CFSB Board Meeting Minutes - September 28, 2021
Attendance:
Chris Voss, Bernard Friedman, Garrett Rose, Harry Liquornik, Gary Burke, Paul Teall, Michael Harrington, John Colgate, Kim Selkoe, Mike Nelson
Notes:
BR Hoover
Agenda:
Guest Presenters
Blue Latitudes – Update on presentation from May 2021; new findings from VMS data to map fishing activity by oil rigs. Seeking feedback on new map.
Bureo (David Stover) - Announcement about a end of life fishing net recycling program
OceanRainforest - Updates on Offshore seaweed cultivation – proposed demonstration project in U.S. Federal waters. About to go to Coastal Commission for approval of their installation and operation of a 2 year, 86-acre demonstration seaweed cultivation facility in federal waters offshore Santa Barbara. Looking for a 'no opposition' stance from CFSB
TNC Lost Trap App project
Update and participant recruitment discussion
USDA Grant and Infrastructure project Update
Harbor Commissioner's Report
Vote and discuss Ocean Rainforest’s offshore seaweed project. - Will CFSB offer a letter of no opposition
Announcements
OPC funded research project on aquaculture policy.
Lobster Fest event at the Maritime Museum 10/23
Introduce Ava Schulenberg to join our CFSB team for the USDA project
Chris Voss opened the meeting on September 28, 2021 at 3:00pm. Meeting was held via Zoom.
1. Guest Presentations
Blue Latitudes is a Non-profit Organization from San Diego. In May 2021, Amber Sparks and her team gave a presentation on their current project investigating “How will the decommissioning impact the fishing community?” and asked the board for feedback and ideas on how they can improve their data. Per Paul Teall’s suggestion, they have incorporated available VMS data and now seek feedback on their new map and findings.
Previously, their map only showed AIS data on commercial fishing activity up to one nautical mile off the oil rigs. The new data, VMS data from NOAA, represents vessels that landed ground fish, which is about 10-15% of vessels. VMS data allowed the team to fill in some of the gaps, mainly increased fishing activity around platform Holly.
Blue Latitudes asked meeting participants to provide feedback via anonymous online survey:
Does this data accurately represent the fishing effort in these areas?
How valuable are California’s offshore platforms to you?
What is your decommissioning preference?
How can we improve this data?
Bureo is a Ventura based company that collects and recycles end of life fishing nets. The company has been recycling fishing nets since 2012, mainly working in Chile and Peru, Argentina, and Ecuador is expanding collection to North America. Most notably, they have been the entity approved by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife receive and recycle the nets surrendered from the drift gill net transition program.
David Stover, the co-founder of Bureo would like to introduce himself and share more about our programs, and discuss any opportunities to support local responsible gear retirement in/around SB. They can take end of life Purse Sein, Trawl Nets, and Gillnets. The nets are recycled to make hard plastic products such as surf fins, skateboards, sunglasses etc...
Please reach out if you have any information on what people do with nets now, if interested in participating, or have any questions.
Ocean Rainforest Sp/F (ORF) is a LLC located in the Faroe Islands producing seaweed in open ocean cultivation installations. They are about to go to the Coastal Commission for approval of their installation and operation of a 2 year, 86-acre demonstration seaweed cultivation facility in federal waters offshore Santa Barbara. Looking for a 'no opposition' stance from CFSB. Program manager, Eliza Harrison presents updates and details of the project and permitting process to the board.
Offshore seaweed cultivation – proposed demonstration project in the U.S. Federal is funded by the Department of Energy. The project aims to explore the potential and feasibility to make macroalgae cultivation a commercially attractive business investment. In addition, they hope to find out about potential for increased fish from the structures, dangers of whale entanglement, and how the structure affects local fishing activity. So far they have an operational hatchery (located next to Cultured Abalone farm), and have worked with Bernard Freedman over the spring of last year to modify SB mariculture site to accommodate year 1 experiments.
Now, they are working with various permitting agencies to secure an offshore site to duplicate the research at a larger scale and test the feasibility of the system. The site is research oriented (not for commercial production), and will be 86 acres, 16 of which are being cultivated. All gear will be set below the surface of the water, and removed after the 2 year period. The proposed site has not changed since proposed at the August 2020 CFSB board meeting.
The following questions were asked:
Will transit over the area be allowed?
Vessels will be allowed to transit through the site, which will be marked in accordance with the coast guard and area will be noted on the NOAA charts (although not restricted, it may be challenging since it may have a lot of surface kelp).
Are you looking to contract vessels for monitoring?
Since Ocean Rainforest does not have their own vessel, they will be looking to contract local vessels for monitoring efforts if there is an interest from local fishermen.
