Ocean Rainforest Meeting with CFSB Minutes February 7, 2022 4PM PST
Attendance:
Chris Voss, Kim Selkoe, Michael Harrington, Mike Nelson, Manny Gorgita, Jason Robinson, Zack Robinson, Paul Teall, Jeff Maassen, Andy Rasmussen, Mary Nishimoto, Steve Dunn, John Richards, Charlie Graham, Morgan Castagnola, Carrie Culver, Gary Burke, Bob Krzyzcko, David Rose, Randy Lovewell, The Seafood Institute of Sacramento, Mike Conroy
Notes: Ava Schulenberg
Agenda:
This is an opportunity for members of the fishing community to communicate directly with Ocean Rainforest’s Project Manager, Eliza Harrison
Chris opened the meeting on February 7, 2022 at 4:00pm. Meeting was held in person in the harbor classroom and via Zoom.
Eliza Harrison began with a quick overview on the site and presented three slides showing the project location. She explains the location that had the “highest score” in terms of least impact to fishermen and highest potential for kelp growth. She states there will be a 16 acre structure comprised of ropes and buoys, in a long-line design, 70-80 meters deep, 4.4 nautical miles off the coast, in federal waters. As the seaweed is planted, the macrocystis will grow up and form a kelp bed and kelp canopy. The buoys will be marked and will be 1500 liter hard buoys.
Jason Robinson asks if this project has been approved and if there’s anything that can be done to stop it. Eliza responds saying not at this point but she emphasizes this is only a two-year demonstration project. This is not a commercial operation. They have funding to decommission the project once the two-year timeline is complete.
Charlie Graham has concerns that this is the first he is hearing about this, after 2 years of supposedly engaging stakeholders. He says a lot of people are not a member of CFSB at any one given time but they’re still stakeholders and thinks Ocean Rainforest failed to reach out to the rest of the fleet and most people have never heard of them. He thinks it will not benefit our port and that it should be implemented in Santa Monica or Marina Del Rey or somewhere where commercial fishing is not allowed because our port is so small.
Manny Gorgita and Jason echo Charlie’s points that they hadn’t heard about it and that not everyone supports CFSB. Chris Voss says if they joined the association, maybe they would be more informed.
Dominic Mercaldo says that he is really concerned about the future and how it will impact him. He suggests that Eliza did make an effort but was misguided in her approach. He states that in the interest of fairness he did not want to meet one on one before meeting with the whole fleet. The lack of good communication causes distrust and opportunities were missed to make things right. He worries for the livelihood of his business.
Charlie asks if Ocean Rainforest would support CFSB going back and re-writing a letter of opposition because it’s such a major traffic hazard. Jason emphasizes that this zone is not good for him or for anyone. Manny, Charlie, Dominic, Andy, and Paul agree and say that it’s the absolute worst place in terms of traffic, especially getting to the islands.
Steve Dunn says he’s the fisheries caucus chair on the JOFLO committee. He suggests doing this project in Santa Monica which other people agreed to. Manny asks why they get to make money off of this site and now fishermen can’t - Eliza responds saying that their intention is purely for research not to make money at this point.
Paul Teall asks how many buoys there will be - Eliza says there will be four with lights which are required by the Coast Guard, plus at least 50 or more on the surface. Paul asks who will be liable for the death and risk that takes place when they’re going through gale force winds and trying to cross the channel and they don’t have any other choice but to cut through. He also mentions whale entanglement and other issues that could become a big risk.
Jason says this is a horrible idea and this meeting is a waste of time - He leaves the room. Manny follows.
Dominic asks if Ocean Rainforest is willing to take a step back at all even though the permit is approved and Eliza says at this point no. He responds by saying that intentions don’t matter, actions are loud and clear. He wants to know how they will replace gear that gets damaged due to this site, he works a lot, the whole fleet is always working, how do they get reimbursed or get their gear replaced by Ocean Rainforest if stuff gets damaged.
Dominic requests that in the future, they get all permit holder contact info from CDFW and use CDFW letterhead and envelopes to send their notifications to make sure people actually open and read the notices. As Dominic read from their email correspondence, Eliza reached out to CDFW to request this information and was informed they are unable to provide mailing or email addresses for individuals with reported landed product at the Harbor. That said, and as Eliza committed to Dominic verbally, she will (and now has) reach out to Randy Lovell to see if there might be a way to modify this policy to support future stakeholder outreach and engagement efforts.
