Island County Marine Resources Committee
Wednesday April 17, 2002 meeting, 4-6:30 pm
Trinity Lutheran Church, Freeland, WA
Approved minutes of this UNRECORDED meeting

MRC Members present: Chair Tom Campbell, Vice Chair Tom Roehl, Phyllis Kind, Roger Sherman, Mike Gallion, Don Meehan. Exec. Director Gary Wood. Admin. Assist. Kate Poss. Excused members: Sayed El-Sayed, Dick Toft, Jeff Tate, Marty Behr and Hi Bronson. Visitors: Island County Economic Development Council Director Sharon Hart; Commercial fisherman Buck Meloy, our featured speaker; Don McKinnon of Oak Harbor and Frank Roberts of Lagoon Pt.

Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 4:22 pm.

Guest Speaker: Buck Meloy a commercial fisherman who works primarily in Alaska, is the commercial fishing rep for the Northwest Straits Commission and the Whatcom County MRC, gave a Power Point presentation about the life of an experienced commercial fisherman. Meloy winters in Bellingham and summers in Cordova, Alaska, where he gillnets salmon. Since the early '70s, he has gillnetted, trolled, seined, longlined and pot fished. Meloy is an editor for Pacific Fishing magazine, a trade publication.

· Most of Meloy's photos show the Alaska fishing life and its characters in the remote area of Cordova, Alaska
· Meloy wants the net pen-reared Atlantic Salmon species to disappear; for one thing the farmed salmon are produced cheaper and offer a less tasty product in his opinion. The farmed fish's meat is artificially dyed; the farmed salmon eat forage fish that are caught in the waters of Chile and Peru
· Gillnets, used by commercial fishermen, are comprised of fine twine whose mesh is sized according to the fish being sought. The typical net is about 1800 feet long and goes 60 feet deep.
· Meloy said by-catch-species accidentally caught along with the targeted fish-is not common among Puget commercial fishers.
· In Alaska, Meloy, rather than working with most canners, drains his own fish and packs his Copper River salmon in slush ice. The Copper River Delta, filled with icebergs, produces the famous King salmon, whose Omega-rich fat makes its meat moist and tender.
· Over the years the quality of Alaskan fish has improved; most was canned in the past.
· Permits-In Alaska, 540 permits are issued to guys with a fishing history; the permits are sold to others. The system is set up to benefit the most people possible; Meloy said Alaska's fish resource is managed well.
o In the Puget there are 350 gillnet permits plus Indian operations; when he started fishing, nearly 30 years ago, more than 1300 permits were issued.
o Meloy predicts commercial fishing permits will be reduced even further.
o He no longer gillnets in the Puget; helps friends on their rigs.
o Purse seine permits given to about 100 vessels; Gillnet permits given to about 300 vessels; and reefnet permits are given to about 52 vessels
· Meloy predicts there will be a large run on Chum salmon this summer; their roe are highly prized in Japan. Chum roe sells this year for $10 a pound. Chum salmon meat is not as expensive as Sockeye and King salmon; ironically the Sockeye and King roe is not a seller.
· Asked if he represents commercial interests with NWSC (the MRC's parent organization), Meloy replied that he saw NWSC as the right way to manage commercial resources. Meloy is the sole commercial representative on the NWSC. He said for the NWSC and MRCs to succeed, they must have input from the users of the Puget Sound's resources.
· Asked if he thought Puget commercial fisheries are in trouble, Meloy replied that during the 1970s the salmon resource was healthy and improving; salmon prices rose sky-high; then many fishers found that fishing was a great way to make money. Then came what he calls the "ill-conceived" net ban initiative. Meloy has not fished the Puget for the past three autumns.
· It is Meloy's opinion that natural ocean conditions, not overfishing, caused the decline of salmon populations; yet sardines are back. So are smelt. Hopefully the rise in forage fish populations will mean an increase in the salmon populations. Meloy offered that commercial fishing has been blamed for far too much of the problem.
· Derelict gear-nets get caught against rocky snags. The nets range in cost from $7,000 to $10,000 to build; no one intentionally fishes up against rocks, Meloy said. But sometimes boats drift up to rocks; skippers fall asleep; bigger ships snag the nets.
o Purse seines are best for point fishing
o With current funding to remove derelict gear-the stuff that gets away from fishers and ends up floating or sinking to ensnare marine life-Meloy said some gear is best left; that more damage to a habitat could result if it is removed.
· Dams-Meloy said with the construction of the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, King Salmon populations all but disappeared; same is true for the Sockeye populations on the Snake River, which was dammed. The Columbia, once one of the greatest salmon-producing regions in the world for wild salmon, gave way for once, no longer, cheap electricity.
· What should MRCs be doing?
o Meloy said Skagit has a good model for a Marine Protected Area at Rocky Reef, because it was created by knowledgeable folks who use the resources.
o The strength of an MRC, in Meloy's opinion, is that it uses the local knowledge for what makes sense in that area. He hopes the 7 counties that comprise the No. Puget MRCs will continue to each act in the best behalf of the individual counties.
· Kind suggested that the idea of an MPA be expanded to protect invertebrates and biodiversity; there are thousands of MPAs worldwide protecting a host of species and areas for their unique properties.

Island County Marine Protected Areas Update
· Roger Sherman talked with Mary Lou Mills of the Wash. Dept. of Fish & Wildlife or WDFW. She said the dept. will make emergency changes to the Keystone MPA boundary. The eastern border will be at the center of the dock. Starting May 1 folks can fish on the east side of the dock; but not the west.
· Admiralty Head-its southern boundary will be at the big rock, below the lighthouse. It is a visual boundary located near the boundary between Fort Casey Park and the SPU conference Center property. .
· The new boundaries will be published in the next sports -fishing regulations.
· Sherman and Kind will give a complete report next month.

Salmon Recovery Funding Board update
· Wood reported that high drama continues with our SRFB grant request of $227,000. The SRFB technical panel has sent all 5 of its MRC requests to the Army Corps technical review panel for review.
· These proposals will be voted on June 5-6, in Aberdeen; following an unspecified process of 'additional consideration' by the Science Panel for the Army Corps' PSNERP Nearshore project. If SRFB were to fund all five nearshore assessments, the cost would be under one million dollars ($937,164). Only Island and San Juan were previously recommended by SRFB staff FOR 100% funding, with Mason at 50%. Now any, all, or none may be funded; or modified.
· Wood said the SRFB technical panel approved us for a time on 4/11, then Tim Smith of WDFW recommended the project be reviewed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Tom Mumford and Si Simenstad, good nearshore scientists, according to Wood, will be on the team of reviewers.
· Wood added that the National Wildlife Federation has $80,000 in grants for Island and San Juan counties, that are contingent upon us getting the SRFB grant.
· SRFB wants seamless data in terms of the project they fund and the returns.

Today's agenda, April 3 minutes and other business were not discussed today because everyone wanted to hear what Buck Meloy had to say and Buck spoke until 6:10. Today's agenda was continued to the May 1st meeting at Heller Road Firehall in Oak Harbor from 4 pm to 6 pm.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 pm.