MBNMS SAC Meeting Minutes October 19th, 2007

MONTEREY BAY NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY
ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING

FINAL
October 19th, 2007
Cambria Veterens Hall
Cambria, CA

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) Advisory Council met on Friday, October 19, 2007, in Cambria, California. Public categories and government agencies were present as indicated:

The following non-voting members were present as indicated:

• Channel Islands NMS: Michael Murray - ABSENT
• Gulf of the Farallones NMS: Maria Brown - ABSENT
• Cordell Bank NMS: Dan Howard - ABSENT
• Elkhorn Slough NERR: Becky Christensen - ABSENT
• Monterey Bay NMS: Paul Michel
• U.S. Coast Guard: Capt. David Swatland

Alternates present in audience:

• Robert Frischmuth - At Large
• Rexford Keyes - Recreation
  

I. CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, APPROVAL OF MINUTES, WELCOME

WELCOME FROM SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY SUPERVISOR

Bruce Gibson, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor, welcomed the Advisory Council to Cambria.

APPROVAL OF 08/17/07 DRAFT MEETING NOTES

MOTION: (Passed)
The Advisory Council adopted the minutes from the August 17, 2007 Sanctuary Advisory Council meeting, accepting changes as submitted by Paul Reilly.
Motion introduced by Kaitilin Gaffney, seconded by Paul Reilly
(Vote: 9 in favor, 0 opposed, 5 abstentions)

Paul Michel, MBNMS Superintendent, recognized Kathy Fosmark’s first meeting as primary for the commercial fishing seat. He also recognized Chris Mobley, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent, and gave him an opportunity to introduce his staff also in attendance.

Chris introduced Sean Hastings, CINMS Resource Protection Coordinator, and he also announced that the National Marine Sanctuaries Act hearing would be taking place in Santa Barbara on November 3rd.

Chris also recognized two of the CINMS Advisory Council members in attendance: Walt Schobel, U.S. Department of Defense alternate, and Bruce Steele, Commercial Fishing alternate.

Paul Michel announced a field hearing in Washington D.C. for the expansion of the Gulf of the Farallones NMS and Cordell Bank NMS.

II. COMMENTS FOR ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA

Bonnie Van Hise, District Scheduler for Congressman Farr, provided several federal updates.

• HR 21-Sam Farr, D-CA, Oceans 21 bill has 64 co-sponsors.
  
  
• HR3639-Sam Farr, D-CA, Sea Otter bill has 12 co-sponsors.
  
  
• HR 2185-Mark Steven Kirk, R-IL, Forest and Coral Conservation Act passed the House on 10/9/07 and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
  
  
• HR 1907 (S 1124)-Jim Saxton, R-NJ, Coastal Estuarine Land Protection Act. The Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, October 24th in the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans.
  
  
• HR 3221-Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, National Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation Act passed the House on 8/4/07. It’s stalled in the Senate right now.
  
  
• HR 1834-Jim Saxton, R-NJ, Ocean Exploration and Undersea Research Program passed the Natural Resources Committee on 8/4/07. The Science Committee will vote on it on October 24th.

Bruce Steele, Commercial Fishing alternate on the CINMS Advisory Council, brought up the topic of ocean acidification. He provided a paper on ocean acidification to be emailed to the Advisory Council.

Paul Michel announced the GFNMS workshop on climate change. Karen Grimmer added that the Currents Symposium on April 5th would be on climate change and ocean acidification.

Deborah Streeter recognized Ron Massengill, past Advisory Council member in attendance.

III. MARINE PROTECTED AREAS-STATE FISHERIES MANAGEMENT AND MLPA

Paul Reilly, CA Department of Fish and Game, provided a presentation on state fisheries management and the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) process.

IV. MARINE PROTECTED AREAS-FISHERIES MANAGEMENT IN FEDERAL WATERS

Steve Ralston, National Marine Fisheries Service, provided a presentation on federal fisheries management.

