July 11, 2001

Meeting Minutes-July 11, 2001
Monroe Landing Firehall, Oak Harbor

MRC Members Present: Vice-chair Tom Roehl, Don Meehan, Jeff Tate, Sayed El-Sayed, Roger Sherman, Marty Behr, Dick Toft, Hi Bronson. Gary Wood, MRC Executive Director. Technical Advisory member Julie Buktenica. Recording Secretary Kate Poss

Visitors: Bill Attwater, representing Island Co. Water Resources Advisory Committee; Zeke Zardeskas, Oak Harbor-based Z-Square, Inc.; Sandra & Clyde Johnson, Pheasant Farm, Central Whidbey; Benye L. Weber, Dist. Admin., Whidbey Island Conservation District; St eve Elli, Coupeville, Tom Cowan, NWSC director; Judy Damore, representing Jefferson Co. MRC; Ian Fraser, Marine Resources Conservation and working with Jim Norris; Guest Speaker Jim Norris of Puget-Sound; Joan Drinkwin, Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team; Guest Speaker Sandy Wyllie-Esheverria, Jim Norris' colleague in eelgrass videography; Matt Nash, Island County Public Works; Phil Cohen, urface water manager, Island County; Omer Lupien, Oak Harbor. Excused: Chair Tom Campbell, Mike Gallion and Matt Klope

Introduction: Wood asked MRC members, advisors and our many visitors to introduce themselves. Phil Cohen, Island County's Surface Water Manager, was introduced later at the meeting.

Presentation: Jim Norris and Sandy Wyllie-Esheverria on Island Co. eelgrass videography@ 3:15 p.m.
· At the request of Island County MRC and paid for with $23,280 in grants from NWSC, Jim Norris videotaped eelgrass beds at Utsalady, Oak Harbor, Penn Cove, Holmes Harbor and the Maxwelton Creek Outfall in late 2000/early 2001.
· Wyllie-Esheverria passed around a large bag of dried eelgrass; it is the thin ribbony grass commonly seen on Island County's nearshore. He said that its function is to stabilize bottom sediment, slow and retard current flows, shelter fish and invertebrates and has a high production of growth-a new leaf every 12-14 days. Seagrass is a valuable food for waterbirds (Don Norman is a noted specialist on waterbirds-if we want a future meeting with him). Eelgrass loss often indicates the loss of other species.

