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Channel Islands NMS: Chris Mobley-ABSENT
Gulf of the Farallones NMS: Brady Phillips
Cordell Bank NMS: Dan Howard-ABSENT
Elkhorn Slough NERR: Becky Christensen-ABSENT
Monterey Bay NMS: William J. Douros

Meg Delano-At-large
Steve Shimek-Conservation
Phil Jenkins-CA State Parks
Michael Bekker-Tourism
Anjanette Adams-Business/Industry
Steve Clark-Education
Gary Pezzi-Recreation
Tim Frahm-Agriculture
Harriet Mitteldorf-At-large

I. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, ELECTION OF NEW OFFICERS

WELCOME

The Mayor of the City of Pacific Grove, Morris Fisher and Carol Baker Raj, Director of Admissions for Canterbury Woods, welcomed the Advisory Council to the City of Pacific Grove and Canterbury Woods. Mayor Fisher introduced Pacific Grove Council member Don Gasperson who was sitting in the audience.

SWEAR IN OF NEW MEMBERS

Bill Douros swore in the five new Advisory Council members: Nancy Black, Business/Industry primary, Anjanette Adams, Business/Industry alternate, Gary Pezzi, Recreation alternate, Tim Frahm, Agriculture alternate, Steve Clark, Education alternate.

INTRODUCTION OF NEW MEMBERS

Each of the five new Advisory Council members gave a brief history of themselves and the reason they applied for the Advisory Council.

APPROVAL OF 4/2/04 DRAFT MEETING NOTES

MOTION: (Passed)
The SAC adopted the minutes from the April 2, 2004 Sanctuary Advisory Council meeting with no changes.

Motion introduced by Stephanie Harlan, seconded by Chris Harrold
(Vote: 17 in favor, 0 opposed (unanimous))

BILL’S TRIP TO ITALY

Bill spoke briefly regarding his six-month assignment to Italy. He explained that he was going as part of a new International Studies and Collaboration Management Program to evaluate Italy’s approach and strategies to managing marine areas. He will return in January 2005. Holly Price will be acting Superintendent while Bill carries out the temporary assignment.

II. PUBLIC COMMENT FOR ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA

Deborah Streeter, Advisory Council chair, made note of the death of former Advisory Council member, Tony Warman (former Business alternate for 2001-2004). She read from his obituary that donations on his behalf should be made to the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation.

Roy Thomas, President for the Carmel River Steelhead Association, expressed his concerns regarding the threatened coho salmon and the endangered steelhead salmon. He asked that the sanctuary give these species and others like it high priority when doing research and undergoing management efforts. He commented that the sanctuary had been given $50,000 by the National Marine Fisheries Service salmon education, but little has been done here on the coast regarding restoration and protection of these species.

Kathy Fosmark, representative for the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries, asked why, out of the seven applicants for the Business/Industry seat, the one endorsed by representatives of the business community was not chosen. Stephanie Harlan, a recruitment subcommittee member, commented that the subcommittee did not feel the person endorsed by some members of the business community was an appropriate candidate for the business seat because he was not actively running or owning a business. She stated that this person was a wonderful representative, but in another category such as research.

John Fischer, Sanctuary Education Panel member and Pacific Grove resident, commented on Bill’s earlier mention of the telepresence at the Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, CT. As a Monterey Bay Aquarium volunteer, he commented that it is an opportunity to tell visitors that creatures in Monterey Bay are being seen across the country.

Steve Shimek, Conservation alternate and Executive Director for the Otter Project, announced the spring sea otter count will be out by June 18th. When reading the report on the count, Steve suggested that an influencing factor is the weather conditions at the time of the report. He also noted that dead strandings are at an all time high (up 103% in a 10 year average) and that pup counts for the spring and fall were the lowest as a percentage of the population.

