MBNMS SAC Meeting Minutes August 16th, 2012

MONTEREY BAY NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY
ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING

FINAL
August 16th, 2012
Louden Nelson Community Center
Santa Cruz, CA

The following non-voting members were present as indicated:

• Channel Islands NMS: Sara Hutto
• Gulf of the Farallones NMS: Maria Brown
• Monterey Bay NMS: Paul Michel
• National Marine Fisheries Service: Steve Lindley
• US Coast Guard: LCDR Brad Soule

• Agriculture: Tim Frahm
• At Large: Kortney Opshaug
• Conservation: Lauren Dockendorf
• Diving: Brian Nelson
• Recreation: Robert Chatham
• Research: James Lindholm

Vice Mayor Hilary Bryant provided a welcome statement to the advisory council.

APPROVAL OF 4/19/12 DRAFT MEETING NOTES

The advisory council approved the April 19, 2012 meeting minutes with the following substantive changes:

• Page 1, first paragraph, change "Carmel" to "Salinas"
• Page 5, eighth paragraph, change "O'Neill Sea Odyssey" to "original site of the O'Neill Surf Shop"
• Page 6, third paragraph, add "in favor of" before "removing Morro Bay from the list."
• Page 7, 2nd Motion, change the vote to read 13 in favor, 2 opposed, 2 abstentions.
• Page 7, tenth paragraph, add "fisheries" after "California Current"
• Page 8, third paragraph, change "CWG" to "all working group"

MOTION: (Passed)

Motion introduced by Cynthia Mathews, seconded by Steve Scheiblauer.
(Vote: 14 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstentions)

Geoff Shester, Conservation, Oceana, Center for Biological Biodiversity and Shark Stewards submitted a petition to list the Northeastern Pacific population of great white sharks as an endangered species on the federal endangered species list. Oceana has been working on DNA testing of seafood and there was a report in the Monterey Weekly.

Paul Reilly, CA Department of Fish and Game, reported that albacore fishing has been extremely productive fairly close to shore. Also, there was an excellent halibut sport fishery last month and it is starting to wind down now.

Simona Bartl, Education, announced classes at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) start next Wednesday. They will have the Science Café series for the public, which is available to friends of MLML or anyone who gets the newsletter.

Mike Bekker, Tourism, announced desalination is a hot topic of conversation. The year 2016 is fast approaching where a cease and desist will go into effect. There will be a 100% increase on water bills. Tourism in Monterey this weekend will be big dollars.

Phil Sammet, Diving, announced Alert Diver magazine will be highlighting diving available in national marine sanctuaries, including Monterey Bay, in the next few months. Brian Nelson has been working with Constant Contact on doing a 2012 survey available to the diving constituency. Phil had the preliminary report on responses from that survey. He stated how a person could learn a lot about how a constituency learns about an organization. About 8,000 mailers went out to the diving community.

Steve Scheiblauer, Harbors, announced fishing has been great the whole summer. It has been great seeing the harbor busy. The harbor will start the second phase of dredging in the marina around November 1st. They will put that dredge material in a second disposal area in front of the condos up the beach from the harbor. Steve also congratulated the MBNMS on opening the visitor center.

Paul Michel, MBNMS Superintendent, reported that the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries has been working with Sport Fishing Conservancy to put on a sport fishing contest, titled Sanctuary Classic, running in Florida Keys, Channel Islands, Gray's Reef, and Monterey Bay. The Sanctuary Classic was designed to get people out fishing in sanctuaries. It is a photo contest so photos can be submitted online and people vote on those photos. There are prizes and the contest ends Sept. 30th. The Ocean Frontiers special film event will be held Sept. 23rd at 3 pm. The film has four compelling stories about how communities have come together to solve ocean issues. This will also be a celebration of MBNMS 20th anniversary. Please help get the word out for this free event. Paul also announced several staff changes. Karen Grimmer is now the Resource Protection Coordinator and Dawn Hayes is the Acting Deputy Superintendent and Program Operations Coordinator. We will be backfilling in the near future for the Education and Outreach Coordinator. Also, Nicole Capps will be moving to the West Coast Regional Office full time on October 1st and Jackie Sommers will be the new Sanctuary Advisory Council Coordinator.

LCDR Brad Soule, US Coast Guard, introduced himself as the new Living Marine Resources Officer for District 11. He will be working on fisheries, sanctuaries and protective resource enforcement. He is stationed in Alameda.

Jim Weisenstein, Business/Industry, reported on a fundraiser the Rotary Club held at the Sanctuary Exploration Center (SEC). The two largest Rotary clubs in Santa Cruz committed to donate $100,000 to help fund the classroom at the SEC. The fundraising event was one of the vehicles to fulfill that commitment. It was a great success and they raised approximately $33,000. This was a major opportunity to connect the Rotary clubs with the SEC.

