS Douglas Smith and Peter Boyce both noted that the number of moorings in productive scallop beds is growing. Both of them pointed out that the traditional moorings cause extensive damage to the eelgrass, which does not get a chance to grow back. They asked that this topic be discussed at an upcoming meeting. PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT As no public was present, there was no Public Comment. RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 6:20pm Future Meetings: July 2 and August 6, 2013 Respectfully submitted, Peter Boyce, Secretary pro tem. 2