Island County Marine Resources Committee
Feb. 6, 2002 meeting from 4 pm to 6 pm
Heller Road Firehall, Oak Harbor
Approved Meeting Minutes

MRC Members present: Don Meehan, Chair Tom Campbell, Phyllis Kind, Sayed El-Sayed, Dick Toft, Mike Gallion, Hi Bronson, Roger Sherman, Marty Behr. MRC Exec. Dir. Gary Wood. MRC Technical Advisor: Julie Buktenica. MRC secretary: Kate Poss. Excused absences: Jeff Tate, Vice Chair Tom Roehl, Sharon Hart. Visitor: Douglas Dobyns, NWSC tribal liaison; Frank Roberts of Lagoon Pt., Bill White, former MRC member and Mike Sato of People for Puget Sound and Skagit MRC.

Call to order: Today's meeting was called to order at 4:06 pm. A quorum is present.

Approval of today's agenda: Today's agenda was approved with the following additions:
· Meehan will discuss replacements for outgoing MRC member Matt Klope
· Current Legislative action
· Frank Roberts has a memo for the MRC to read on the "nature of inquiry."
· El-Sayed has two handouts and wants to talk a bit abut UW's talk on 2/7 about sustainable fisheries

Approval of 1/16/02 draft minutes
· Action-Gallion moved and Toft seconded approval of the minutes with minor corrections and clarifications. The motion was carried.

Project Updates
· Meehan passed around the newest and most improved copies of our Workplan for this year as well as the NWSC 2001 Workplan recap.
· Outreach on forage fish and eelgrass mapping-a publication is in the design stages.

Soundwaters 2/2/02 conference at Coupeville Middle School
· 260 attendees and 29 sold out classes in this one day "university" exploring near shore topics such as ghost nets, shipwrecks, salmon near the shore, shoreline regulations, fish habitats. Our MRC helped coordinate this annual event with WSU Beach Watchers.
· Meehan reports that at first glance, evaluations were "extremely glowing" about the day's offering of classes; on keynote speaker Si Simenstad-initial reviews vary from glowing to too technical. Our Roger Sherman gave talks on Whidbey's Maritime heritage, Gary Wood hosted a class on Ghost Nets of the Puget Sound and Jeff Tate spoke about "Untangling Shoreline Regulations."
· Gallion asked about the cost of producing the event and Meehan replied that our contribution was covered by our nearshore grants. Wood added that our grants provide funding for four workshops, this being one of them. The $15 registration fee will benefit Beach Watchers. Our MRC paid for members to attend. Please contact Meehan for reimbursement.

