MBNMS SAC Meeting Minutes August 6th, 2004

U.S. Coast Guard: LT Deborah Darminio-ABSENT
Channel Islands NMS: Chris Moble
Gulf of the Farallones NMS: Maria Brown-ABSENT
Cordell Bank NMS: Dan Howard-ABSENT
Elkhorn Slough NERR: Becky Christensen-ABSENT
Monterey Bay NMS: Holly Price

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

WELCOME

Margaret Webb, Citizen At-Large representative, welcomed the Advisory Council to San Simeon and introduced Shirley Bianchi, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor and Nick Franco, State Park Superintendent.  Both Ms. Bianchi and Mr. Franco welcomed the Advisory Council to San Simeon.

APPROVAL OF 6/4/04 DRAFT MEETING NOTES

MOTION: (Passed)
The SAC adopted the minutes from the June 4, 2004 Sanctuary Advisory Council meeting with the following changes:

• Section III, second paragraph, change finding to funding
• Section IV, Coastal Sediment Master Plan, add plan to second sentence, second word
• Section IV, Krill letter to Pacific Fishery Management Council, change Fisheries to Fishery in title and in first sentence
• Section IX, last paragraph, add commercial before California King Salmon

Motion introduced by Russ Jeffries, seconded by Dave Vincent
(Vote: 15 in favor, 0 opposed (unanimous))

II. PUBLIC COMMENT FOR ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA

There were no comments from the public.

III. MBNMS UPDATES

• UPDATE ON RECRUITMENT OF RECREATIONAL FISHING SEAT

Holly announced that the recruitment for the Recreational fishing seat was open and that the deadline to turn applications in had been moved to August 27th.  Rachel passed out a copy of the press release announcing the recruitment process.  Anyone interested in applying could get an application online or request one from Nicole Capps.  She asked the Advisory Council to help spread the word about this recruitment.  Tom Canale, Fishing primary, Brian Foss, Harbors primary, Mike Laffen, Citizen At-large primary, Steve Shimek, Conservation alternate and Paul Reilly, CA Department of Fish and Game representative volunteered to sit on the selection subcommittee.

• PARTNERSHIP MATRIX

Holly directed the Advisory Council’s attention to a partnership matrix that had been handed out to them.  She explained that this was an informational piece that had been handed out at the last AMBAG meeting highlighting the many different partnerships the MBNMS has with local and state governments.

Holly gave an update on the recent Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) activities.  She commented that there was a recommendation on the upcoming AMBAG agenda to halt the JMPR process until AMBAG’s issues with the Advisory Council were resolved.  Dick Vreeland, AMBAG Board Director, was asked to speak regarding this proposal, as it was his letter requesting it.  Several Advisory Council members asked Mr. Vreeland for specific reasons why the AMBAG Board has issues with the Advisory Council.  Mr. Vreeland explained his feeling that there was a lack of democratic process in how members of the Advisory Council were chosen and that there was no procedure for any potential information regarding sharing conflict of interest.

Deborah encouraged everyone to read Mr. Vreeland’s letter and attend the next AMBAG meeting on September 8th.

• 2005 ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULE

Nicole reviewed the 2005 Advisory Council meeting schedule with the Advisory Council.  Deborah asked if anyone would be willing to attend an evening meeting.  Several members felt it would not be good to have a meeting on a Friday night, but another night of the week might work.  Others felt that an evening meeting would not necessarily increase public involvement.  It was commented that if there were an evening meeting next year, that public comment should be held later on the agenda to allow for the most participation from the public.  No decision or action was taken on having an evening meeting.

• RESPONSE LETTER FROM NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE

Deborah commented that she had received a response letter from William Hogarth, Director, National Marine Fisheries Service, to her letter regarding the April Advisory Council presentation by Donna Weiting.  Copies of the letter were handed out to the Advisory Council. 

• 2002-2003 ANNUAL REPORT

She also commented that both herself and Vice-chair, Tom Canale, had reviewed the 2002 and 2003 Annual Reports.  Changes were made and will be given to Nicole to be posted on the website.

• UPDATE ON MARINE LIFE PROTECTION ACT

Mike Bekker, Tourism alternate, asked about the recent newspaper articles regarding the state Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA).  Paul Reilly, CA Fish and Game alternate, gave a brief history on MLPA and mentioned the MLPA process is back on track with what is being called the MPLA Initiative.  There is a website www.bfg.ca.gov/mrd/mlpa which highlights the new MLPA process.  Funding has been provided by an outside group-the Resource Legacy Fund Foundation-to help support the process. The state will be setting up a Blue Ribbon Task Force to oversee the process.

IV. MONTEREY ACCELERATED RESEARCH SYSTEM (MARS) CABLE PRESENTATION

Holly gave a presentation on the MARS Cable and the scoping meetings that took place in June.  Holly asked the Advisory Council if they would like to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) at the February meeting.  A few Advisory Council members commented that they would be interested in commenting on the DEIS.

