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MBNMS
Business and Tourism Activity Panel (BTAP) Minutes
July 23rd, 2003
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Meeting
Date: Wednesday, July 23rd, 2003
Time: 9:30-11:30 AM
Location: Moss
Landing Marine Laboratories
Attendance:
- Dave
Ebert, BTAP Chair, SAC Business/Industry Representative
- Rachel
Saunders, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
- Huff
McGonigal, Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
- Michael
Bekker, Cannery Row Company, Monterey
- Steve
Schieblauer, Monterey Harbor, City of Monterey
- Annie
Schnorf, Moss Landing Harbor District
Meeting
Notes – a Brief Summary of the Meeting’s Proceedings.
Welcome
and Introductions:
Dave
E., BTAP Chair gave welcoming comments and individual introductions
commenced.
JMPR Proposed Action Plans and Upcoming July 30-August
1, 2003 Sanctuary Advisory Council Meeting:
The
focus of the BTAP meeting was to review and discuss some of the draft
action plans to prepare for
the upcoming SAC decision making meeting at the end of the month. The
following draft plans were identified and very briefly discussed:
- Desalination – Mike
B. commented that this was a good working group, lots of information
gathered and a consensus on the direction was reached.
- Harbors
and Disposal – Steve S. commented that consensus had been
reached on many specific products (strategies
and activities), but that the harbors were still interested in
the creation of buffers around harbors
and still had larger concerns about the
Sanctuary program’s overall
permit authority.
- Davidson
Seamount – Steve
S. commented that fishermen were still
very concerned about potential restrictions
on pelagic fishing, even though the
focus of including the Davidson Seamount in
the Sanctuary
would be to protect against disturbance
of the seabed. Steve suggested that
there might be other management alternatives
rather than including
this area in the Sanctuary.
- Special
MPA’s – Steve S. commented that progress was being
made, but that it was his impression
that a full consensus hadn’t
been reached.
- Benthic
Habitats – there
may be a name change for this group
to make clear it is focused on
bottom trawling.
- Krill
Harvesting – the Sanctuary is working
to pursue a ban on krill harvesting through the Pacific Fishery
Management Council.
- Fishing
Related Research and Education – Steve
S. commented that consensus was reached on the action plan;
he also emphasized that the
fishing community wanted the
opportunity to comment on educational/outreach materials the
Sanctuary produces that include information on fishing
activities.
- Wildlife
Disturbance – comments
suggested that this was primarily
a user conflict and that
the Sanctuary is charged with facilitating
multiple uses.
- Operations
and Administration Action Plan – Steve S. was critical
of Strategy OA-3 pertaining
to the Sanctuary Advisory Council. He commented that it did not
address the continuing concerns about the structure and
function of the SAC that
have been raised by the City of Monterey, AMBAG and Congressman
Farr. He stated that the existing SAC and the Sanctuary
Program could not provide
an objective evaluation of the SAC and that an outside group
should be tapped to do an audit.
- Action
Plans on Introduced Species, Big Sur Coastal
Ecosystem Coordination,
Cruise
Ship Discharges and the
Beach Closures and Contamination
were also mentioned briefly.
Towards the end of the discussion Steve S. commented that what was
still missing from the overall plan was a clarification of language
regarding
the Sanctuary’s role in fisheries management. He reiterated that
this was a trust issue and that the fishing community was still looking
for that assurance that the Sanctuary will not regulate fishing.
Next
BTAP Meeting:
The meeting adjourned around 11:30 a.m. The
next scheduled BTAP meeting is September 17, 2003 from 9:30-11:30
a.m.
at Moss Landing
Marine Lab.
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