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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-3-6Nantucket Harbor & Shellfish Advisory Board Minutes of Meeting held March 6, 2012 Approved: Conference Room, 2 Fairgrounds Road Call to Order at 4:35 p.m. Members Present: Dr. Peter Boyce, Doug Smith, Wendy McCrae, Bob Rank, Bill Blount, Peter Brace Members Absent: Michael Glowacki Marine Dept: Dave Fronzuto, Tara Riley, Dwayne Dougan BOS: Whitey Willauer Others: Matt Herr, Richie Holdgate, John Logan, Steve Bender, Bobby DeCosta, Chris Gordon, Tim Mooney, Ken Brasfield, Joe Dooley, Ron Shepherd, Chuck Stojak andother scallopers whose names were not given. Approval of Agenda: Unanimously approved. Approval of Minutes: Not ready. Chairman's Report: Doug Smith Mr. Fronzuto distributed the town's meeting remote access information. Mr. DeCosta explained how the remote participation works through phone, video and letters and how there has to be a quorum for members to participate in meetings remotely. Marine Department Report: Mr. Fronzuto reported that 17,150 bushels had been harvested as of this meeting. Scallopers did not go on March 6 because it was below 28 degrees at 6:30 a.m. Old Business: No old business. New Business: Aquaculture lease application — Matt Herr Mr. Fronzuto announced an application from Mr. Herr to lease four acres of a 30 -acre area in the Head of the Harbor near where Bruce Murray, Simone Edwards and Andy Roberts are currently growing out shellfish to grow oysters, leaving 12 acres open of that plot. Mr. Herr said his next step to investigate floating cage systems for his operation. He plans to start with 10 cages, but he won't be operational until 2013. Mr. Rank motioned that the board approve Mr. Hen's application. Mr. Brace seconded. The board voted unanimously to approve Mr. Hen's application. He now needs the Board of Selectmen to grant him the lease of town land in the harbor and finally, approval from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Seed taking/Closures Mr. Smith said he and Mr. Fronzuto discussed implementing a traditional area closure; an area south of a line from Abram's Point to the mouth of Polpis Harbor, Mr. Smith said he spent a week fishing in this area recently but moved out of there because so much of his catch was seed. He did not try fishing east Folger's Marsh in the hole outside of the field station, but did see one boat fishing in there. Mr. Smith said he spoke with this fishermen who said there were still a fair amount of adults in this area. Mr. Holdgate acknowledged that when he went in close to shore in this proposed closure area there is a ton of seed, but he also said there are still a lot of adults in among the dead eelgrass in certain spots in deeper water along the edge between the sweet meats and the codium. Mr. Smith acknowledged Mr. Holdgate's testimony and agreed with him. Ms. McCrae noted that Mr. Smith needed to hear from HSAB members first before letting members of the public speak. Mr. Smith asked to hear from HSAB members before continuing with public comments. Mr. Rank agreed that there an unknown number of adults along the edge in the codium and as a result of several blows, if the proposed area is closed, access to these adult scallops is cut off. He added that he hadn't been taking seed and that he is depending on being able to fish in this area because a day's pay crucial to him. He continued that he hated to see an area closed and that because there so few scallopers still going, it's easy for the shellfish warden to check their catches when they come in. He said he didn't think a closure is necessary. Mr. Blount asked if it blows really hard out of the southwest, west, where are scallopers going to fish? He added that closing this area would cut back on the number of days scallopers have to fish. Mr. Brace asked if the specific area could be marked. Mr. Smith said that hasn't been done before. Ms. McCrae asked if this was an enforcement issue and Mr. Smith said it's protection of seed but said he wouldn't be discussing enforcement at this meeting. Ms. McCrae said that if scallopers are harvesting seed, then that's illegal and it becomes an enforcement issue. Mr. Fronzuto said his department is giving an inordinate numbers of days off for seed - taking and that scallopers have told him about seed -heavy areas including 4t' and 5t' bends and Jackson Point, but the area being considered for closure. Mr. DeCosta said it's late in the season to be handing out penalties for taking seed and asked what they were. Mr. Fronzuto said the penalties in order and a day off, a week off and then a fine, but he agreed that it's too late in the season to be penalizing scallopers for taking seed and that there aren't that many guys going. Mr. Gordon said there is a lot of seed and nubs in or near the area proposed for closure. Mr. Fronzuto reiterated that he had been getting complaints about 4t' Bend and added that in front of Folger's Marsh is also loaded with seed. Mr. Gordon said it wasn't worth it for him to be culling through a dredge of seed to get a half a basket. He added that he spent a week in this area after fishing in Madaket for a while and that when scallopers get down to a bushel of adults for entire drag of all their dredges, more damage than good is being done by killing a lot of