V. NORTHERN MANAGEMENT AREA PLAN PRESENTATION

Holly gave a brief presentation on the recently released Northern Management Area (NMA) Draft Transition Plan.  Copies of the plan were handed out to the Advisory Council and Holly indicated that comments are welcome by email or phone.  Holly commented that most responsibilities for the NMA will be turned over to the Gulf of the Farallones NMS (GFNMS) on August 15th, however there will be ongoing coordination with MBNMS on research, education and resource protection issues.The MBNMS will continue to oversee with the Water Quality Protection Program in that area, but will work closely with the GFNMS.  A new person is also going to be hired to assist with implementing  the Water Quality Protection Programs in all the west coast sanctuaries.  Holly indicated that GFNMS cannot change any regulations without MBNMS approval.

Mike Laffen, Citizen At-large primary, commented that Meg Delano, Citizen At-large alternate will be attending the GFNMS meetings and he will be attending the MBNMS meetings.  Holly suggested that there be coordination between Meg and Steve Shimek, the current liaison between the two Advisory Councils.  An Advisory Council member asked if a letter to GFNMS informing them that Steve is the liaison for the MBNMS Advisory Council and asking them to appoint a liaison would be helpful.  There was no objection by the Advisory Council to Deborah sending the GFNMS Advisory Council such a letter.

• LIAISON REPORT

Steve Shimek reported on two items related to the NMA: 1) He indicated that Tim Frahm and Katie Siegler presented the Water Quality Protection Program Agricultural Plan to the GFNMS Advisory Council and that it was well received.  2) He indicated that the ATOC Cable seemed to not be on the GFNMS Advisory Council radar screen and they didn’t realize that they had now inherited that issue.  Steve indicated that there were still rough edges to this transition but that a good effort is being made.

• CHARTER REVISION

Nicole announced that the Advisory Council will need to approve a NMA paragraph to be added to the Advisory Council Charter at a future meeting.  This paragraph will also be added to the GFNMS Advisory Council Charter.  The paragraph will give background on the designation of the NMA and the direction by Dan Basta for both Advisory Councils to hold a joint meeting once a year.

VI. JOINT MANAGEMENT PLAN REVIEW

ACTION PLAN PRIORITIES FOR PHASING IMPLEMENTATION

Chris Harrold, Research primary, gave a brief presentation about the Advisory Council criteria subcommittee meeting.  He reminded everyone that the subcommittee was charged with the responsibility of developing the criteria for Advisory Council members to use in coming up with their recommendations on how the implementation of JMPR action plans should be phased in.  He commented that cost was a concern raised by some of the subcommittee members, but that it was agreed not to make that one of the criteria.  The group finally came to use criteria related to what is most beneficial and urgent to the MBNMS staff.  They felt that much of the work had already been done by the Advisory Council and they wanted to build on that work.  The benefits criteria was defined by four elements from the National Marine Sanctuaries Act.  The urgency criteria was defined by considering what will happen if the action plan is not done soon.  The Advisory Council was reminded that they agreed to do homeworkso they would have something to start with at the meeting instead of starting from square one.

Sean Morton, Management Plan Coordinator, presented and explained the spreadsheets that were developed based on the feedback provided by the Advisory Council members.

The Advisory Council decided to go around the table and hear from each Advisory Council member their comments on why they rated the action plans the way they did and how they got feedback from their constituents.  MBNMS staff indicated that this exercise would help them determine what action plans they should tackle first and how to proceed with the other plans.  The Advisory Council decided not to take a formal action on this item, feeling that the discussion gave enough input to staff on how to proceed with phasing.

VII. ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Steve Shimek, Conservation alternate, announced that Congressman Farr has introduced house bill 4900 (Oceans Bill for 21st century) which offers modifications of NOAA.  The bill is 139 pages and there may be hearings this session.  He commented that the Advisory Council might want to agendize this item for a future Advisory Council discussion.  To view the bill Steve suggested Advisory Council members  visit Congressman Farr’s website.

PJ Webb, Citizen At-large primary, announced that hopefully they were reaching the end of a domoic acid episode in the Oceano and Pismo Beach area.  PJ suggested that if anyone sees sea lions having seizures, please call the Marine Mammal Center and stay away from the animals.

Tom Canale, Fishing primary, announced that the Monterey County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution put forth by the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries to ask the MBNMS to keep its promise not to regulate fishing.

Chris Harrold, Research primary, announced that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is working to establish an ocean conservation policy program.  The newly established Center for the Future of Oceans has hired Mike Sutton as the Program Director.

Berkley White, Diving alternate, announced that August 13th at 7 p.m there will be an Underwater Film Festival showing at the Conference Center in Monterey.  Berkley indicated that he had tickets if anyone was interested.

VIII. NEW SAN SIMEON OFFICE/VISITOR CENTER

Advisory Council members traveled to William Randolph Hearst Memorial State Beach for lunch where they viewed the future office/visitor center space for the MBNMS San Simeon office.  Michele Roest, Education and Outreach Specialist, led the tour of the facility while highlighting the work that will be taking place in the future.  She announced that the office space will be done and occupied by the end of the year.  The grand opening of the visitor center will occur on September 18th, 2005, the same day as Coastal Cleanup Day and the Oceans Fair at the park.