CFSB Board Meeting Minutes - October 2, 2023

Attendees: Shane Robinson, Jeanette Prusinski, Chris Voss, Kim Selkoe, Angela Rodriguez, Mike Nelson, Harry Liquornik, Gary Burke, Michael Harrington, Sam Shrout, Sheri Shrout, Eliza Harrison, Ben Hyman, Adrian Stimson, Andy Rassmussen, Nick Tharp, Jaime Diamond, James Voss, Matt Liso, Ray Kennedy

Notes: Ava Schulenberg

Agenda:

  1. Harbor Festival - Angela & Jeanette

    1. Staff payment

    2. Charging $10 per product (Previously $5)

  2. Maritime Collective

  3. Chumash Sanctuary Meetings

  4. Pop-up Gear - Ray Kennedy

  5. Wind Farms - Ray Kennedy

  6. Domoic Acid Update - Ray Kennedy

    1. Samples given down south

  7. Lobster Trap Cleanup - Loon Point

    1. Possible ATV idea - Ray Kennedy

  8. Mike McCorkle’s Memorial Service

  9. Other

Chris Voss starts the meeting at 4:04PM upstairs in the harbor classroom.

Agenda:

  1. Harbor Festival - Angela & Jeanette

    1. Staff payment

      1. We are looking to the fishermen who benefit the most financially to contribute funds for staff payment of folks in the chop shop and at the boiling station if we do not make enough revenue to cover the costs (hopefully we will this year)

      2. We need $4,000 to cover staff costs

      3. Ava assures that staff have been vetted 

      4. Staff are being paid $25/hr

    2. Charging $10 per product (Previously $5)

      1. Last year we lost money on the event because we had to pay staff who worked overtime due to volunteers who didn’t show up, so this effort is to avoid that net loss again

      2. We are suggesting that we charge based on product not per bag because each animal gets a plate

      3. Sam brings 500-600 lobsters and Paul and Joe will have a lot too so the staff costs should be covered

      4. We need to run a formula and put thought into it because we can’t have people paying $5 for a crab and then paying $10 for a lobster. Sam says that we should charge $5 for crab and maybe $10 for lobster

      5. Decision is made that we will charge $5 per item 

    3. Other:

      1. Jeanette will start a takeaway list after the festival this year in preparation for making next year’s event better

      2. Jeanette confirms that the filet station will be there and Jean and John will work the filet station until 11AM

      3. Jeanette wants to confirm there is enough space on the pier for vendors and non-profits

        1. Gary asks who she has on her list so far, Jeanette confirms who she has so far below:

          1. CFSB, Get Hooked, Dept. of FIsh and Wildlife, then there are 5 spaces open and then starting across from hoist 3 is where it picks up again with Surfrider, Heal the Ocean, Channelkeeper, and CINMS that’s it for the north side

          2. Power squadron, coast guard auxiliary, and Blackfin on the South Side

          3. Jeanette confirms that the Jeep will not be there

          4. Harry asks if Kim will have a full tent for Get Hooked and she says no, just a table

          5. The City supplies tents and tables but not chairs

        2. Sam asks if non-profits can go on the travel-lift pier because the pier gets so crowded - Jeanette says she has a concern about non-profits falling off because there’s no handrail. Jeanette says there are 6 on the pier and usually there’s 17 spots

        3. Jeanette wants to do a walk through

        4. Health Dept. will do their checks at 8AM and then people get the green light as they go 

        5. Jeanette says they are just doing albacore, no crab on their part or anything

        6. People selling rockfish need to confirm with their customers that their product cannot be cooked, it can be cut at the filet station but not cooked

      4. Sammy asks why so many got lost last year - Chris and Harry say it’s the shift changes and there was no leadership last year

        1. Maybe we should use a megaphone to announce when orders are ready

      5. Shane suggests maybe doing it backwards by pre-cooking them. Harry says it kind of worked but we’d run out and people like to pick the product too. Chris says it’s not a bad idea to try again.