seed. He stopped fishing this area for that reason and supports the closure to protect the large seed. Mr. Dooley said there's no need for a closure because there are so few guys still going — 10 or less — and that all scallopers should land at town pier so their catches can be checked. Mr. Shepherd said closure really isn't the issue but enforcement at the shanty level; in the long -term, he recommended that the shellfish wardens start checking the shanties more regularly and holding their owners accountable. Mr. Fronzuto said that he did get calls from shanties in December and January about seed and he said there are still people from shanties who regularly call in about seed showing up in fishermen's boxes in their shanties. He added that he does call the offending scallopers and give them days of when warranted. Mr. Brace said the seed shouldn't be allowed to reach the shanties at all. Mr. Shepherd said scallopers have a responsibility to police themselves and to remove some of the strain from the Marine Department. Mr. Brace asked if the scallopers in the room were all the ones still fishing and if not, where the intentional seed takers were. He added that if these were in fact everyone still fishing, he thought there shouldn't be a seed problem from that date forward since an awareness of seed - taking had been brought to light. Mr. DeCosta said that in "a perfect world ", he would agree with Mr. Brace. He agreed with Mr. Gordon that with three weeks left in the season it doesn't make sense to keep dredging up seed that is the following season's harvest, but he added that also saw Mr. Rank's point that getting a day's pay shouldn't be messed with. Mr. DeCosta suggested that the penalties be stiffened by scallopers getting three days off and their catch returned to the harbor. Mr. Dougan said this would cause scallopers to increase their pressure on the harbor bottom to find adults among the seed while killing a lot of seed and eelgrass. Mr. DeCosta said that areas with 70 -90% seed should be closed. Mr. Fronzuto said that Mr. Dougan already has the flexibility to penalize scallopers with up to five days off. Mr. Gordon said penalized scallopers might go right back out and take seed, but Mr. Fronzuto said none of the scallopers given days off this season were repeat offenders. Mr. Rank said since guys were given days off for fishing in the area in question, no one's been in there to fish. He added that he didn't think any scallopers would be scallop in there after this discussion since most of those still fishing were in attendance. He agreed with Mr. Shepherd's belief that fishermen don't police each other as much as they use to. Mr. Smith said he thought that every fishermen in attendance who was fishing in March is doing it for a living and that for his part, he depends on fishing in the codium because that's where he finds adult scallops this in the season. Mr. Smith added he is hearing a lot of support for greater enforcement and for protecting the seed. Mr. Smith suggested a closure of an area marked by buoys that is 95% seed encompassed by a north -south line intersected by a line running east from Abram's Point and that Dougan randomly empty bushels into a fish tote to look for seed. Mr. Fronzuto agreed with Mr. Shepherd that more enforcement should be concentrated on the shanties. Mr. DeCosta admitted that there isn't enough time left in the season to make these changes. However, he suggested the Marine Department could dredge areas known to have seed in them on weekends to gauge the amount of seed in these areas and then close them off when a pre - determined percentage is reached. Mr. Fronzuto said this is good constructive discussion to be having with Ms. Riley producing so much larvae and dumping it into the harbor. Mr. Brasfield asked if there was difference between enforcement on seed and seed entering the gray area between seed and adults. Mr. Fronzuto said scallopers with more than 5% seed have their catch returned to the harbors and that days off can increase depending on how much of their catch is seed. Mr. Mooney (diver) said that when many are scallopers are working an area with lots of seed, their culled seed end up in piles on the bottom, which end up killing that seed. He added that the Marine Department should also factor in eelgrass density when considering where to put relocated seed because without the eelgrass, they won't survive, but if it's too dense, the eelgrass can smother the seed. Mr. Mooney added that too many scallopers dredging an area also scours away eelgrass and Mr. DeCosta noted that this happened one year when there was a lot of adults north of Tuckernuck, and that it took five years for it to grow back in. Mr. Bender said it only took on year. Mr. Logan said education should be an equal part of progressive prevention of seed taking. Mr. Fronzuto said the board and the scallopers also need to discuss moving seed. Mr. Smith asked what people thought of his closure idea. Mr. Dooley said he's fishing because he likes fishing and said he assumed most of those in room felt the same way. He added that because Nantucket is a small community, it should be fairly easy for the fleet to police itself and if not, he reiterated, all scallopers should be required to be checked at the town pier. Mr. Smith said his closure area would solve