Oct 20, 1999 (revised 11/3/99)

Island County Marine Resources Committee

Monroe Landing Firehall

Members Present: Tom Shaughnessy, Gary Wood, Jeff Tate, Jan Holmes, Mike Gallion, Matt Klope, Dick Toft, Geo. Lundgren, Linda Sue Schoenharl, Jim Hawley (for Tom Roehl), Don Meehan

Tech Advisory: Susan Berta ( WSU Beach Watchers), Keith Higman (I.C. Health), Ted Hofstad (Commercial Vessel/Pilots Assn), Joan Drinkwin (PSAT), Mike Sato (People for Puget Sound), Julie Buktenica (I. C.

Guests: Cptn James Thorson (Former Commercial Vessel Pilot), Roger Bublick (Greenbank), Kathy Havens (Beach Watcher)

Introductions of new members included Tom Shaughnessy, Mike Hawley (sub for Tom Roehl), Jeff Tate, Dick Toft..

Minutes of the Oct 6th meeting were reviewed and no changed requested.

Grant proposal on Eel grass was main topic of discussion.

No written proposal was developed, but Jan Holmes had been researching various techniques for mapping eel grass beds and shared the Jim Norris work from Pt Townsend. Norris is able to sample 10 miles/day at a cost of approximately 1,000 dollars/day. We have approximately 212 miles of shoreline in Island County.

Key points of the discussion on eel grass:
- should consider using statistical approaches versus whole resource inventory methods
- Keys areas could be the focus. Those of high impact like Langely, Clinton Dock area, Coupeville, Holmes Harbor need to be evaluated.
- It is important to develop a baseline...critical to the evaluation of the effect of MRC approach
-I. C. Permit process does collect a lot of baseline data and is available to the MRC
- Volunteers could and should be involved in mapping eel grass to get the public educated and to develop ownership by local citizens
- The MRC group needs to become better educated about eel grass and its role in the ecosystem

Final Outcome of Discussion: Don asked that a team be developed to write a proposal that would be shared at the Nov 3rd mtg of the MRC. Volunteers on that team include; Jan Holmes, Matt Klope, Gary Wood, and Jeff Tate.

It was also decided, thanks to Jan Holmes' offering, that Jan would do a short presentation on eel grass at the next meeting.

Oil Spill Prevention Presentation:

Ted Hofstad and Cptn James Thorson gave a 20 minutes presentation on large commercial traffic in the Straits and Puget Sound. Their recommendations are attached as an HTML file readable with a web browser. It is called vessels.htm.

Term of office:

Don said he would be able to tell everyone their term of office at the next meeting after the Board of Island County Commissioners makes the decision.

Work Plan Task Review:

Postponed till next meeting if there is time.

Agency programs scheduling:

Agreed to work that out over the next few months so that we hear indepth presentations from all of the technical subcommittee members.

NWSC Update:

Don surveyed the members who had registered for the Nov 5&6 NWSC Workshop. He encouraged those who had not registered to hurry to do that.

Last minute items:

Don wanted the newest members of the MRC to share the issues of concern they had, similar to what had happened at the first meeting. Tom Shaughnessy, Jeff Tate, Dick Toft, and Jim Hawley all had comments that Don will incorporate in a revised issues paper.

George Lundgren wanted to stress the importance of the MRC looking at going beyond preservation to a higher level involving restoration of areas that have degraded.

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6PM

Next meeting: Nov 3, 1999, 4 - 6 PM at the Monroe Landing Firehall

Program for next mtg:

Eel Grass Basics - Jan Holmes
Eel Grass Monitoring Grant Review - Holmes, Wood, Klope, Tate
Begin thinking about a work plan for Y2K