Who is liable if someone trawls through the area?
Unsure. Eliza will get back to us.
The project will be presented at the Coastal commission meeting in October.
SEE ITEM 5 BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BOARD VOTE
Contact Eliza Harrison eliza@oceanrainforest.com, 505-204-8163.
2. TNC Lobster Trap App Grant
CFSB has completed the field work portion that is required for the TNC grant. Voss has conducted three clean up events; one with Nelson to Haskell's beach, two with BR and Kim to Santa Cruz island to spots that were indicated by the app. Chris: Went with Mike for a beach clean up, with kim, with BR (total of 3 times). Voss will donate his and his boat time, but will get a reimbursement for fuel.
For the second portion, we need more engagement from CFSB members to beta test and provide feedback on the app. An idea would be to pay fishermen at the market to use it and fill out a survey, potentially giving additional funding to the market for advertising. If anyone is interested, please reach out to BR or Selkoe.
3. Infrastructure Project Update
Selkoe reports that it looks like CFSB will be getting the $100,000.
$25,000 will be also awarded by the city of SB.
There is potential for expanding the footprint of the boat yard lease to potentially incorporate more space to our north and some adjacent warehouse space. In this scenario, the CFSB can maintain and expand the boat yard, and the warehouse space has the potential for cold storage. The next meeting to discuss moving forward is scheduled for early december.
Mike Nelson reports that he has been engaging with regional representatives of the economic development administration who are now figuring out how to allocate and award millions of dollars in rescue plan money. From the meetings, it appears that they would prefer a leasehold interest (remodeling, refurbishing) over an acquisition.
4. Harbor Commissioner's Report - Ice House
The ice house at the harbor will be undergoing construction next year. Nelson reports that during the harbor meeting, there was a question of “what will happen during the constructions?” and there was no real answer. Might be a good idea to encourage Wiltshire and people from the harbor (fishermen etc…) on how they are going to handle this. There could be a period of 1-2 months that would be a huge disruption. Good to engage with Waterfront, as there should be contingency plans to deal with the fleet. Suggest a port meeting with the Waterfront Dept. to plan and get feedback on how to deal with the transition.
Drawings for the new Ice House are being completed now, and in October, they will apply for permits for the project. Construction is scheduled for Spring/Summer for 2022.
5. Vote And Discuss Ocean Rainforest’s Offshore Seaweed Project. - Will CFSB Offer A Letter Of No Opposition
Freedman noted that his experience with ocean rainforest has been good. There is a good potential for a new fishery and the project is an opportunity to spend tax dollars on local people. This is a finite, two year project and that the funds necessary for removal of all equipment after the two years has been worked into the proposal. After the two year period, if Ocean Rainforest hopes for an expansion, they will have to get a new permit for that.
Concerns were raised by Teall regarding the future plans of the project, and the possibility of areas restricted from fishing activity to grow (especially in light of the proposed wind farms up north). Other members raised concern regarding the ability to pass through the project area, as well as suggesting the board reach out to commercial fishermen who frequent that area, such as the gillnetters.
Voss expressed that since CFSB constituents and the community can directly benefit from the project, it should be supported.
Motion made by Voss to draft a letter of no opposition/neutral to the project while expressing concern over future expansion, which the board will review and vote again on before officially submitting. Motion seconded by Colgate. Bernard, Harry, Garrett in support, Teall in opposition, and Burke to abstain until we are able to reach out to the fishermen, mainly the gillnetters, who utilize the fishing area. 5-1-1, vote stands.
UPDATE: Our letter of no opposition was drafted but was never submitted because at the 11th hour a set gillnetter voiced concern of interference with his fishing from this installation. However, the Coastal Commission approved the installation anyhow.
6. Other News
Ocean Protection Council
OPC funded project at UCSB to study how to improve aquaculture policy for the state. A survey was sent out via mailchimp last month. If anyone has questions or comments, we can discuss them at the next meeting.
Lobster Fest
GetHooked is hosting a Lobster Fest, with all proceeds donated to CFSB. This event is being held in the absence of the Harbor Festival (due to COVID concerns), and to celebrate the opening of the lobster season. The event is held in the front area of the Maritime Museum.
Selkoe hopes that this will pave the way for other smaller festivals that highlight species present in SB, such as a Urchin festival, Sablefish festival, Rockfish festival etc….
The board discussed how opportunities to participate in these festivals can be available to a wide range of SB commercial fishers, and that CFSB should continue to work on getting the Harbor Festival back.
New Hire - Ava Schulenberg
Ava will be helping out with CFSB activities, especially with the increased work with the USDA grant. Ava is a long time member of the Santa Barbara fishing community, with her father a commercial fisherman.