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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-5-175/19/11 5:34 PM Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 4:30 p.m. Conference Room, 2 Fairgrounds Road Members present: Dr. Peter Boyce, Wendy McRae, Robert Rank, Peter Brace and Willis Blount Members Absent: Michael Glowacki, Doug Smith Marine Dept: Tara Riley Natural Resources Dept: BOS: Whitey Willauer Others: Ted Lambrect, Helen Cheng CALL TO ORDER Call to Order at 4:35 p.m. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Lamenting Mr. Glowacki's absence and reporting that Mr. Smith would be in attendance at the May 17 meeting, Dr. Boyce queried the board on whether to elect officers at that time. After Ms. McRae's insistence that elections are important, that Mr. Brace should be afforded a full board for his first officer election and that a full board is vital for election of officers, Mr. Brace stated he would miss the June 7 meeting and wouldn't be present until the June 21 meeting. Ms. McCrae indicated that would still work. Mr. Rank and Mr. Blount indicated they could vote either with or without a full board. Mr. Brace, however, agreed to accept the nomination for secretary and indicated that he didn't require the full board be present to vote on his nomination. At Ms. McRae's query, Mr. Willauer indicated that since the board had a quorum it could legally vote on secretary nominations. Ms. McRae said since there was someone who wanted to be secretary that the board should proceed with this part of the election and nominated Mr. Brace. Mr. Blount seconded. Mr. Brace was unanimously elected secretary and the board agreed to hold off on the election of chairman and vice chairman until a full board was present. The remaining agenda was accepted unanimously. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of May 3 were approved unanimously. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT Dr. Boyce introduced his summer intern, Helen Cheng and announced they had already begun to set out spat bags. Dr. Boyce reminded the board of the Nantucket Shellfish Association meeting on May 24 at 5 p.m. at 4 Fairgrounds Road. The speaker will be Dr. Mark Green of St. Joseph's College on acidification of the oceans and he is holding a workshop on measuring acidification of sediments on May 25 that Dr. Boyce and Ms. Riley planned to attend. Dr. Boyce said that there is hydrogen sulfide in the mud at the top of Folger's Marsh, which makes the water very acidic from plant material decomposition. MARINE DEPARTMENT REPORT: NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT — Tara Riley Propagation Report: Ms. Riley reported that for propagation, she installed the new larval tanks paid for with Nantucket Shellfish Association funds and that they'll be ready to go later in the week of May 15 -21. She also reported that she did a bay scallop spawn on May 8 that went pretty well. She indicated that temperature control in the room where she's spawning would be her biggest challenge but that she'll be able to handle it. Ms. Riley announced that her interns would be starting the last week of May. Neil Cocker is the fishermen intern, a girl from Nova Southeastern in Florida will be another intern and returning intern Steve Heck is doing water quality at the lab this summer. She indicated that the Mark Green workshop on May 25 is open to everyone and that participants should contact Ms. Riley ASAP. Ms. Riley reported that Mr. Lambrecht's DMF public hearing for his aquaculture lease is June 18, 2011 and his proposal will be advertised in the Inquirer & Mirror on June 2 and 9. Ms. Riley reported that she encouraged Andy Ryder to apply for a mini -grant for a research farm through the Southeastern Massachusetts Aquaculture Center. Mr. Ryder was selected by SEMAC as a rep from Nantucket. He'll be working with SEMAC in the Head of the Harbor raising oysters, a collaboration with aquaculture farmers from various parts of Cape Cod. Update on revised shellfish aquaculture lease procedures: Ms. Riley reported that for the aquaculture guidelines of the Shellfish Management Plan, herself, Dr. Boyce and Cormac Collier of the Nantucket Land Council met. They made revisions and the biggest changes are a standard confidential reporting form that is a biannual report (twice a year) on how they're doing. They also defined the term "actively worked ". Ms. Riley indicated that the SMP would review the proposed revisions at its next meeting. They are still working on creating a standard form for reporting and they will be tailoring the standard commercial fishing application to one specifically for aquaculture applicants, but