CFSB Board Meeting Minutes - November 12th, 2024
Attendees:
Commercial Fishermen: Chris Voss (President), Ray Kennedy (VP), Shane Robinson (Board Alternate), Matt Diamond, Jason Woods (Board Member), Harry Liquornik (Board Member/Treasurer), Gary Burke (Board Member), Dave Colker (VCCFA), Adrian Stimson, Miles Wallace, Jeff Hepp (Board Member), Jeff Maassen, Garrett Rose (Board Member), Jonathan Woodcock Jr.
Staff: Kim Selkoe (Executive Director), Michael Harrington (Bookkeeper)
Guests: Conner Jainese (UCSB), Claire Gonzalez (UCSB), Alyson Santoro (Nereid Biomaterials), Mary Nishimoto (JOFLO), Kaira Wallace (Ocean Rainforest)
Notes: Ava Schulenberg
Recording: Video
Agenda:
*Housekeeping, time limits, 3 minute maximum policy on individual comments
Bioplastics Research, Alyson Santoro - 20 min
Financials - 10 min
Urchin Project/Kelp Restoration - 15 min
UCSB Summit plan for 1/23/25 - 10 min
Ocean Collective Update - 10 min
Fish and Game Commission/Marine Resources Committee Oct/Nov Meetings Recap - 10 min
Harbor Festival Recap - 5 min
CFSB profited $3,930
Offshore Wind Update - 5 min
Other - 10 min
Christmas Party Saturday 12/14 6:30PM at the Brewhouse, send Ava pictures you want included in the slideshow
Merchandise sales so far $1,310
Pacific Marine Expo next week
Kim starts the meeting at 4:00PM upstairs in the harbor classroom.
Agenda:
Bioplastics Research, Alyson Santoro - 25 min
Alyson introduces herself, she’s an oceanographer and founder of a business called Nereid Biomaterials.
She’s interested in working with CFSB to understand what’s important to fishermen in regards to bait cups (key features, durability, lifetime etc.). She got interested in replacing Hagfish/eel fishery cone traps with a bioplastic version because these traps are a huge pollution issue in the Pacific.
They are interested in working with large-scale commercial fishing industries. But to beta test she wants to work with the local community.
Kim asks her to speak more about the bioplastic material - Alyson says this means the source came from something that was living, not from oil or gas, in what they’re using it’s made from bacteria (a dozen companies in the world that have figured out how to harvest that bacteria and service marine industries); This makes it different than biodegradable cutlery for example that you’d get at a restaurant that doesn’t actually break down in the ocean whereas their bioplastic made of bacteria does (PLA is cutlery material, PHB is their material that they buy as a powder)
Not good for making nets or line, but is good for anything made with injection molding
Gary asks what’s the difference in making a product that lasts 7 years or 1 year - Alyson says they can put vitamins that bacteria like so it’s consumed faster, if they don’t add anything, they can change surface area characteristics, etc.
Jason asks what the price difference is - Alyson says it’s substantial right now which is why their goal is to go for bigger-scale fisheries, the raw material is about 5x more, so for the cost to come down the demand has to increase
Harry asks about zip ties that might work for marine and land use? Alyson says that would be a dream product, but zip ties are made of nylon which is a pretty miraculous product and it could be hard for bioplastics to replace that, the ideal situation would be to have a philanthropist say here is a mold for zip ties but that has not happened yet
Shane asks about how it degrades. Alyson says their project has been running for 2 years, right now they get thinner and flake at the surface; They want to find out more about the thinning
Harry asks the trap fishermen about the poly ropes but Matt Diamond reminds us that Alyson said it doesn’t bend well so it wouldn't work for line replacement
Ray suggests Alyson look up “fathoms plus” clam shell traps used for spot prawn and other shellfish. They get lost a lot.