V. MARINE PROTECTED AREAS-CHANNEL ISLANDS NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY

Chris Mobley and Sean Hastings provided a presentation on marine protected areas in the CINMS.

Bruce Steele and Walt Schobel provided a CINMS Advisory Council member perspective on the CINMS marine protected area process.

VI. PUBLIC COMMENT ON MARINE PROTECTED AREAS

Bill Warren, resident of Cambria and longtime sanctuary supporter would like to see the sanctuary expanded southward.

Jim Webb, resident of Cambria and longtime fisher. Older rockfish produce more and more larvae and the offspring of these older rockfish are more likely to survive. The Essential Fish Habitat for these endangered rockfish is in deep high relief rocky habitat found in federal waters. There is no current fishery out there so establishing federal MPAs in these areas would not negatively impact fisheries. He supports establishment of federal MPAs.

John McGary would like to see the expansion of the sanctuary to the south.

Don Canestro of Cambria supports extending the state marine reserves into federal deep waters to provide a protective buffer.

Ron Massengill commented that he loves to see MPAs going into place. He encourages support for deeper water expansion or to make the assessment. He would like to see the MBNMS utilize the great outreach and education that they have.

Aimee David, Ocean Policy Manager for the Center of the Future of the Oceans, commented that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is a proud partner of the sanctuary. Interested in protecting and restoring. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is ready to participate with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and community members to produce outcomes that produce long-term benefits.

Gordon Hensley, SLO Coast Keeper, urges the MBNMS to pursue looking into MPAs and implementing in federal waters. He is concerned that the network of MPAs the MLPA effort put together will be too small.

VII. LUNCH

VIII. PROCESS AND QUESTIONS FOR THE DECEMBER MEETING

Paul Michel and Huff McGonigal, Environmental Policy Coordinator, provided the process for the upcoming December meeting and answered questions from the Advisory Council members. Huff stated that the coordinators for the marine protected areas presentations would be Steve Scheiblauer for the fishing perspective, Kaitilin Gaffney for the conservation perspective, and Chris Harrold for the research perspective. Each of these members from the marine protected areas working group will coordinate speakers for presentations in December.

An executive summary should be sent out to the Advisory Council ten days prior to the December meeting, explaining the December presentations.

After some discussion the Advisory Council agreed that there would be no vote or consensus statement from the Advisory Council as a whole. Individual members will present their advice to MBNMS staff at the December 14th meeting.

The presenters will each have one hour for their presentation and a half hour for questions. The Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fisheries will be given thirty minutes to present their alternative analysis.

The Advisory Council agreed to commit to a two day meeting, with the possibility of getting done early on Friday. Advisory Council members will stay late that Thursday to hear public comment on the need for MPAs in federal waters before filling out questionnaires provided by staff to help them provide their recommendations on Friday.

IX. MBNMS DESALINATION ACTION PLAN

Brad Damitz, Environmental Policy Specialist, provided a presentation on Desalination in the MBNMS and the MBNMS Desalination Action Plan in the Joint Management Plan.

Deborah Streeter provided an opportunity to the public to ask questions and provide input. Several members from the local community provided comments on their concern for desalination in their area.

Karen Grimmer commented that desalination was raised as a top five issue for the Advisory Council workplan next year. At the retreat, the topic of having a panel approach to presentations on the workplan was discussed and Karen thinks this is an issue that warrants that.

PJ Webb, At Large primary, thanked the members of the public for coming to listen to the presentation and thanked the Advisory Council and MBNMS staff for listening as well.

X. PROPOSED LETTER TO NMSP REGARDING BUDGET

Deborah Streeter announced that she had drafted a letter to be sent to Dan Basta, National Marine Sanctuary Program Director, regarding the state of the MBNMS budget and how it has affected the function of the Advisory Council and Advisory Council members.

The letter was adopted by the Advisory Council to be sent to Dan Basta. (Vote: 11 in favor, 2 opposed)

XI. ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBER RECRUITMENT

Nicole Capps, Advisory Council Coordinator, provided an update on the most recent Advisory Council member recruitment. The Advisory Council and staff are currently seeking applications for both a primary and alternate for the following seats: At Large, Diving, Tourism, Education and a Business and Industry alternate. The deadline for applications is October 26th.