Beth Dieveney, Save Our Shores, extended an invitation to a workshop they will be hosting, Mountains to Marine Reserves. This workshop is designed to inform watershed groups about marine protected areas. The workshop will be held on Tuesday, June 15th at the Seymour Discovery Center from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. Admittance is free.

III. JOINT MANAGEMENT PLAN REVIEW

ACTION PLAN BUDGET ESTIMATES

Sean Morton, Management Plan Coordinator, presented the Advisory Council with an Excel spreadsheet outlining the budget estimates for each action plan that will be contained within the Draft Management Plan. He explained that the numbers were just estimates based on staff’s analysis of what it would take to implement the plans. He expressed that these summaries were not yet complete and that information on staffing levels, field operation costs and additional direct costs needed to be added.

Sean explained that staff was seeking the Advisory Council’s input on prioritizing the strategies and/or activities to aid in phasing of their implementation. This prioritization was needed because it was unlikely that funding would be available to implement all of the action plans right away. A subcommittee, consisting of Steve Shimek, Frank Degnan, Paul Reilly, Robert Frischmuth, Nancy Black, Chris Harrold, Kirk Schimdt, Dan Haifley, Mike Laffen and Mike Bekker, was formed to develop a process and criteria for the Advisory Council to use at its August meeting to help the MBNMS prioritize the implementation of the action plans. The subcommittee will meet on July 9th.

Advisory Council members asked several questions, such as:

Q: Why the variability in number of staff?
A: The number of staff depends on what projects are being done that year.

Q: To help defray some of the cost, has charging for the visitor center been discussed?
A: It has been discussed, but as a federal facility built with government/ public dollars, charging may not be possible or appropriate. There will be a book/gift store that will generate some money to help pay for salaries for visitor center employees.

Q: After year five will you have to let people go?
A: The reality of the staffing will be that we won’t hire as many from the get go and stagger them so we aren’t bringing them on and letting them go.

Q: Is the cost of the new boat included in this estimate?
A: The cost of building it is not, but the staffing and maintenance is reflected.

IV. MBNMS UPDATES

Bill gave brief updates on each of the following projects:

Environmental Hero Awards

• MBNMS nominated two of the 30 recipients recognized nationwide; Monterey Bay Kayaks was recognized for their sustained contributions to the environmental community and MBNMS over the past ten years and Hannah Nevins, candidate at Moss Landing Marine Labs, was recognized for her work coordinating the BeachCOMBERS effort for the past several years.

Coastal Sediment Master Plan

• A Sediment Master Plan is being prepared by the Resources Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The plan focuses on developing an implementation strategy for integrated, state-wide solutions to sediment management problems. The MBNMS and AMBAG co-hosted a workshop at the request of the State Resources Agency.

Urban Runoff Workshop

• This workshop addressed state permitting requirements, storm water programs and Best Management Practices (BMPs) that can be implemented to improve water quality. It was sponsored by the Sanctuary's Water Quality Protection Program, led by Chris Coburn, in coordination with AMBAG, the California Coastal Commission, the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and several local jurisdictions.

Desalination Workshop

• This workshop, entitled “Be Smart About Desal,” covered topics including: introduction and background to desalination, case studies, federal and state perspectives, environmental impacts, and regional collaboration. It was co-sponsored by the MBNMS with AMBAG, in association with the County of Monterey Water Resources Agency, City of Santa Cruz, California Coastal Commission, Save our Shores, and Moss Landing Harbor District. The event attracted nearly 200 people from various backgrounds.

TeamOCEAN Launch

• This kayak outreach program has grown from 9 volunteers in 2002 to over 50 this year. This year’s program launched Memorial Day weekend and will operate Fri-Sun along Cannery Row and in Elkhorn Slough throughout summer. The program received a $800 contribution from the Otter Project (Steve Shimek) which will go toward outfitting the kayakers; other support provided by Monterey Bay Kayaks, Eskape Sea Kayaking, Peaceful Paddling, Perception Kayaks, Kokatat Kayak Connection and Jan Shriver, a private kayak instructor.

