HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-12-3Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board
December 3'd, 2013 at 5:00 p.m.
Community Room, 4 Fairgrounds Road
Members present: Peter Brace (Chair), Chuck Connors, Wendy McCree, Bill Blount,
Dr. Peter Boyce, Michael Glowacki, Doug Smith
Members Absent:
Marine Dept: Police Chief Bill Pittman
Natural Resources Dept. Jeff Carlson
Others: W.T.I. Students
CALL TO ORDER
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Amendment to Agenda: Worcester Polytechnic Institute student presentation will be
moved up to after the Natural Resources report.
Motion to approve agenda as amended was made by Mr. Connors, seconded by Ms.
McCrea and unanimously approved
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion to approve the November 5th HSAB meeting minutes made by Ms. McCrea
seconded by Mr. Smith unanimously approved (Dr. Boyce and Michael Glowacki
abstained)
Approval of the November 19th HSAB meeting minutes: Dr. Boyce informed the
Board that there was an error regarding a specific scuba diving regulation, and that it be
corrected before approval. A motion to approve the minutes as amended was made by
Michael Glowacki, Seconded by Dr. Boyce and unanimously approved (Ms. McCrea
and Mr. Connors abstained)
CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
Venue Change for December 17th HSAB meeting: The meeting will be held at the 5pm
in the training room at 2 Fairgrounds road.
MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT:
No MD report.
NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT
Scallop seasons update — Jeff Carlson: There has been one missed day due to
temperature, approximately 5,000 bushels have been taken to date, averaging about 250
bushels per day. The scallop fleet is divided up pretty evenly; Madaket and town have
around the same amount of boats fishing between them.
Nov. 24/25 seed standing — update — Jeff Carlson, Doug Smith —
A small stranding event of approximately 100 bushels was observed and dealt with by the
NRD. The stranding was considered to be a Category 1 stranding based on the seed
management plan and occurred around the Wauwinut area. The scallops were mostly
dead due to the cold air temperature but as an experiment Mr. Smith did manage to get
some into a cage and back in the water to see if they would make any kind of recovery.
PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT / NATURAL RESOURCES
REPORT
No Public comment
OLD BUSINESS
Staffing shortage at the Marine Dept: Chief Pittman —Chief Pittman told the board the
MD has no staffing shortage and they are running on the staff that they feel is appropriate.
Chief Pittman also explained the new role the Police Department and Fire Department
will be playing in regards to the Marine Department. The NPD has started a program
where officers will become qualified in helping out with search and rescue for the MD.
The first group of police officers have begun training and once completed will be
required to complete 40 hours of exercises and drills. The goal is to always have a 3
person rescue team, one to control the boat and two to focus on the rescue. Officer
Coakley is going to be the NPD's face for the Marine Department program. The officers
will be given Coast Guard certification upon completion. This program will be launched
district wide with Nantucket being the first.
SMP Committee Status — Jeff Carlson: The SMPIC is moving forward, hoping for 7
people on this committee and the first attempt at getting people signed up only resulted in
4 applicants. It's possible that the SMPIC will only be a 5 person committee to get the
ball rolling.
Full -Time Town Biologist position — Continuing this discussion next meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
W.P.I. Students presentation on Nitrogen in the harbor — The students gave a short
presentation about a report that they will be giving on December 18`h. The students
focused purely on Nitrates; taking the data from the past 20 years from the different
testing location around the harbor and they will be putting the data into excel
spreadsheets and making graphs to look for seasonal and long term trends. The format
being used make adding new data very easy whether its nitrates, phosphorus or any other
nutrient. The template being created by the W.P.I. students will also be used by our own
water quality biologist and future data can be added to create current graphs so that the
public and read and understand the data.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENT
No public comment
RECAP and ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING
Full -Time Biologist Meeting
Seed Area Mapping and Stranding Protocol
ADJOURN
Motion Made by Mr. Glowacki, seconded by Ms. McCrea and unanimously approved.
Future Meetings:
January 7t"
January 21st
Respectfully Submitted
Chuck Connors, Secretary