Marine Protected Areas-Sherman & Kind report
· While the Dept. of Fish & Wildlife had identified 8 areas to protect in Skagit County, tribes objected and as a result those 8 sites are no longer a consideration. So far the thought is that tribes talk with state and federal officials; not MRCs. -That notion will change today when we hear Douglas Dobyns speak.
· Dobyns, who has had his job for a month, gave a brief rundown on tribal rights and fishing:
o Since the 1855 treaties were signed, each tribe is its own sovereign govt. There are several thousand members within the state within different tribes of various sizes.
o While trainloads of halibut used to be shipped from Washington's waters when we had a rich marine population, the halibut, a keystone species, are no longer abundant; we are in an ecosystem collapse; while it looks like we've got a clean environment, fish populations are down to mere percentages of what they used to be.
o The Northwest Indian Fisheries commission hired Dobyns with grants from NWSC. His background includes work with the Alaska Fisheries, 15 years working with tribes, working as a harvest manager with the Nooksak tribe; facilitator of watershed plans for the American Northwest and Canada; a commercial fisherman for 15 years; 2 years spent hearing the stories of Alaskan elders; earned a Master's degree in marine ecology with an interest in herring and a teacher.
o He hopes there is a willingness to move beyond the "brouhaha" existing with proposed Marine Protected Areas and tribal rights.
o Dobyns is visiting the 7 MRCs throughout the northern Puget Sound to collect information. He explained that the state of Washington is forced to recognize tribal fishing rites and so far more than 100 lawsuits were filed to enforce these rights.
o Dobyns will give our MRC an ACLU book on tribes' sovereign rights granted by the federal govt. and their delegated rights as granted by our state.
o Dobyns said a gesture to the tribes; an olive branch, would be for county governments to recognize tribal rights in their charters.
o There is shared interest between tribes and MRCs on forage fish and derelict gear removal; however imposition of Marine Protected Areas or MPAs may impair tribes from using their treaty rights; sometimes tribes believe MPAs are actually used as a weapon against tribal fishing rights.
· Wood welcomes Dobyns' input, adding that our MRC has not had tribal representation in the past. The fact that our MRC has agreement on removal of derelict gear and mapping of forage fish is a step together in the right direction.
· The talk went round to our next meeting 2/20 in Freeland. DFW's Mary Lou Mills will speak about MPAs then.
o Was the Keystone MPA approved yet? No. Mary Lou Mills from DFW will discuss Island County's 3 proposed sites-Admiralty Head, Keystone and Scatchet Head.
o Sato said it would behoove our MRC to listen to the scientific reasons why DFW is delineating these 3 areas of Island County for protection. The problem lies in the conflicting uses of the sites.
o Sherman wants to ensure we have a TV in order to show the video that Mary Lou is bringing.
· Meehan said it is important we work with Puget Sound tribes as co-managers as everyone is interested in the long-term sustainability of the Sound's resources.
o He asked if our MRC could help, for instance, with travel funds.
o He suggested keeping Island County's Board of Commissioners in the loop of MRCs progress with MPAs.
· Dobyns said his problem is having enough time; with the tribes the problem is having enough money.
· Suggestions were made to include tribal perspective in our NWSC conferences and at next year's Soundwaters Conference. Skagit County has a "Tribal 101" meeting planned within the next few months. Stay tuned.
· Campbell reminded the MRC that our charter is scientific, not political; and that we ought to care what the people think.
· Gallion said there needs to be universal, not selective, enforcement when it comes to fishing rights. Dobyns said he will ask around about the Puget's hotspots where rights are not being upheld or are being abused.

Feb. 20 meeting with DFWs Mary Lou Mills
· Get press releases sent to Julie Buktenica, Beach Watchers plus Fishing and Hunting News.
· Gallion suggests providing a microphone and public address system.
· A big crowd is expected to show up for this event.
· Wood said we ought to talk with Mary Lou about not penalizing fishers who report derelict gear as is proposed now.

Replacement for Matt Klope
· Klope, whose work and family time require his attention, will not seek a new term with the MRC.
· Klope's position represents science and will be filled by Mac McDowell.
· Gallion suggested the new candidate be a shoreline property owner since we already have a science representative on our MRC-El-Sayed.
· Campbell suggests giving names of potential candidates to Meehan who will forward the recommendations to the BOCC.

New/Old Business
· Legislation is proposed to create more and separate Marine Resources Committees based on our model and funded through the state.
· Frank Roberts passed around a handout regarding his thoughts on our data collection and what we do with it.
· Meehan invited Island County's Kathleen Parvin to talk about storm water at a future meeting; he would like our MRC, Island County's departments of Public Works and Health to work together. Issues: grates that prevent debris from escaping to the Sound; as well as pollutants in ground water. Parvin will talk next month.
· Bush Pt. Mitigation-Meehan reports that DFW wants to "replace a ramp with a ramp," in response to last month's request by DFW for suggestions on mitigation..

The meeting was adjourned at 6:02 pm. Our MRC will meet again in Freeland on Wednesday, Feb. 20 from 4 pm to 6 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church. Mary Lou Mills from the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife or DFW will discuss the topic of Marine Protected Areas. A crowd is expected.