PJ Webb, At Large, thanked the Education staff at MBNMS for completing a pinniped brochure. She also highlighted a public service announcement created by Paul and Carolyn regarding pinnipeds. The PG&E seismic acoustic study is progressing forward. She is concerned about the negative impacts this is going to have. Also, a developer north of Cambria has taken heavy equipment into San Simeon Creek and dug an offshore pond without a permit. There is a lot of damage done in that creek. Tourism in Cambria is going well. Everyone seems to be coming to Cambria to get cool.

Chris Harrold, Research, wanted to add his congratulations to MBNMS for the SEC. Staff deserves a huge applause and thanks, especially to Lisa Uttal and her team. There is a world-class video that plays in the theater. It is Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. Tune in Thursday night for the Great White Highway to see work that Barbara Block, Sal Jorgenson and others are doing with white sharks and what they are finding. The producer of Shark Week is trying to turn the shows towards more education and conservation. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Sea Otter exhibit will come down Sept. 4th and will be down until March of 2013. There are major repairs that need to be made, which are mainly infrastructure.

Gary Pezzi, Recreation, also provided a big "Thank you" to MBNMS for the SEC. Sara Hutto, Channel Islands NMS, announced a major initiative Channel Islands NMS is working on is a program to reduce ship strikes on endangered whales through the Santa Barbara Channel. Staff is working with the Coast Guard and the National Marine Fisheries Service to switch the shipping lanes. They are trying to move the shipping lanes away from high concentrations of whale sightings. They have submitted a proposal to the California Air Resources Board to use cap and trade auction proceeds to incentivize slow ships along the coast of California. Channel Islands NMS also has a few buildings under construction, the Channel Islands Boating Center is to open in October and the new office building and OCTOS are further delayed and will likely be complete in January 2013. Channel Islands had participants who won the Sanctuary Classic.

Lauren Dockendorf, Conservation, announced the Save Our Shores annual fundraiser, Toast of the Coast, will be held on Aug. 26th. Additionally, Sept. 15th is Annual Coastal Cleanup Day. Save Our Shores will be hosting over 75 sites in Santa Cruz and Monterey.

(per comment card)
Nick Naccari, Citizen, forage fish decline, sanctuary degradation, trawl netters negative effect on seabed and by-catch mortality according to NOAA vs. netter's self study.

Conservation Working Group (CWG) – Geoff Shester
Geoff provided background information on the forage species white paper the CWG developed and the Research Activity Panel (RAP) reviewed. Geoff stated he and the CWG want to make this document something the advisory council is comfortable with and are willing to work to do. Geoff emphasized that the lack of resource protection staff at the MBNMS prompted the CWG to take on the task of developing this white paper.

Public Comment: (per comment card)
Anna Weinstein, National Audubon Society, Audubon supports Sanctuary engagement in forage issues. We are also CWG members.

Advisory Council Member Comments:
Several advisory council members expressed concern over the advisory council adopting the CWG forage species white paper. There was also discussion over the transparency of the process used for this white paper.

The advisory council has received one presentation on forage species, will receive another this afternoon, and a third presentation in October. These presentations are meant to educate the advisory council to make an informed decision as to whether not the CWG forage species white paper should be adopted by the advisory council in October.

Sanctuary Education Panel (SEP) – Simona Bartl
Simona announced the SEP held their recent meeting in Pacific Grove at the Museum of Natural History. There are a few action items they are moving forward on. The group is working to redesign the information on the SEP webpage, including their agendas and minutes. They are finishing up an educator survey to go out to the educator listserv. This will help refocus what information is sent out and how they interact with the group they serve. The survey is expected to go out in early September. The SEP also discussed ways they could support the sanctuary's goal of outreach and making better connections with the community. The group thought of a local lecture series that could travel to the different venues they have connections with and can do it in conjunction with what has happened in the last 20 years of the sanctuary since it is the sanctuary's 20th anniversary. Also, each SEP member will come up with two topics for storyboarding for the Your Sanctuary TV series and bring those to the September meeting. The next SEP meeting will be in September at the SEC. They will discuss the LiMPETS program and will review the results of the survey they sent out. At their November meeting they will debrief on climate change and ocean acidification from the conference held in Monterey at the end of September.

Research Activities Panel (RAP) – Chris Harrold
Chris announced the RAP reviewed the CWG white paper on forage species. At each RAP meeting the host institution gives an update. Dr. Steve Lindley, the new director for the National Marine Fisheries Service Fisheries Ecology Division in Santa Cruz, gave an update. The lab has two main research programs: pacific coast groundfish and pacific salmon. The lab has 90-100 employees with 40 of those being federal employees. Their base budget is approximately $7 million, plus outside grants. Dr. Andrew DeVogelaere, MBNMS Research Coordinator, provided an update on research activities the MBNMS is involved in. Sean VanSommeran, Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, provided an update on the work he does. The RAP had four vacancies: estuarine ecology, fisheries management, shelf and slope ecology and water quality. The RAP filled two of those at the last meeting. Steve Lindley will fill the estuarine ecology seat and John Hunt will fill the water quality seat. The RAP still needs to fill the other two seats.

Jeff Rosaler, MBNMS Exploration Center Education Specialist, provided a powerpoint presentation on the Sanctuary Exploration Center and the grand opening. To view Mr. Rosaler's powerpoint presentation, click here.