Gary asks where they get their material; Mango materials out of San Francisco, and another company in Massachusetts that’s cheaper that they’re starting to work with too
Kim asks for testing, what’s their ideal pace/timeline? Alyson says the key for them is understanding how well the functionality works from day 1 but it would also be great to test something out for long periods of time, but in the first 6 months they could gather some really good information
Alyson says their bioplastics are more sun-resilient so that’s something to consider too
They don’t want to make something that lasts 2 years if it's something that you want to last for 10
Shane asks if it will decay on land just like it would in the water? Alyson says as long as it’s dry it’s not decaying
Gary asks if it will break down in fresh water too, will it break down? Alyson says rainwater won’t break it down, but in a pond or somewhere else where there are microbes in the water that will break it down, it will degrade (not about the water, about what’s in the water)
Negative feedback is more valuable to them than positive feedback
They are not wedded to an answer but they want to work with us to find out the answer
Alyson says in Asia a lot of their hagfish gear ends up being tossed over the side, so that’s where this material is really crucial because regular plastics won’t ever decay they just break down into tiny pieces of plastics
Kim says we will work on a contract for her to work with us in the future
If anyone would like to contact Alyson directly, please do so by emailing her at [email protected]
Financials - 5 min
Kim says our bank account has been going down because we haven’t had a lot of funds coming in. But, some of our funds are in a high-interest savings account
There are a bunch of grants that aren’t captured here yet
Memberships are at an all-time high which is great, just got another one yesterday (at 84 total now)
Kim is trying to work less hours, Ava is under budget for the year so far which is good
Saturday market advertising costs are under
Total expenditures are a little high, we’re in the hole about $40k this year
Chris says there will be a 13% rate increase at the boat yard so be aware of this coming down the line on Jan 2025, this is our effort to tell you now as a warning
Miles asks about the permit that CFSB owns? Chris says it’s complicated but it’s a trawl permit and sablefish permit granted to us by TNC 4 years ago
Kim says no one has ever used it
Miles says it should be leased out at 20%
Kim and Chris say we can talk about this as a dedicated agenda item at a future meeting; (Ava has added this to our next board meeting agenda)
Chris makes a motion to approve the 3rd quarter financial statements, Harry seconds, unanimous approval (6-0-0 vote stands)
Urchin Project/Kelp Restoration - 15 min
Kim says this is the largest grant we’ve ever gotten (it’s from a private funder, not an agency); We want the board to take a vote today to approve the contract (Kim sent it out ahead of time)
Chris makes a motion to approve the contract, Ray seconds, unanimous approval (6-0-0 vote stands)
Kim introduces Connor Jainese and walks through the budget
Shane asks why we need to pay someone at UCSB $73K when we could do it ourselves? Kim says there’s a bunch of components to this that require scientific training and data analysis and grant writing skills and she emphasizes that we can’t do that work ourselves. UCSB has to pay a lot of overhead in benefits and indirect costs, so that $73K isn’t just going to a salary.
One of the main deliverables of this grant is to submit a proposal for millions of dollars and that process requires people from UCSB to input data analysis that those types of grants require (we can’t do this without UCSB and this is what they require to be involved)
Kim emphasizes that there is no payment going to anyone else other than commercial fishermen for anything that could be done by a commercial fisherman; Anything being outsourced is being done so out of necessity
This grant is to clear 1 acre; Meant to be a proof of concept to understand how we can come together to do this
Gary asks about the timeline? Kim says it’s 2 years but will likely be more around 1 year
The largest ones will go to the Cultured Ab Farm to be ranched, some will be ground up for fertilizer.
Kim says Get Hooked is going to do some of the pulverizing experiments because they already have the equipment for their fertilizer project and are developing local markets for fertilizer.
Jonathan asks if we’ve talked to the abalone farm about expanding their tanks there so they can take more urchins? Kim says they have adequate tank space but as of Sept they had a glut of abalone and needed to move that abalone and anticipated being successful at that before next spring at which point the tanks would be available but we would need to check in with them about that to make sure that’s the case
Jonathan says right now the ab farm is having trouble even taking his 400 lbs every couple weeks or so
Jonathan says they only want the biggest ones which isn’t easy to find for the farming, but if we could get the size down that’s acceptable for them to take that would make the farming a lot better as far as how many urchins we could give them to farm
Kim and Chris thank Jonathan for his input given how often he works with the Ab farm, his experience offers helpful insight here
Harrington asks if these are urchins collected to be marketed? Kim says the grant has funding for them to be free because the divers are paid by the grant so the divers don’t need to charge the people taking the product. Get Hooked can’t afford to pay for the urchin and cover the cost of turning it into powder, there’s no other source of funding because we don’t have any clients for it yet. It’s all about R&D at this point. For the ab farm, giving them a discounted rate might make more sense for their participation and coordination, or keep it free and maybe they can build some more tanks with their savings.