Snapshot Day

• This event held May 1st was the 5th Annual Snapshot Day within the MBNMS and the Second Annual Coast-Wide Snapshot Day. Two hundred volunteers monitored water quality of 165 sites from Pacifica to Morro Bay, measuring water temperature, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and collecting water samples for laboratory analysis of coliform bacteria, nitrate and orthophosphate.

Fisherman’s Fiesta

• MBNMS collaborating with the City of Monterey, the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries and the Monterey History and Art Association (Maritime Museum) to hold a June 6th open house and fishing boat tours with local fishermen on Monterey’s Wharf #2.

Coralito’s Bay

• Beautiful new bilingual Spanish/English children’s book published by the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation for the MERITO program. It tells the story of a young boy’s imaginary journey through the MBNMS. It was authored by Juan Felipe Herrera and illustrated by Lena Shiffman (both award winners). The official book release, reading and signing will be held on Sunday, June 20, 1-4 at the Northridge Mall outdoor plaza.

MBNMS Exploration Center

• The MBNMS is going through a 5 part process required by NOAA to plan, scope out, design, construct and occupy a new MBNMS exploration Center in Santa Cruz. The City of Santa Cruz is a major partner in the process. Requests for Qualifications for both Architectural &Engineering and Interpretive design firms were let through the City; there have been 26 Architectural &Engineering submissions and 13 Interpretive. The City, the MBNMS and Booz Allen Hamilton (a nationally known firm hired by the NMSP to assist with the process) will review the submissions. A SEP member and representative from the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (NMSF) will also help review interpretation submissions. Overall, the plan is to have public finds appropriated through Congress to pay for construction of the building and private funds, raised with help from the NMSF, pay to outfit the center.

R/V Shearwater visits

• The purpose of this expedition for June 2-9 is to complete subtidal surveys of kelp forest communities and collect information helpful to assessing impacts from the CalTrans road maintenance activity. The Shearwater will return to the MBNMS October 18 - November 5. We are planning studies on the distribution and abundance of jellyfish, camera surveys of the seafloor, and an outreach day in Half Moon Bay

Changes to Advisory Council Charter

• Changes to the Charter, which were approved by the Advisory Council, have been submitted to headquarters. Those include changing Coast Guard from voting to non-voting, changing fishing to commercial fishing, creating a recreational fishing seat and clarifying the recreation seat is non-extractive.

Krill letter to Pacific Fishery Management Council

• At the June 17th meeting of the Pacific Fishery Management Council in Foster City, MBNMS will make a presentation on the potential for and potential impacts of krill harvesting in sanctuary and Pacific ecosystems. MBNMS, GFNMS and CBNMS will jointly request that the Council use its authorities under the Magnuson-Stevens Act to prohibit the harvesting of krill within the EEZ, or at a minimum, within the boundaries of the sanctuaries. This proposal and presentation, which follows up on a formal letter recently sent to the Council, was developed as part of the JMPR process for the three sanctuaries.

Scoping meeting for MBARI “MARS” cable

• On June 9th MBNMS and the State Lands Commission will cohost two Public Scoping Meetings on a project proposed by MBARI, entitled Monterey Accelerated Research System (MARS). The project would involve 51 km of cable and one scientific observing mode to collect in situ information on physical, chemical and biological factors. The purpose of the hearing is to gather public input on the scope of issues which should be evaluated in the EIS/EIR and considered in the permit review for the project.

Fishermen in the Classroom

• The Fishermen in Classrooms project makes funding available to Monterey Bay area fishermen to give presentations in selected elementary schools about the past and present fishing industry and the life of fishermen. In its pilot year in the Monterey Bay area, the Fishermen in Classrooms project has worked with two underserved schools in Monterey County, Bayview and Crumpton Elementary School. Next school year it will target an additional two schools working with approximately 180 students.