all the problems mentioned and ensure that a healthy biomass survives to produce more scallops. Ms. McCrae said that she liked what Mr. Logan said and that she would like to think that all scallopers present are responsible fishermen, that they walk out the meeting more educated than before and that the seed - taking would work itself out for the remainder of the season. She added that she liked Mr. DeCosta's idea of checking the amount of seed in a given area and that she wouldn't support a closure of an area that might still produce adult scallops, hurting scallopers financially. Mr. DeCosta reminded Ms. McCrae that she's member of an advisory board that advises the marine superintendent and the selectmen, and reiterated his suggestion for sampling known seed -dense areas in an effort to close them if necessary. Ms. McCrae, in reference to Mr. Mooney's observation that overdredging is killing eelgrass, suggested Ms. Riley also starting planting eelgrass. Mr. Smith said the Nantucket Land Council is already planting eelgrass in front of Folger's Marsh as part of a pilot program and that an enhancement of water quality is where such efforts need to be directed. Mr. Brace asked for comments on the proposed closure area that Mr. Fronzuto outlined on a zoning map in the meeting room. Mr. Herr said it's important that seed areas be identified so closures happen as a matter of course when necessary and that there should be some kind of threshold of seed showing up in shanties beyond which enforcement is increased to deal with this situation and closures are actuated. Mr. Bender said he agreed with closing seed -heavy areas and that enforcement must be in the shanties including the six commercial ones because there is a lot of seed in them right now. He also agreed with Mr. Logan's call for more education about seed. Mr. Rank said shellfish wardens must police private shanties as well. Mr. Bender agreed with Mr. Rank, but added that most of the harvest is opened in commercial shanties. Mr. Blount agreed with Mr. Smith's idea to mark closed areas with buoys. Mr. Stojak said he's fished the area in question but not in two months. He said it's full of slime now, that near -shore area is fished out, that scallopers can only get a bushel per town and that it's time to protect this area. He added that there's seed all over the over, even in 5h bend where he's never seen it before and down the south side of Pocomo. Mr. Smith said he agreed with Mr. Stojak and he would be taking Ms. Riley out a lot in the coming weeks to show here all these spots. Ms. Riley said she is not involved enforcement and that it's not her intention to close all the areas mentioned, but as biologist, she wants to protect it. However, she wanted all the scallopers to come this meeting and agree on a plan that works for all. She asked the scallopers in attendance to tell her where they've found large concentrations of seed and she'll find a way to protect it, and also, before they pull their boats for the season that they help her move seed. Mr. DeCosta said the areas that need closing now should be closed, that seed should be redistributed around the harbor from dense areas and that HSAB should generate a percentage threshold beyond which an area is deemed seed heavy and should be closed. He added that seed - movers need to be experienced enough to know that they don't just dump the contents of their culling board overboard, but spread the seed around. Mr. Smith agreed with Mr. DeCosta and said it must decided whether seed is being moved for recruitment or yield, which will determine where the seed is relocated to. Mr. Smith encouraged the scallopers to contact or go see Ms. Riley and Mr. Fronzuto when they find seed or have ideas on how to better the fishery. Mr. Shepherd said enforcement is too big a topic to deal with at one meeting and that a plan needs to be formulated before the next season so the board and the Marine Department can react to situations like this one. Mr. Fronzuto said he will put buoys out to mark off the area closed to seed discussed at the meeting. Herring fishery protection /Striped bass legislation — Bobby DeCosta Mr. DeCosta said he didn't think the bill banning commercial harvesting of striped bass would get out of committee. On Amendment 5 dealing with herring restrictions in Area 1B encompassing zone from Monomoy Island up into the Gulf of Maine, which is the herring that Nantucket's striped bass live on, DeCosta said that amendment would require 100% observer coverage on mid -water trawlers at all times and daily catch reports. He added that the season opened Jan. 1 and the quota was put in place on March 1, and that 152,000,000 pounds have already been caught. Mr. DeCosta said the herring fishery is closed now and that he's going present this information to the selectmen at their meeting on March 7. He continued that the herring fishermen went over the quota on purposed because they knew of this proposed amendment. Mr. Smith proposed that he write a letter with Mr. DeCosta in support of Amendment 5. Ms. McCrae motioned to that effect and Mr. Rank seconded her motion. The board voted unanimously to have Mr. Smith help Mr. DeCosta write this letter. Recap and Items for Next Meeting: Adjournment: Next Meetings: March 20 and April 3 Respectfully submitted, Peter B. Brace, Secretary