o Primary species of eelgrass in Island County are zoteraceal and phyllpadix, members of Earth's oldest marine plant family. Japonica species is increasing.
o In a 1996 published review of worldwide eelgrass beds, Wyllie-Esheverria noted the highest concentration of loss was in industrialized countries.
o Disturbance and disruption to eelgrass comes primarily from shoreline modification, permanent docks and clam harvest. Folks who dig for clams are encouraged to refill the holes so the eelgrass rhizomes can be re-established.
o Highly recommends reading Seagrass Ecology, by Martin A. Hemminga and Carlo M. Duarte; just published by Cambridge University Press
· Jim Norris-used a research boat to tow underwater video cameras and plot random 1000-foot sections; footage was mapped with date/time and longitude/latitude locations. The information is plotted on a GIS map. A CD of the mapped research is available in Meehan's office ($25 for non-agency members).
o Plants' maximum and minimum depths of growth were looked at and plotted; depth of growth is affected by water quality. Maps of results are on page 5; table 2 of Norris' report.
o Penn Cove's deepest beds are at its outer edges; Utsalady has flat large beds; in Oak Harbor 2 eelgrass beds noted at the harbor's southern edge; no eelgrass but quite a few mussels found at the harbor's north boat basin; Holmes Harbor-"happy eelgrass." Norris said plants are large and dense, in front of Nichols' Bros. Boats, which boasts a state-of-the-art pretreatment system.
· In another study Norris did for DNR-taken in Summer 2000--69 random Puget Sound sites were surveyed. Whidbey Island's eastern Saratoga Passage contains the largest concentrations of eelgrass beds; Bellingham has the least.
· Wyllie-Esheverria recommended that certain areas be regularly monitored to know whether the habitat is stable, decreasing or increasing. As a member of a small band of seagrass scientists monitoring the plant worldwide, Wyllie-Esheverria is in charge of the Puget Sound and is willing to work with citizens on eelgrass monitoring projects.
· Norris suggests that citizen volunteers rather than the government, which lacks funding for such studies, do long-term monitoring. He said a volunteer monitoring program is ongoing at the Pt. Townsend Marine Science Center.
o Norris suggests one of the biggest problems is that government is pushed to do short-term research to solve immediate problems; as a result it is virtually impossible to make a determination of the real impacts on fish.
· Norris and Wyllie-Esheverria were asked if their mapping data could help establish Marine Protected Areas with various levels of zoning; the answer was it's difficult to establish protection criteria on one year's sampling.
· Since NWSC has only 2.5 years left in its grants to find ways to restore/improve/manage the marine environment of the Puget Sound, the question was asked how do we reach our goals in that time.
o Setting priorities was one suggestion
o One priority may be establishment of core sites to monitor each year-once every 3 to 5 years is what Norris/Wyllie-Esheverria suggest.
§ Maxwelton can be monitored at low cost with citizen volunteers
§ Holmes Harbor is deep and more difficult to monitor-perhaps teaming up with DFW and its herring studies would be appropriate.
§ With Oak Harbor's continuing development, monitoring may be appropriate each year.
§ At Utsalady there are vectors forcing variations in eelgrass beds; sedimentation affects water quality; mooring buoys may have a negative affect. Dept. of Energy has fantastic aerial views of Utsalady which show the decrease in eelgrass with the increase in housing starts.
§ Penn Cove-could be targeted for restoration.
o Use existing studies so we don't have to re-invent the wheel was another suggestion.
o An inexpensive approach might be to chemically analyze the health of the eelgrass beds now; assess for presence of toxins and disease; could have a university student work on this.
· Another concern is that our $230,000 in grants for Island County's MRC are only for nearshore studies; yet there is no grant money to address the problems caused by upstream pollution and increased sedimentation. Upstream affects are a serious threat to nearshore habitat.
· Norris and Wyllie-Esheverria were commended for establishing a baseline in their research; now we know where eelgrass is and it isn't. Island County can use the data in its maps.
· Discussion on the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife window for eelgrass mapping June-October
o Previous concern that some eelgrass may not be growing in late autumn of 2000 and early winter of 2001 when Norris did the eelgrass study.
o Norris said DFW's guidelines for mapping June-October don't match our MRC's needs. MRC needed a rapid assessment to develop guidelines. For this sort of study DFW allows year-round mapping.
o Concern that the survey could be used in a negative way-if no eelgrass was found then it could be argued that development could occur.
o Wyllie-Esheverria said DFW's window for mapping is year-round if the data gathered is not being used for mitigation, but for general knowledge of where eelgrass is. Mitigation is necessary if, say, someone were to remove 50 shoots of eelgrass per square meter; they would need to replace what is removed.

MRC reports/new and unfinished business @ 5:50 p.m.

Reports from MRC Executive Director Wood
· The August 18th NWSC picnic was cancelled. Instead get ready for the October 26 and 27th NWSC annual training seminar, including the rescheduled MRC picnic party on Friday night, Oct. 26. Will be in Mt. Vernon. Location will be announced.
· Hoping to get $20,000 in grants from the Puget Sound Action Team to fund Island County high school student volunteer/marine biology curriculum to educate and make available an additional volunteer pool for our forage fish project.
Benchmarks
· Meehan has created a search engine for the islandcountymrc.org site. Members can search for a topic.

Next meeting is Wednesday, August 1, 3pm to 6 pm at Monroe Landing Firehall, Oak Harbor
· K. Higman and K. Parvin will focus on health aspects of shellfish. Shellfish are Hi Bronson's assigned benchmark.

Approval of June 20 meeting minutes
· Marty Behr moved to approve the minutes; Hi Bronson seconded the motion. The minutes were approved with a few minor changes.

Filling vacancy for Gary Wood's position
· Meehan said he forwarded a letter of interest from Richard Steinhoff to the BOCC; Wood is awaiting word on whether either Lucinda Tear or her husband Jeff Cordell will submit letters of interest for the position.
Future meetings
· Meehan suggests visiting Island County marinas in late September. This would mean no early September meeting.
Comments on minutes
· One MRC member said previous minutes that contain detail are helpful in his research for benchmarks. He said future minutes ought to have content; especially MRC meetings with presentations.
The meeting was adjourned at 6 p.m.