Paul wants to know what is experimental about this since Dominic mentioned they’ve done this in the Faroe islands, Eliza says that this is experimental because it’s giant kelp, and they’ve only ever tested it with sugar kelp, which grows down. She says they have done open ocean farms in other locations and that they will keep the same structural integrity as those where they are able to withstand high wind and swell conditions.
Charlie asks if it’s a non-native species and Eliza says no they are native and the spores came from the Arroyo Burro bed. Steve asks Eliza to research the Point Arguello oil platform project.
Mary Nishimoto of JOFLO says it doesn’t sound like the site operations planning is finished yet, she says she senses it won’t go in right away and that it seems like a lot more operations need to be planned before it can go into place. Mary emphasizes that fishermen are the experts of the ocean and could be good resources.
Charlie also asks how often they will be using their infrastructure, hoists, etc. - Eliza says it would only be a few times a year and that their goal is to get the kelp off the boat and onto the pier as fast as possible and to be out of the way.
Dominic asks for Ocean Rainforest to email everyone at this meeting the moment that they apply for any new permits or any commercial ventures/applications, Eliza says she can absolutely do that.
Paul asks when this will start and Eliza says September or October and it would run until December of 2024. Charlie has concerns that this will be right when lobster season starts. Charlie wants to know if there is a way to work around that timing to which Eliza says yes absolutely and to reach out if there are concerns like that so they can work around this.
Zack wants to know how close he can fish to the site - Eliza says you can get as close to the border as you want. His concern is about the future and he says that if it goes well, it will open the door for other commercial farms to come in. He says as a gillnetter, they’re already under a lot of pressure and they have a small amount of zones they can fish, this is his main concern is what is going to follow this if it goes well. Eliza says if he wants to have a conversation about exactly how close he can get, she can facilitate that conversation with others at Ocean Rainforest. Eliza says they want to set the stage by letting other companies that follow know that commercial fishermen need to have a voice in order to get anything approved.
Morgan asks about the cleanup process if the project gets abandoned to which Eliza re-emphasizes that there is plenty of funding for decommissioning and cleanup should that be the case.
Zack says if there’s a way to co-exist and prove that it won’t be as bad then that’s great, but organizing fishermen is really hard so he understands why it’s been difficult to open communication lines. Zack says wherever you move, you’re going to be taking someone’s space. He has concerns about more loss because his zone is already so small.
Charlie asks if there’s been any funding from Ocean Rainforest to CFSB - Chris and Eliza say no but it’s maybe a possibility down the line if there was a good reason for it.
Paul asks why don’t you put the site in between wind farms and Eliza says they’re doing it in Denmark but haven’t tried that out here yet, but that it could be part of a conversation down the line because if approved, wind farms would already cause a loss of fishing grounds; As a result, integrating seaweed farming into wind farms could be a way to minimize damage to the commercial fishing industry.
Mike Conroy asks what depth the project is located in which Eliza says 75-80 meters. He asks if Eliza has looked into traffic conflicts from Ventura, Oxnard, and Hueneme because especially squid boats run right through there in the course line. Eliza says that they did look at traffic implications but the data from NOAA could have been unreliable so she invites more input on this topic whenever and wherever possible. Mike also asks if the consistency determination has already been done and Eliza says yes. He also asks if the Catalina Sea Ranch lost fishing gear and compensation plan is the model that they will base theirs on - Eliza says yes but they are going to have a conversation about whether or not it’s actually an effective plan and will talk through other options that might make it better.
Paul says use fathoms instead of meters because it would make it more helpful for them. Mary says they’re going to have the oil companies going through there to get to and from platforms at times. Mary says she’d be happy to facilitate a conversation between Ocean Rainforest and the oil companies.
Paul wants to know if they’ll use the Danny C for implementation and what kind of boats will be used - While Ocean Rainforest has identified Danny C as an excellent candidate, they have yet to finalize the specific vessels that will be used and/or required to support their installation and project operation.
Charlie asks what happens to the kelp that they harvest - Eliza says part of it will go towards research for pharmaceutical or environmental research, and part of it will go to the abalone farm. He emphasizes that he is not categorically opposed to this project, just the location and he feels that they fell very short on stakeholder engagement.
Everyone thanks Eliza for her time.
Meeting adjourned at 6:06pm.