MBNMS SAC Meeting Minutes December 8th, 2011

MONTEREY BAY NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY
ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING

FINAL
December 8th, 2011
Pacific Grove Community Center
Pacific Grove, CA

The following non-voting members were present as indicated:

• Gulf of the Farallones NMS: Leslie Abramson
• Monterey Bay NMS: Paul Michel
• National Marine Fisheries Service: Steve Ralston
• United States Coast Guard: LCDR Elisa Garryit

• California Department of Fish and Game: Susan Ashcraft
• Conservation: Lauren Gilligan
• Education: Wayne Nelson
• Recreation: Robert Chatham

APPROVAL OF 10/20/11 DRAFT MEETING NOTES

The advisory council approved the October 20, 2011 meeting minutes with the following substantive changes:

• Page 2, Section II, Fourth paragraph – clarify what "it" means in public comment.
• Page 2, Section II, Fourth paragraph – change City of Morro Bay with San Luis Obispo County.
• Page 5, Section IX, First paragraph – add the web link for the Deep Water Characterization of the MBNMS report.
• Page 6, Section X, Second paragraph – add "Commercial Fishing representative Kathy Fosmark voiced concerns about having a SAC fishing working group." as the second sentence in the paragraph.
• Page 7, Section XI, Third item – add "Questions were raised by SAC members as to the degree to which the existing PWC regulation already accommodate the safety needs of big wave surfers." as the first sentence.

MOTION: (Passed)

Motion introduced by Brian Nelson, seconded by Kirk Schmidt.
(Vote: 10 in favor, 0 opposed, 5 abstentions)

PROPOSED GUIDELINES FOR SANCTUARY ADVISORY COUNCIL MINUTES

The advisory council discussed how minutes were to be developed in the future. After much discussion, the advisory council agreed that meeting minutes should capture the essence of the advisory council's discussion on each topic and public comment would be allowed at the beginning of each item on the agenda. In addition, speaker cards would be used for all public comment. What is provided on the speaker cards will be written into the meeting minutes. Chris Harrold agreed to revise the proposed guidelines based on this discussion and send the revised guidelines to the advisory council before the next meeting.

REVIEW THE 2012 MEETING SCHEDULE

The advisory council reviewed and approved the 2012 meeting schedule that can be found on the here.

NEW ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBER SWORN IN

Wayne Thompson, Education alternate, was sworn in and provided background on himself and why he wanted to be on the advisory council.

Deborah Streeter – BLUE Theology is a ministry of the First Christian Church of Pacific Grove to help youth and adults learn about and serve the ocean from a broadly inter-faith perspective how God wants us to love the ocean, with retreats, classes, service projects, and residential programs. The website is pacificgrovechurch.org.

Scott Jarrett provided a handout to advisory council members expressing concerns regarding the MPWC regulation.

Vince Broglio thanked the sanctuary for putting a surfing and jet ski article in the Sanctuary Watch newsletter. Broglio expressed concerns regarding the MPWC regulation.

Paul Michel, MBNMS Superintendent, provided several important updates on what MBNMS staff has been working on over the last two months.

Paul brought up two homework assignments he had from the October sanctuary advisory council meeting. The fist homework assignment was an email to advisory council members clarifying the MPWC rule. This item generated much discussion about the MPWC rule. Leslie Abramson, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council Coordinator, said she would follow up on the interest of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department to be a public safety agency willing to train individuals on MPWCs for rescue.

The second homework assignment will be covered later in the day under the "Options for Engaging Fishing Interests In Policy Issues" later in the day.

Simona Bartl, Education primary, provided background on the California BWET program and her reasons for drafting the letter.

After some discussion the advisory council approved a letter be sent to Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Administrator, and Louisa Koch, Director of NOAA's Office of Education, requesting funds be placed in the NOAA budget for California BWET.

A copy of the letter may be found here.

MOTION: (Passed)

Motion introduced by Steve Scheiblauer, seconded by Brian Nelson.
(Vote: 14 in favor, 0 opposed, 1 abstention)

William Douros, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries Acting Deputy Director, provided a presentation on the ONMS' Sanctuary Site Evaluation List (SEL). A copy of Mr. Douros' powerpoint presentation may be viewed here.

After some discussion in both support and opposition to the SEL, two advisory council members agreed to draft a letter in support of reactivating the SEL. This letter will be presented at the February 2012 advisory council meeting for review and possible action.

Dr. John Hunt and Dr. Rikki Dunsmore provided a powerpoint presentation on the MBNMS' EBMI. Their powerpoint presentation may be viewed at http://montereybay.noaa.gov/sac/2011/111208/agenda.html Advisory council discussion included engaging the MBNMS Conservation Working Group and Research Activity Panel in the EBMI process and NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Integrated Ecosystem Assessment.