Nicole asked the members who had volunteered for the Recommendation Subcommittee to please see her after the meeting to schedule a time to review the applications received.

After the selection process is complete, new members will be sworn in at the February 18th meeting.

XII. MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Michael Bekker announced that the Monterey County Weekly highlighted the Portola Restaurant, Passionfish, and the Sardine Factory. He also commented that the light brown apple moth is still an issue.

Paul Michel gave an update on the light brown apple moth spraying with the CA Department of Food and Agriculture in Monterey. Deborah commented that the issue could be put on a future agenda.

Shauna Potocky, Sanctuary Education Panel (SEP) Chair, provided an update on their last meeting. They met in September and reviewed the status of MERITO. They are working on putting together resources for educators so they will have what they need to engage people in our watersheds. They will also taken an active role in communicating with teachers and educators in the area by going and speaking with them and trying to be active in getting from constituents what their needs are. They are considering opening a recruitment to expand working group membership. They have extended an initiation for educators to come to the November meeting.

PJ Webb thanked the Advisory Council for coming to Cambria and for providing this forum for the public.

Cynthia Walter, Business and Industry, commented that when she initially joined the Advisory Council, she was approached to help establish a restaurant program. Recently, she has joined the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce and they have a goal to create a business outreach program. One goal is to raise awareness about the sanctuary.

Kaitilin Gaffney, Conservation Working Group (CWG) Chair, provided an update on the last meeting. They received a presentation on wave energy, which will get posted on the CWG section of web. There are conceptual proposals in Morro Bay and Half Moon Bay. This issue is something the Advisory Council and staff needs to keep an eye on. This is an issue to possibly look at in emerging issues. The CWG meeting in November is not on a typical day. They will be talking about whale entanglement.

Deborah Streeter directed everyone to page twelve of the Sanctuary Office Report and the Agriculture Water Quality Alliance 2007 Conference on Agriculture and the Environment. She reminded everyone that they had received an invitation to attend the reception, the Sip of the Sanctuary.

Gary Pezzi, Recreation primary, commented that the video that Paul Chetirkin put together is a great piece and proposed that the Advisory Council write a letter requesting the NMSP allow the Advisory Council let us promote the video on the west coast so they can reach out to people other than verbally. It was asked if each Advisory Council member could receive a copy of the DVD and Karen said she would find out more on the distribution and get a copy to Advisory Council members. Deborah commented that if the MBNMS had a Public Relations person, they would be getting it out to the public.

Chris Harrold, Research primary, asked everyone to mark their calendars for April 4th and 5th for the Sanctuary Currents Symposium. The topic this year will be global climate change. There is a lot of research being done in and around the Monterey Bay on this topic. If anyone has ideas for the symposium, you can get them to Chris and Deborah. The next planning meeting is scheduled for November 6th.

Kirk Schmidt, Agriculture primary, also announced the Sip of the Sanctuary, which is co-sponsored by AQWA and the MBNMS. The conference will be three days at the Asilomar Conference Grounds.

Kathy Fosmark, Commercial Fishing primary, mentioned there is an article in Scientific American regarding a conservation balance with humans in the October issue.

Linda McIntyre, Ports and Harbors alternate, announced that the Moss Landing Harbor would be celebrating its 60th anniversary on November 2-4. They are doing a ribbon cutting for the North Harbor renovation project. She commented that you could see a raft of 120 sea otters from the new wharf.

Paul Michel announced that Holly Price, MBNMS Resource Protection Coordinator, has resigned from her position. The MBNMS will be issuing a recruitment notice in the next month or so.

XIII. ADJOURN

NEXT MEETING: December 13 and 14, 2007, in Monterey
The meeting adjourned at 3:35 p.m.

Submitted by
Nicole Capps
Sanctuary Advisory Council Coordinator