Jonathan says there’s some space at Pt Hueneme that was being used a year ago, not sure if that’s available
Jason says that’s Urchinomics and he worked for them for a while
Kim says she thought they were trying to get rid of that and apparently there wasn’t enough space for them to be profitable and Jason says in 3 years not 1 tray was produced nothing went to market
Michael asks if we will use a dredge? Kim says no, it’s all hand picked
Jason asks about the 12 trips and how will that work? Kim says it will be a couple boats doing the trips and we don’t know that it will be 12 trips exactly, but that’s what we have to figure out. The site we choose has a lot to do with UCSB monitoring data and where it makes sense to clear. The divers that will get this job will have to do with whose grounds are nearby there and is that diver reliable and willing to engage in a responsible and dependable way… those criteria are things that we need to figure out as we begin to have meetings about this
Jonathan asks about the size of purples and how there’s no minimum size right? Kim says the goal is to get it down to 2 urchins per meters squared and Grant Downey can help give guidance on how best to bag those really small urchins
Kim says connecting with the Urchin Commission on this is important and aks those in the room who are involved if they can act as a conduit of information between or organizations (in addition to VCCFA too)
Shane asks about site selection - is UCSB telling us where to clear? Kim says they are providing data and we decide as a group what the site is
Harry says Jeff Maassen did some preliminary site surveying up in the bight; He says it’s a tricky one because you’re not getting the entire reef when you start thinking about clearing an entire reef out there there’s not a lot; Shane asks how deep? Harry says the outer edge outside the anchorage is about 40 ft and there’s a bit of a sand alley on the lower end of it. Harry says that’s what we need to do is sit down with the handful of guys that are going to do it and look at the area that Jeff’s surveyed and then see if any other ideas come up
Harry says the north coast guys said it’s not as easy as they thought it would be and that it’s more work than anticipated
Jonathan asks about monitoring and UCSB’s role in that - Kim says they will do pre-surveys to monitor densities and make sure areas are workable and they will choose a control site and do post-surveys and monitoring of kelp regrowth as time goes on
Kim asks what time of year is optimal to clear a site? Connor says he got a mixed bag of answers form their ecologist and it seems like there’s no consensus.
Shane asks why not do a bigger area instead of 1 small site? Kim says it has to be close to 2 meters sq to get where the kelp reestablishes and we’re pretty committed to following the techniques that have been executed by the North Coast guys
Harrington says the weather is a big issue; Kim says TNC has asked about doing this on the coast vs San Miguel but San Miguel would be more ideal
Jeff Maassen reminds us all that this is a pilot project and he has been espousing an oasis concept where we look at areas, remove urchins, plant kelp, and maintain those areas from further incursions that will serve to recede the areas (i.e. high spots at Talcott can ultimately recede all the way to Brockway); The oasis concept seems to have some traction
Jeff Maassen says he didn’t notice anything in the proposal about a control for this pilot and suggests going into a marine reserve and establish a control site to have that data to offset the data of which is more successful
Jeff says maybe there could be some kind of control built into this proposal that ground proofs it
Kim says we do have a control but this is a good topic for when we get the project going; She sees a lot of reasons to include MPAs given the claims that are going around right now
Harry suggests picking a date to start the work group conversation
Kim says we need to make sure Jenn can be there and we can establish a team of people that meets regularly
Ava will follow up on this and send an email to all members to kick things off
UCSB Summit plan for 1/23/25 - 10 min
Kim introduces Claire and how she is helping her put together a plan for a summit
UCSB approached CFSB after hearing about our work with the blue economy etc.
They have funding from climate resilience funding and are hosting these types of summits for other topics like wildfire, etc. all to help the community to build resilience in the future
Settled on a date of Wednesday January 23rd, 2025
We’re trying to draft up a plan for that day and want to make sure we have enough fishermen in the room so it’s not outnumbered by researchers
They want to hear about our problems and learn how they could potentially shift their research in a direction that could solve some of our problems (i.e. like what Alyson just presented on with bioplastic engineering)
It’s about building relationships and starting to have these conversations
Chris brings up as an example that we need researchers to develop a better framework for considering all the layers of regulatory structure that governs what happens on a given fishing ground and the economic impact of that ground, and come up with a more rational, transparent approach to when it makes any sense to layer on top of all that an MPA closure. This could be a valuable conversation for us to have with these guys since they are engaged by the state in these types of policy decisions.
Kim asks what would make you guys want to participate in this? How can we choose topics that would interest you?
Gary says UCSB has been the enemy for years; Even though he graduated from there; Gary says he will happily go and see if there’s anything they can maybe do help us
Kim says she’s noticed a shift with UCSB and thinks they respect our point of view and it’s not like it was back in the day; She says that she has changed people’s minds out there about MPAs by having one on one conversations and an event like this can be really impactful if we engage in a genuine way
Ray says so few people in CA realize the amount of regulations we have and how we’re under the gun all the time; Kim says we need better PR
Harrington says this sounds like a great thing all around
Kim says if you’re interested, please reach out to her as she begins to plan pre-meetings around this
Ocean Collective Update - 10 min
Kim says things are moving really well on two fronts with the Ocean Collective right now
Kim shares the unofficial architectural drawings of the potential boatyard at City College. This design process has included the College President, MDT staff, and the exploratory phase has been approved by the SBCC board of trustees)
Ava reminds everyone that this is the project that she surveyed people about a couple years ago in order to get an assessment of the fleet’s needs
Chris says that the architect's assessment showed that this is a great spot to put it - there’s no risks around archeological sensitivity, drainage issues, title issues, or anything else that would be a big hurdle.