      6. Sam says we should look into maybe text alerts or vibrating discs 

      7. Jeanette confirms that she will primarily be in the albacore booth but Angela will be floating around throughout the day to check in on everything

  1. Maritime Collective (ran out of time, will cover update in next board meeting)

  2. Chumash Sanctuary Meetings

    1. Kim, Andy, and Ava attended an informational meeting recently 

      1. Andy says the NOAA speaker (Bill Duros) was really against offshore wind which was great to see because of all the cabling 

      2. Andy says if this goes through it will have consequences for 30x30

      3. Kim says she had a long talk with Bill Duros at the informational meeting and he is an advocate for Sanctuaries being counted toward the 30x30 initiative

        1. Kim says the presentation talked about supporting the Blue Economy, including fisheries, in the Sanctuary, but this means they might consider aquaculture permits in the sanctuary. 

        2. At the Rodriguez Sea Mount below 3000 ft no bottom contact gear is allowed per NMFS/PFMC. This would not change. Above 3000 ft, there would be more scrutiny of activity at the sea mount that is not already covered by fishing regs (e.g, scientific collecting).

        3. Bill Duros said the new Sanctuary will not be able to make fishing regulations - PFMC has control of that. 

        4. Multiple people in the room express concerns that these statements are not to be trusted based on previous interference with fisheries regulations and permitting in Sanctuaries.

        5. Kim says the speaker told her that the northern tribes were not in support of this because their name is not being recognized, so the Sanctuary cut the northern area out of it entirely.

        6. Kim asked him who is in charge of moving this forward? She says he said that it is up to the head of NOAA and it seems non-transparent and mostly political.

    2. At the public comment meeting in Lompoc, Chris says he was able to speak first, he was in the minority in his position of opposition. Chris emphasizes that he said that we as Californias can make good decisions about the 0-3 miles that are in CA’s control and the federal government should not be involved in interfering with fisheries management because we have enough regulators running the show already. This is a power grab and top down management. This sanctuary will cause problems because it’s in state waters 

    3. At the recent council meeting in WA, we learned that NMFS/NOAA is working hard quickly to draw a line of what the sanctuary can/can’t manage. NMFS has already had to stand down on interfering with state management, and the Sanctuary will have to also. 

    4. Chris brings up the meetings we (Chris, Jaime, Ava) attended in March and how California overall is trying to catch up with other states like OR and WA that are much more advanced in their tribal negotiations.

    5. Kim says the Sanctuary is looking to implement a co-governance structure by having a separate tribal council advisory board. Not sure how similar this is in nature to the pre-existing sanctuary advisory councils which have little power.

    6. Shane has a question about how tribal members will benefit in terms of fisheries - like will they be given permits? Would they get to fish off season? Kim says there is no precedent for anything like that, for instance, with the Sanctuaries in Hawaii, there are no allowances for Native Hawaiians to have greater fisheries access. Fisheries management is supposed to stay with the Council and NMFS and the state, no matter who is involved in the fishing. The Sanctuary says they will not be involved in fisheries regulation and permitting.  

    7. Public comment ends 10/25 - Ava sent an email a couple weeks ago with instructions on how to submit online or by mail Chevron has been holding stakeholder meetings that are focused around funding coastal tribal interests and commercial fishing interests, so it’s a great opportunity to ensure we’re pulling in the same direction with all this stuff. We will keep you posted on the outcome.

  3. Pop-up Gear - Ray Kennedy

    1. Jaime asks if Ray has talked to Dick Ogg - Ray confirms that we have spoken with him and he has sat in on a meeting and shared his disapproval. She says she showed him the different kinds of gear and he emphasized that if there’s a storm and you need to move your gear or something, the whole timing issue of pop-up gear would cause a problem. Ray says when you think about the amount of gear that would be lost, it’s astronomical, and would outweigh any “benefits”

  4. Wind Farms - Ray Kennedy

    1. Ray says we need to demand a comprehensive environmental impact report for wind and for pop up gear.

    2. For instance, NNEMF (non-native electromagnetic frequency) - all animals pick up on this, so when we start throwing stray electric fields into the environment with wind farms and pop-up gear, we’re messing with that on a level that has not been explored. Stray current leaks from these new things and we see what’s going on on the east coast too with whales stranding on beaches, etc.). Ray thanks Mark Becker for bringing this topic to his attention

    3. Chris says there are 10 representatives being selected right now by the Coastal Commission from up and down the state for the 7c council that will help weigh in on the impacts of offshore wind from every angle including nutrient level impacts, and this point about electromagnetic currents is also an important point to bring up.