Karen Grimmer, MBNMS Deputy Superintendent, provided a powerpoint presentation on the MBNMS Lost Fishing Gear Project that just completed its third and final year. Mrs. Grimmer's powerpoint presentation may be viewed here.

Advisory council discussion included funding sources for future years, what type of gear is still in the ocean, the reporting mechanism for lost gear, and the possibility of the fishing community becoming more involved in recovery efforts of lost gear.

Over lunch the advisory council watched a clip of the "Your Sanctuary" pilot episode and advisory council members provided input on the show, including several ideas for future episodes.

To view episodes of "Your Sanctuary", click here.

Brian Nelson, Diving, thanked Nicole for the dive brochures he has been handing out. He is trying to get the brochures into packets for open water dive classes. Names continue to increase on the diving email list to a little over 850 names now. He will be participating, along with the MBNMS, at the Northern California Dive & Travel Expo at the Santa Clara Convention Center May 12-13th. Attendance at dive shows in Santa Clara is roughly 3-5 thousand people a day.

Gary Pezzi, Recreation, announced the Santa Cruz Surfrider Foundation has elections coming up in the next quarter.

Geoff Shester, Conservation, highlighted Oceana's Forage Fish report that he handed out to every advisory council member. This report has been five years in the making. He also announced that the Fish and Game Commission is considering an emergency action to increase the squid quota for this season beyond what the quota is now.

Chris Harrold, Research, asked everyone to mark his or her calendars for April 14th for the Sanctuary Currents Symposium. The title of this year's symposium is, "From Lions to Luminescence: Linking Land and Sea".

Paul Reilly, CA Department of Fish and Game, reported that the first ever statewide stock assessment of California halibut has been completed and is available on the website under Marine Region section and is divided into components north and south of Point Conception and has been peer reviewed.

PJ Webb, At-large, announced that a couple weeks ago there was Microcystin running into the sanctuary right before a lot of rain was expected. There was a CA coastal trail workshop in the Cambria area and noticed there was a disconnect between the land and sea. We need to keep in mind where they are putting trails and where there are marine protected areas. Coastal Discovery Center staff and volunteers conducted outreach to over 800 people in two nights at a Cambria Education Foundation at the National Geographic Theater. The outreach was primarily to school kids about marine debris and the Coastal Discovery Center. About three weeks ago the Marine Mammal Center was sent to the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas and they cut a tiny little plastic packing strap off a 700-pound elephant seal. The elephant seal was anesthetized mildly in order to get the marine debris off the animal. The veterinarian said the animal would have died had we not removed the plastic.

Steve Scheiblauer, Harbors, stated he attended a symposium on climate change and sea level rise on Tuesday. Steve wondered if results would be put into findings and put on the web? Dr. Larry Breaker, Moss Landing Marine Labs, put out a paper on how the tsunami wave reacted once it came into Monterey bay. It concludes that Santa Cruz harbor was going to suffer greatly. Monterey Harbor passed the Clean Marinas certification program. Lastly, Steve wanted to correct Dr. Shester by stating that a couple of individuals requested the squid fishery be reopened, but the industry does not support that and the fishery will not be reopened.

Lynn Robinson, AMBAG, stated that the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) is still operating despite what may be in the news. The City of Salinas had the vote recently to make the decision to keep AMBAG going. AMBAG is going through some upgrades. Lynn commented that if anyone has a chance to go to the Exploration Center construction site in Santa Cruz, the building looks phenomenal and she cannot wait for the grand opening. The building is a sense of pride for all of us.

Simona Bartl, Education, wanted to make everyone aware of the marine program that she is now involved in: Monterey Area Research Institutions Network for Education is a program for graduate students and postdoctoral students that brings together science and policy students. They had a seminar on ocean acidification last night. Simona will be teaching a workshop on water quality in Elkhorn Slough. This is a really great program to try to mesh science and policy.

Kortney Opshaug, At-Large, pointed out page nine of the MBNMS Office Report - the item about the response to whales off Santa Cruz harbor that included Team OCEAN volunteers, which is not normally in effect at that time of year.

Rich Hughett, Recreational Fishing, wanted to know how many people have seen the movie "Bag It". He suggested everyone should see it and suggested a MBNMS movie night.

