CFSB Board Meeting Minutes - May 20th, 2025 4PM
Attendees: Kim Selkoe, Chris Voss, Tony Luna, Ed Anderson, Michael Harrington, Gary Burke, Harry Liquornik, Reuven Bank, Bernard Friedman, Mary Nishimoto
Notes: Ava Schulenberg
Agenda:
*Housekeeping, time limits, 3 minute maximum policy on individual comments
Bernard’s Presentation
Sunflower Star Lab - Reuven Bank
Q2 Financials Approval
MRC meeting recap
OPC meeting recap
Status of Ocean Collective project
Logo input
Employer Survey to fill out
Status of Kelp restoration project
OPC proposal
Boating/Fishing Safety Course August 18th and 19th
Other -
Summer BBQ in partnership with VCCFA
Recording: Link
Chris calls the meeting to order at 4:06PM upstairs in the harbor classroom.
Agenda:
Bernard’s Kelp Farm Presentation
Bernard wants to propose a new kelp farm and discuss how he got to this idea with inspiration from a guy named Jeff Young who even though he was a failure as an oyster farmer, he still set the ground work 20 years later for him to come in and acquire an existing lease so he’s thankful to him for that and he also mentions Bob Meek who harvested mussels off oil platforms in the 80s
Bernard also did some work for Ocean Rainforest and learned that kelp attracts more kelp which is a key point to understand
Kombu kelp started growing on his farm; he’s been documenting different kinds of kelp that have been growing on his line
His goal here is to open your minds to possibilities of what could be because you don’t need much buoyancy to grow these and there’s a lot of untapped potential
Sugar kelp is a native kelp; that’s his target species
He went to Kodiak, AK last May to look at some kelp farms up there; He shows slides of one farm that’s 18 acres, with 20 grow lines
Bernard is seeking a letter of support from CFSB to support the pilot of this kelp farm
Bernard says bull kelp is his favorite to eat; point is there a lot of potential
He shows the hauling process and the freeze drying that they do in AK; they use it in cocktails, snacks, etc.
Should go over sand ideally in 50-70ft of water; his proposal is off Montecito next to Sewage outtake, 1000ft x1000ft farm
He’s doing this proposal in response to PSP closures/other mussel challenges
Bernard says Sacramento is terrible at doing their jobs and aquaculture is all local politics. He’d rather come to us and the City
Harry asks why not expand his existing farm?
Bernard says he’s using his 72 acres and doesn’t want to make it bigger he wants to use this as a different animal for R&D and it’s a different permitting process entirely anyway so might as well do a different location if that’s more ideal
Harry says the water where he’s at would be better because it gets silty farther south
Bernard says being closer to the outtake is actually better and says if he could move his farm he would move it to Summerland
Bernard says he will try one anchoring and farm set up, and if it doesn’t work, he will try another. The setup is easy to install and adjust. Kim mentions that it would be a nightmare to go back and submit different types of setups if he has to change and Bernard says you have to submit a broad proposal with different types of setups to the Coastal Commission, so he’s including 3 different options in his proposal
He said he would use highly durable, 100 lb non-drag steel anchors, and 16 and 20 inch floats
Bernard shows yearbook photos of him in high school where he was voted the future farmer
Gary asks who would fund it?
Bernard says OPC would fund at least 3 kelp or shellfish farms by 2027 (which is why Sergey is involved; Bernard says he’s reliable and he’s worked with him on 6 other grants), he also says other grant funds
Gary asks if he’s making money on the grants or the kelp?
Bernard says making money is the hard part and the income stream would be multi-pronged. Worst case scenario they run out of funding and have to rip it out.
Gary asks when he needs the letter?
Bernard says he needs it now. Chris says we could write a letter that acknowledges the nascent stage of this, stating we wouldn’t have to take a super strong cemented stance now
Gary asks about location?
Bernard says he knows he’s in for a long haul and understands that the location will likely change a bunch and he’s aware of that
Bernard emphasizes that things take time and you have to start small and methodical and he gives the example of how people didn’t really want to each urchins 30 years ago but things change and evolve
Kim asks how many years would it take to start producing?
Bernard says it could be installed in a couple weeks but permitting is what takes forever; you seed in the winter and harvest in the spring and then you’re kind of done so figuring out how to make it work in the fall is the critical part
Ray makes a motion to write a letter of support for Bernard’s kelp farm proposal
Chris says Kim or Ava can write a draft that the board could approve
Ray acknowledges that his mussel farm has been successful amongst a lot of other failures and he thinks this type of farm would not be an adversely impactful thing on fishermen
Harry seconds, unanimous approval 4-0-0 vote stands
Kim asks about owners?