      1. Chris says there is instability in the economic viability of wind farm development projects. Leasing corporations are backing out of their contracts, especially on the east coast, because the financial projections are not looking good enough.

      2. Nick Tharp asks where the companies are from that are bidding on the contracts? Chris says all 5 are foreign. Nick emphasizes this is our government investing more in foreign holders of our energy sources. 

      3. Chris emphasizes that the coastal commission is there to protect our interests and has an obligation to protect commercial fisheries which is why this 7c working group is inside their bureaucracy. CA state lands commission will also be involved

  5. Domoic Acid Update - Ray Kennedy

    1. Samples given down south

      1. Ray says they are still closed down south from Palos Verdes  to Orange County, he says Roger Healy says it’s a total mess down there because everyone that would fish in those closed areas is pushing to Dana Point

    2. If our samples test positive, which Ray says is unlikely, we would be subject to multiple block closures. They only want samples from a couple blocks - They want samples from Santa Rosa and the coast. You need 2 clear samples before opening an area back up. 

    3. Chris says the Fish and Game Commission has a meeting on the 12th in San Jose, he is planning on going and advocating for a responsible approach and Ray suggests that Chris read Greg Olsen’s email when he’s there if he can

      1. Ben says he likes what Chris has done in previous meetings where he asks point blank what the history of domoic acid poisoning is because they always just respond scratching their heads unable to produce examples of people getting sick.

    4. Ray confirms they cannot close the fishery without any positive samples

    5. Ray says the Dept. of Fish & Wildlife have the right to shut down our shipping and the right to take 6 of your lobsters - This is a new power in order to protect public health 

    6. Sam asks about molting in terms of susceptibility to domoic acid - Ben says shallower, warmer water makes it more likely, but not sure about molting relativity 

    7. Chris emphasizes the only instances of people getting sick in the past is from bivalves.

    8. Shane asks if we ever talked to Rusty Brace about this - Ray says we should go with someone who is already up to date like Mike Conroy but we’re not quite there yet in terms of needing that letter

    9. Ray emphasizes that they don’t care if you have $2million invested into your business, they’ll shut us down no matter what if a sample comes back positive

  6. Lobster Trap Cleanup - Loon Point

    1. Possible ATV idea - Ray Kennedy

    2. Ray says as far as our cleanups, whatever goes on social media, we need to be careful about keeping it positive and not opening ourselves up to misconceptions and misconstrued information.

    3. Ray says maybe we could partner with the City to get an ATV and have it allowed on the beach for cleanups.

      1. The area is really rocky so a boat based retrieval might make more sense for Loon Point. Need a good low tide though.

    4. Ava will send out more details about the cleanup when we confirm details (need to confirm the tide)

  7. Mike McCorkle’s Memorial Service

    1. The celebration of life will start around 6PM on Friday 10/13

    2. Jeff, Chris, Ava, Gary, Linda, the caterer, and Dana met with the coordinator at the SB Maritime Museum today to go over the logistics of the service

      1. There will be food and drinks (thank you to those who have donated like Steve Escobar will be generously donating his wine)

      2. $40/head so we need to get funding to cover the catering, rental of linens, etc.

    3. Jaime says that people think it’s an open event and anyone can show up and I told her that that’s consistent with what some people think but it is RSVP and there will be a list

    4. Gary says the cable committee will donate money towards the event and CFSB can take a vote to contribute funds as well

      1. We are hoping that if there’s any extra money it would be donated to the Museum

      2. Ray makes a motion for CFSB to donate $1,000 to the service, Chris seconds the motion, unanimous approval 4-0-0 vote stands

    5. Andy asks about spreading ashes on the Danny C and Jeff says he’s got a job for a couple weeks but he is going to try 

  8. Other

    1. Billy Meng memorial

      1. Andy will send Ava more info to send out when memorial details are confirmed

    2. Jeff Hepp says Bob Wall also passed away recently

    3. Chris Voss says Donny O’Daniel also passed away recently

    4. Jaime says she is running for harbor commissioner and would love for CFSB to write a letter of support if there isn’t someone else that we’re already supporting

Chris Voss ends the meeting at 5:51PM