this is still being discussed. Dr. Boyce asked if language on a pre - application meeting would be included. Ms. Riley indicated that this was under #4 in bold and that the application fee is still being discussed. Ms. McRae asked Ms. Riley where SHAB was represented in the aquaculture guidelines of the Shellfish Management Plan. Ms. Riley indicated under #5 and that it would be amended to include "SHAB review ". Mr. Willauer asked if the confidentiality would be restricted to the Marine Department and not SHAB. Ms. Riley said they're dealing with people with private businesses and other than a general status update, the rest should be confidential. Ms. Riley clarified that they want to know what shellfish seed is being purchased, where it's coming from, what they're planting and what they're harvesting. She added that it's easy in the Head of the Harbor to keep track by counting cages. They want to make sure the farmers are being responsible. Dr. Boyce indicated that SHAB can get reports from Marine Department and that the board would get involved if someone's not actively working their site, but not get involved with managing what people are doing. Ms. Riley reported that they would go through aquaculture SMP guidelines with the BOS and bring back the revised version to SHAB. The overall SMP guidelines would be approved by SHAB and the BOS. Dr. Boyce asked that the application procedure be spelled out in the aquaculture guidelines and Ms. Riley agreed and reminded the board that the guidelines weren't final. In reference to Mr. Lambrecht's application, Dr. Boyce and Ms. McRae requested to review it before the board's June 7 meeting before the BOS sees it. Ms. Riley agreed. Ms. McRae indicated she had issues with a lot of the guidelines. Ms. Riley assured her there was plenty of time to address them. Dr. Boyce reiterated that the application procedure needs to be spelled out in the SMP. Mr. Brace indicated that the board has until June 18 when the BOS is to vote on the SMP to comment/make changes. Dr. Boyce admitted confusion over what guidelines Mr. Lambrecht should follow now. Ms. Riley indicated that there were no real changes, except his lease, which will be for three years at the end of which the Marine Dept. and SHAB would review it for a possible extension. Dr. Boyce indicated that guidelines now specifies applicant requirements, that the general procedure would spelled out and that this is why neither SHAB nor BOS is listed in this because it was conceived of for a different purpose. Ms. Riley indicated they could include a timeline and checklist of what applicants are required to do. In response to Mr. Willauer's query on length of aquaculture lease from the town, Ms. Riley agreed to research it. In response to Mr. Rank's query as to whether the farmers report to the state, she indicated yes and Mr. Lambrecht confirmed monthly reports to the state. Dr. Boyce asked Ms. Riley when Assistant Harbormaster Sheila Lucy would be setting navigational buoys in Madaket and Ms. Riley indicated she didn't know. Ms. McRae asked Ms. Riley about other aquaculture lease applicants mentioned at the last meeting. Ms. Riley reported that one of them is currently out of the state and the other did not return the application yet. Ms. McRae indicated that her only concern was that no one be slighted, but that now her concern had been sated. Dr. Boyce thanked Mr. Lambrecht for helping the board work through revising the guidelines while he geared up for his first aquaculture season. He added that they opted out of getting into subleasing guidelines that states including New York have because of the length of the procedure. PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE DEPARTMENT NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT OLD BUSINESS Shellfish Management Plan report: Ms. Riley indicated that committee's last meeting was cancelled. The next meeting was to be sometime during the week of May 22 -28. She continued that the committee is in the process of reviewing the draft of recommendations. They went through first half at the last meeting and were supposed to be reviewing the second half prior to the meeting that was cancelled. Use of Pyrethrin: Dr. Boyce reported to the board he'd asked Mr. Brace to research the insecticide, Pyrethrin and its affects because the town no longer has a mosquito control program, which has led to homeowners and homeowners associations using it on their own to control mosquitoes and that SHAB is concerned about its affects on shellfish. Mr. Brace reported that Pyrethrin is a natural contact insecticide made from the ground -up flowers of the pyrethrum daisies, that it's s moderately