Leslie Abramson, GFNMS Advisory Council Coordinator, announced that the window for the Mavericks surf competition has moved back to January 1st. GFNMS is reviewing the permit request from the new event organizers, Mavericks International. GFNMS is working on a programmatic environmental assessment for all white shark related activities that require a permit in GFNMS and the northern MBNMS. GFNMS has been working with MBNMS permit staff. The draft assessment is expected to be out in late February. The annual SAC Summit has been pushed back for this year. A webinar is expected for April and the hope is to do an in person meeting sometime in the fall. The concept of a National Advisory Council, which is Dan Basta's idea of a national advisory council composed of chairs at every site that would advise headquarters on items of national significance, was brought up again last year. Some of the reactions from various councils resulted in headquarters taking a step back to produce a white paper to identify the purpose of a national advisory council and what are the pros and cons of a national advisory council. Leslie announced a GFNMS advisory council retreat on January 4th at Ano Nuevo to see the elephant seals. She invited the MBNMS advisory council members to participate in this retreat. GFNMS advisory council passed a resolution supporting boundary expansion of GFNMS and CBNMS boundaries. This resolution is very similar to the resolution they passed five to six years ago. GFNMS advisory council formed a Fisheries Policy Subcommittee to look at forming a consistent plan for what advisory council involvement will be on fisheries policy, which was requested by Superintendent Maria Brown. GFNMS advisory council is also looking at creating a youth seat for their advisory council. They formed a subcommittee to look at how best to do that.

Karen Grimmer, Deputy Superintendent, added to Steve Scheiblauer's comment regarding the Climate Adaptation Workshop that was held. The workshop was an all day workshop to get planners, public works departments, scientists, and non-profit organizations talking about climate adaptation planning for the future. Gary Griggs, UC Santa Cruz, was the keynote speaker. The workshop focused on sharing information, networking, and talking about potential solutions to work towards. There will be a report out and follow up from the workshop that will be available online.

Dr. Karin Forney, National Marine Fisheries Service, provided a presentation on cetaceans in the Monterey Bay and the west coast of the country. Dr. Forney's powerpoint presentation may be viewed here.

Advisory council questions and discussion consisted of whether or not Dr. Forney's research witnessed increases in overall populations of porpoises and whales and the trajectory of humpback whale recovery.

Paul Michel stated the issue came up as to whether the MBNMS advisory council needed a fishing working group to enhance communications with fishing interests. Paul heard from Steve Scheiblauer and Rich Hughett regarding the email he sent about a fishing working group. The key organization in Steve's mind is the Alliance of Communities for Sustainable Fishing, since the Alliance is a big umbrella organization for many fishing interests. Paul has heard from a few individual fishermen who have a concern about a big umbrella organization representing them. Thus, it was not clear who would make up a group. It seems that recreational and commercial interests are very different and how the MBNMS approaches and engages those groups will be different. The overall purpose of having fishing-related work groups is to make sure we are doing a good job communicating with this important user group. One option is to stay with the status quo, but Paul thought a discussion as to whether the MBNMS and the advisory council are doing enough is needed. Paul read the various options for engaging the fishing community from the handout he provided to the advisory council.

After some discussion the advisory council suggested an adhoc subcommittee be developed to report back to the advisory council on this topic. The subcommittee consists of Rich Hughett, Kathy Fosmark, Steve Scheiblauer, Rob Chatham, and Jiri Nozicka. Steve Scheiblauer stated he, Kathy, and Rich will make some introductions of individual fisherman for Paul Michel.

Conservation Working Group (CWG) – Geoff Shester read the CWG's statement that highlights the CWG's activities since the last advisory council meeting. Geoff requested a presentation by Julie Thayer on forage species and a presentation by MBNMS staff on the Essential Fish Habitat five-year review. A request to hear from other individuals on forage species was also request by another advisory council member.

Sanctuary Education Panel (SEP) – Simona Bartl stated the SEP met on November 17th at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. The next meeting will be at the MBNMS office. SEP meetings will always be the third Thursday of the month after an advisory council meeting at 3 p.m. The SEP is working on a questionnaire to the constituents as to how the SEP can better serve them. Looking at ecosystem based mgmt initiative education. Future topics for the SEP are ocean acidification and a SEP seal of approval for curriculum. Simona welcomed Wayne Thompson, Education alternate, as the SEP vice chair. Simona noted that she would like a future advisory council agenda item to be the ocean education mission of NOAA in general and the direction for the sanctuary itself.

Research Activity Panel (RAP) – Chris Harrold stated he would send out an outline of his report out to advisory council members. He highlighted the speakers from the last RAP meeting: Dr. Rick Starr, Director of CA SeaGrant Extension; Dr. Erika McPhee-Shaw, MLML oceanographer; Dr. DeVogeleare and Dr. Gittings, NOAA; and Dr. Lindholm, CSU Monterey Bay.

Due to a lack of time the review of the sanctuary advisory council calendar was tabled. One suggestion however was that future agendas have less items to add more time for discussion.

NEXT MEETING: February 16th, 2012 in Carmel
The meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

Submitted by
Nicole Capps
Sanctuary Advisory Council Coordinator