Kim explains the current Marine Dive Tech situation and that its a good time for us to engage with their board (Ted Roche is on that board); MDT enrollment is low and most of their graduates go to the Gulf to work in oil/gas jobs so it’s a great opportunity for us to work with them to help their program better serve the local community, including fisheries and the local blue economy at large
Ray asks about integrating shipping infrastructure and retail sales? Kim says we need to talk with the culinary program about some sort of kitchen space, having customers come up to the space to buy probably won’t make sense but maybe if it’s through the culinary school that could be a potential option.
Kim says Cal State Channel Islands and UCSB want to be a part of this too so the Ocean Collective may end up as more of a consortium of entities, with facilities at multiple locations that specialize in different aspects.
Kim emphasizes that the City of SB is supportive of this as well
Kim says there’s a grant opportunity through the state called Uplift where we could potentially get another $250k for the planning stages. We submitted a letter of intent and were selected to move forward. So we are continuing to do this work with SBCC to figure out the curriculum/workforce pipeline piece and lay out next steps for the architectural design program. The grant is due 12/13 and we will engage our grant writer Kelsey for assistance.
Also the Coastal Conservancy has approved a letter of interest for us on the cost of construction for the yard itself, they’re more interested in preserving coastal access for fisheries versus the curriculum side
Fish and Game Commission/Marine Resources Committee Oct/Nov Meetings Recap - 10 min
October 9th Minutes
November 6th/7th Minutes (draft)
Ava tells everyone that the minutes will be ready later this week and there is a delay due to Veterans Day yesterday but that the draft linked above is pretty accurate; She will send it out as soon as she’s able to audit
Ava also thanks the board for approving the cost of her lodging in Sacramento and appreciates the opportunity to go and represent CFSB not on her own dime
Shane asks how it went? Ava says Chris and Harry did a great job, so did Hoadley and all the other fishermen who chimed in
Harry says they’ve thrown away a lot of the proposals already (for Bin 1)
Chris emphasizes that what he argued for in the meeting is a potential “Bin 3” option that would help ease the complicated process that exists now - Commissioner Sklar said they are essentially sub-binning things within Bin 2 in a way that’s a nod to Chris’ idea, without having to create an official “Bin 3”; This was a good compromise
Shane says when you close something you’re not managing it so it doesn’t make sense; Chris says this is a very good point
Chris says the CA Cable Committees have agreed to fund PCFFA President Lisa Damrosch’s salary so hopefully that statewide organization developing a comprehensive strategy that mirrors all of our perspectives allows us to present an organized opposition that is disciplined and well-informed and Ray Hilborn’s analysis has been really helpful too (he spoke at the MRC
Harry asks Ava to review what Ray Hilborn said in the November MRC recording - Ava referenced the minutes from that meeting to confirm that Ray suggested using “spatial population dynamics models” to evaluate the consequences of any proposed networks; Chris agrees and says this is an important insight to have at our fingertips
Harbor Festival Recap - 5 min
CFSB profited $3,930
Next year we will make it even more financially beneficial for CFSB, but all around it was a great success and customers were very happy with this change in the model with doing pre-cooked lobster/crab
Chris thanks Ed Anderson, Dave Huebner, all the amazingly competent staff, and Ava for all their efforts
Ava thanks Matt Diamond, Mason Francis, and Matt Liso for their help too as they were instrumental in getting things set up the night before the event
Offshore Wind Update - 5 min
Chris says everything he has to report is all very new news that is not yet set in stone (he had a meeting today) - He says there will be a one time claim process for fishermen that are directly displaced and a Community Benefit Agreement that operates like a cable committee by building resilience.
Mary asks if these things are going to be codified in applications in the permitting process by the state? Chris says that is the goal but there is a lot of uncertainty around all of it and it gets really complicated really fast but we are hoping that the Coastal Commission will put our/fishermen’s mitigation strategy as a contingency for their approval.
Other - 10 min
Christmas Party Saturday 12/14 6:30PM at the Brewhouse, send Ava pictures you want included in the slideshow
If you are willing to donate/sell fish to them for the event, please let Ava know
Merchandise sales so far $1,310
Ava has not had the bandwidth in the past month to spearhead a robust sales campaign but with harbor festival being over now, she will do some more marketing to boost sales. This current amount with hardly any marketing though is pretty good. Ava will give an update at all upcoming future board meetings on this topic.
Pacific Marine Expo 11/20-11/22
We have a fun crew going up to Seattle next week for PME - Jeff Hepp (and Mel), Harry and Liz, Chris, Ed Anderson, Mike Nelson, and Ava; Let Ava know if you plan to come and want to be a part of any of our plans
Mike Nelson will be on the Working Waterfront Panel at the Expo on Thursday 11/21
Chris ends the meeting at 5:48PM upstairs in the harbor classroom.