V. McARTHUR II CRUISE PRESENTATION

Erica Burton, Research Assistant, gave a presentation on the recent McArthur II research cruise. The presentation highlighted the many different partners involved in a cruise of this nature, the different equipment used to identify species and to map the seafloor. It was commented on how amazing this cruise was in the fact that staff was able to produce real time data analysis within a week of the cruise.

12:15 – 1:15 LUNCH

VI. AMBAG REPORT

Stephanie Harlan, Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) representative, gave a brief history of AMBAG and their interest in the Advisory Council. She addressed the seven issues taken up by the AMBAG Board regarding the Sanctuary Advisory Council at their May 12th meeting.

On the next agenda, AMBAG will be approving a letter to go out to sanctuary constituents soliciting proposals for a process to recruit new members. The AMBAG Board has also expressed an interest in seeing Advisory Council members fill out a conflict of interest statement prior to serving on the Sanctuary Advisory Council.

Those Advisory Council members that attended the last AMBAG meeting expressed their frustrations with how AMBAG is conducting its investigation of Advisory Council governance without an effort to observe Advisory Council meetings or work directly with Advisory Council members.

It was suggested that the Advisory Council send a formal written invitation to AMBAG Board members to attend an Advisory Council meeting so Board members can see first hand how the Advisory Council operates.

Dick Vreeland, Monterey City Council member and Monterey representative on AMBAG, addressed the Advisory Council and explained that there is concern about the Advisory Council selection process and that Kathy Fosmark’s remarks that morning were representative of that concern.

The Advisory Council agreed by consensus to send a letter to the AMBAG Board inviting them to Advisory Council meetings. The letter will include a meeting calendar and a roster of Advisory Council members.

VII. UPDATE ON THE NORTHERN MANAGEMENT AREA

Bill gave an update on the transition team meetings that have taken place since the last Advisory Council meeting. He commented that the meetings have gone very well. He estimated the Advisory Council will see the plan developed by the transition team in July or at the August meeting.

Deborah Streeter, Advisory Council Chair, informed the Advisory Council that she had a conversation with Gulf of the Farallones NMS Advisory Council Chair Barbara Emley. She stated that they want the Advisory Councils to work closer together and to provide each Advisory Council with an agenda for upcoming meetings. She commented that the GFNMS Advisory Council has moved their December meeting so that the two Advisory Councils can have a joint meeting at that time.

It was suggested that there be a regular agenda item for an update from the MBNMS Advisory Council/GFNMS liaison.

VIII. SAC MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Russ Jeffries, CA EPA representative, announced that Regional Water Quality Control Board will be holding a hearing on the Agriculture waiver on July 8th in Watsonville.

Steve Clark, Education alternate, announced that the recent Sanctuary Education Panel meeting minutes were passed out.

Brady Phillips announced that the Gulf of the Farallones NMS Advisory Council meeting is June 17th in San Francisco near the Gulf of the Farallones NMS office.

Charles Lester, CA Coastal Commission, announced there are three new commissioners appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the Coastal Commission. Bonnie Neelly, Meg Caldwell and Steven Kram will be joining the CCC meeting in Long Beach the following week.

Tom Canale, Fishing primary, announced the Commercial California King Salmon season opened on May 1st. Fish caught are averaging 18 pounds. There is a lot of upwelling taking place in the bay and there are a lot of krill and whales. Buy wild salmon!

ACTION: SET AUGUST 6, 2004 AGENDA
NEXT MEETING: CAVALIER OCEANFRONT RESORT, CAMBRIA

MOTION: (Passed)
The Advisory Council agenda for the August meeting in Cambria will focus discussion on the Northern Management Area and the Joint Management Plan Review.

Note: The Advisory Council also expressed earlier in the day that they would like to have a brief update on the MARS Cable at the August meeting.

Motion introduced by Paul Reilly, seconded by Brian Foss
(Vote: 14 in favor, 0 opposed (unanimous))

The meeting will run from 9a.m.–6 p.m.

The meeting adjourned at 2:40 p.m.

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