Paul Michel announced the Your Sanctuary television show won a national award from the Alliance for Community Media (ACM) and Dan Basta, Director for the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, attended the event in Chicago at the National ACM Conference and received the award with the Access Monterey Peninsula Co-Producer, Steve Ellzey. Paul asked advisory council members to pass on any ideas they have for episodes and we will try to work them into the production schedule.

The BLUE Ocean Film Festival will be back in Monterey at the end of September. The festival brings cutting edge ocean films from around the world to Monterey. There will be an industry conference, panels, films, and seminars for ocean filmmakers.

The West Coast Sanctuary Advisory Council Chairs, Coordinators, and Superintendents will be meeting at the end of August at the SEC. The group will be talking about west coast priorities and important issues for program.

Maria Brown, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent, announced the Superintendents, Sanctuary Advisory Council Coordinators, and Sanctuary Advisory Council Executive Committees for MBNMS and GFNMS met in April. The group discussed strengthening relationships, having the Superintendent's Report on each other's meeting agendas, report on west coast council actions. The group liked the Executive Committee meeting and discussed the possibility of having the meeting twice a year. The group also talked about having the joint meeting every other year and in off years conducting a field trip. The group also discussed the possibility of joint working groups on topics of commonality.

The MBNMS Site Evaluation List letter was sent to the GFNMS advisory council and will be presented at their next meeting. The GFNMS advisory council has two working groups: impacts on vessel spills and vessel strikes and acoustic impacts to whales. The Coast Guard adopted our recommendation to extend current shipping lanes out of San Francisco Bay and move them offshore further north and move the southbound lanes further south and past the continental shelf break. This will reduce interaction between whales and ships by 73%.

After today's meeting will be the first of three scoping meetings for the boundary adjustment of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary just off the coast of San Francisco. This will provide advisory council members and the public with the opportunity to give comment in a scoping meeting format. If you cannot stay for the scoping meeting, comments can be submitted with a comment card. The comment period is open until October 10th.

Scott Kathey, MBNMS Enforcement Coordinator, provided a powerpoint presentation on MPWCs in the sanctuary. To view Mr. Kathey's powerpoint presentation, click here.

Public Comment: (per comment cards)
Scott Jarrett, Citizen, PWC working group and safety.

Jeff Martin, Public, permit for PWC.

David Margulies, Citizen, problems that have occurred with tow surfing at Moss Landing.

Vince Broglio, Citizen, PWC safety.

Advisory Council Member Comments:
Advisory council member comments reflected both support for considering a working group to look at this issue, and not supporting any further time spent on this issue. Paul Michel stated he has heard clearly the comments and advice from advisory council members and the public. He is not interested in rolling back protections on marine mammals and seabirds, that is the main reason for this rule. He is interested in hearing from public safety agencies regarding this issue. He is not interested in establishing a working group. If we responded to every request to review a policy or rule, then that is all staff would be doing. In 2013-2014 we will be looking at another management plan review. Paul stated he is happy to hear creative ideas, is happy to meet with public agencies and is happy to respond to the letter he received from AMBAG.

Maria Brown was asked to present on what the GFNMS office is doing regarding MPWC at Mavericks. She stated their mandate is resource protection. The MPWC regulation is to protect wildlife of the area. GFNMS staff went through 15 years of data and found a small seasonal window when they did not see wildlife they were concerned about. There have not been sea otters during a high surf warning in that area nor harbor seals and seabirds of concern. There is a window in which we can have MPWC use and it will not significantly disturb the wildlife. That is why the window has been created. Public safety agencies do have volunteer search and rescue programs. Why can't they have them for the surf as well? GFNMS staff brought this to the San Mateo Sheriff's Department; they are the agency responsible for human health and safety in that area. They said they would look into creating a volunteer search and rescue program for this. They came to GFNMS advisory council and stated they would take this issue on. They have purchased two MPWCs, have hired a trainer and have sought volunteers. The GFNMS advisory council has determined a working group is not necessary for our area.

Deb Wilson-Vandenberg, Senior Environmental Scientist for the California Department of Fish and Game, provided a powerpoint presentation on the management of forage species at the state level. To view Mrs. Wilson-Vandenberg's powerpoint presentation, click here.

Josh Lindsay, Fishery Policy Analyst for the National Marine Fisheries Service, provided a powerpoint presentation on the management of forage species. To view Mr. Lindsay's powerpoint presentation, click here.

David Crabbe, a member of the Pacific Fishery Management Council, provided his viewpoint on management of forage species from a council member perspective, discussing recent action by the PFMC to look into considering protections for currently unmanaged forage species.

Paul Michel and Dr. Andrew DeVogelaere, MBNMS Research Coordinator, provided a powerpoint presentation on the Natural Resource Assessment report, the Integrated Ecosystem Assessment, and the Essential Fish Habitat Review. To view their powerpoint presentation, click here.

NEXT MEETING: October 18th, 2012 in Cambria
The meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Submitted by
Nicole Capps
Sanctuary Advisory Council Coordinator