toxic to animals, the standard mixture for application is 1% Pyrethrin, 99% water and that it is toxic to fish and shellfish. He added that when Piperonyl butoxide, a synergist, is added to Pyrethrin, it produces a mixture that's deadlier by not allowing the insect's system to detoxify the Pyrethrin. Dr. Boyce indicated that Pyrethrin breaks down in salt water, but its half life is 12 days, so after 12 days, half of it's still in the water, that it's very toxic to small shrimp eaten by fish, toxic to larval fish and sees no reason to believe that it isn't toxic to larval shellfish. And that oysters are fairly resistant to it in their adult stage. Dr. Boyce suggested that SHAB consider recommending to the BOS that it raise the funds necessary to restart the town's mosquito control program to prevent the private sector from dangerous overapplication of Pyrethrin. Mr. Willauer reported that the Board of Health is going to be discussing mosquito control at its meeting on May 24 and recommended that SHAB attend that meeting to recommend that the town resume its mosquito control program. Dr. Boyce reported that the town maintains its mosquito ditches to combat the pests. Mr. Brace added that the town also used to drop the larvacide Alticid into all public bodies of water and those private ones it could get access to. Dr. Boyce indicated that the board needs more information on this issue. Ms. McRae asked if the town stopped its program because of opposition. Mr. Rank asked what chemical the town is using now. Mr. Brace responded that the town's program is defunct, but it was using Alticid. Dr. Boyce indicated that Mr. Collier recommended Alticid. He added that Collier would be at this meeting and would likely be representing the board's feelings, as the Land Council is aligned with SHAB's protection shellfish concerns. Mr. Willauer indicated that he would attend this meeting and report back to the board on its proceedings. NEW BUSINESS Review of Scallop Apprentice Program: Dr. Boyce reported that last year's apprentices recommended that new apprentices be given checklists of what they're expected to learn. He then queried the board as to whether to leave the program as is or would it like to recommend changes. Mr. Blount indicated that safety, where to fish, when to fish, on- the -water courtesy and how to make it work financially are all good things for the list. Mr. Rank said he recalled that Harbormaster Dave Fronzuto had planned to write such a checklist and Dr. Boyce said the board should encourage Mr. Fronzuto to do the checklist. Ms McRae indicated that the board did vote on a time limit and that she felt 40 days might be too long. Last winter, the board had approved apprentice Chuck Connors' finishing of apprenticeship at 22 days because his mentor said he was ready. Mr. Blount said there is a certain amount of learning the hard way. Ms. Riley indicated that the checklist should be all about safety and that it was up to the mentor what knowledge they want to impart. Mr. Rank agreed with Ms. Riley that the checklist should be about safety, but that there should also be a time limit, but that 40 days may be a bit long, that the apprentices need to learn courtesy and how to identify seed. Mr. Brace suggested that with his first season behind him, speaking with Mr. Connors to see how his 22 days of apprenticeship went and how much he learned. Mr. Rank indicated that the mentor Mr. Connors fished with didn't fish everyday, so he got his 22 days in two month's time, so that was, at least in Mr. Rank's mind, one of the extenuating circumstances with Mr. Connors. He added that 40 days is a little long that maybe 30 would be better. Mr. Blount added that going with another guy means not making much money and 40 days might be a long time to go without decent income and one of the reasons for this program is to recruit more young people into scalloping. Mr. Rank disagreed, indicating that as long as there are fish/scallops in the water and money to be made, there's going to be people going after them. He added that the industry is balancing out and that as people get out of it, new fishermen, young or old, take their place. Mr. Blount suggested that Mr. Fronzuto and Ms. Lucy offer some sort of safety course for young scallopers. The board agreed to continue this discussion to the next meeting. Recap and Items for Next Meeting: Dr. Boyce will talk to Mr. Collier about pressing SHAB's concerns about the use Pyrethrin at the May 24 BOH meeting. Mr. Willauer recommended that Dr. Boyce speak with Richard Ray about this issue as well. Adjournment: 5:45 p.m. Next Meetings: June 7 and June 21 Respectfully submitted, Peter B. Brace, Secretary