Bernard says right now it’s just him and he plans on retaining at least 51% hopefully all going forward
Sunflower Star Lab - Reuven Bank
Chris introduces Reuven and describes the event that we went to at Dargan’s a couple months ago where Reuven went into an in-depth presentation on what this organization does
The org is an independent non-profit funded by grants, grassroots, donations, they partner with different organizations, started in 2021
Explains how sunflower stars are keystone predators; they create landscapes of fear where 16ft in every direction their scent deters invertebrates (they change urchin behavior)
Sunflower stars are functionally extinct in CA, and so is kelp. He says 97% of kelp in northern CA is gone
He says the channel islands created a case study sort of in and of itself because the warmer water/predator-laiden islands were able to maintain kelp
Gary asks how fast they grow?
Reuven says dinner plate size in a year or two
Sunflower starts are said to be the cheetahs of the seafloor and can move a meter per minute when they’re in hunting mode
Chris says if you introduce sunflower stars at a small size, they can still start eating small urchins and making an impact right away
Reuven says yes and no one has done this in CA before so there’s no science really on outplanting optimization (where to do it, how often, how old should they be/what size for best chance of recovery that costs the least, etc.)
Reuven says their lab is responsible for 30%+ of the state’s sunflower stars
They're difficult to monitor because if you put a chip in them they’ll spit it out; if you put a ring on them they’ll cut off that arm
The concept of shipping vials of larvae to different labs/locations is an interesting plug and play approach that they’re researching
Sunflower stars will eat urchins whether or not they’re barren versus otters that will avoid barrens as they learn that they’re empty; this is why it’s interesting to think about collaborative efforts with kelp restoration projects such as the one we’re doing now
He says outplanting is coming soon, probably in a month or so he’ll have more official news
Gary asks if you can mimic the scent and just drop bags or something?
Reuven says you would need such a constant supply and you’d be naturally selecting for urchins against the star because it wouldn't be there in reality
Chris frames the situation a bit - Suggests that at some point in the future CFSB could be a good partner to work on outplanting
Reuven says a great place in the future to outplant would be San Miguel for many reasons including accurate kelp monitoring and the isolated predatory nature of the stars out there
Gary asks if there’s any sign of them coming back anywhere?
Reuven says they found 70 juveniles in Southern OR last year but not really anywhere in CA, Harry confirms and they both say there hasn’t been a star sited at the channel islands since 2013
Harry says we should write a letter of support to help move things along
Reuven says in the future it would be an ask probably yes to show that there’s a community-wide united front
Gary asks what caused the decline?
Reuven says yes seastar wasting syndrome which affected over 20 different species but sunflower stars are soft-textured and fuzzy with a big air intake which makes them very susceptible to disease
Ray says as a trap fishermen, he does not miss them, but aside from that he recognizes the value of this
Harry asks if it’s a closed system? Reuven says water from Moss Landing Marine Labs intake, they filter it again, it’s a closed system
Harry asks about an open system? Reuven says they’re doing survivorship research and testing in closed, open, and wild systems
Q2 Financials Approval
Kim runs through the Q2 financials spreadsheet
She says the Coastal Conservancy grant will be hopefully a couple hundred thousand, we will find out in the next month or two.
Kim says we made it into the 6% of the Kaplan innovation prize for $175K, but our chances still are unclear; Kim says it’s very prestigious and you get connected to advisors and it’s good networking. Hopefully we find out news soon
State funding is competitive right now because of the status of federal funding, but we’ve partnered with the Bay Foundation on a proposal to continue the urchin removals at the islands. The Letter of Intent was due today.
We have $248,923.15 in the bank.
Chris makes a motion to approve the Q2 2025 financial statement
Harry seconds, unanimous approval 4-0-0 vote stands
MRC meeting recap (minutes here)
Chris and Ava got back from Sacramento last night
Day 1 on Wednesday was a lot of MPA public commenting,
Gary says Sklar wrote a letter stating commissioners couldn’t make legislative change, which Gary says comes off as support which Oceana has weaponized; Gary said he wanted to comment and tell Sklar to step down but he was offshore fishing and didn’t have service
Chris explains the red abalone topic was a nightmare and he got upset and left the room, which he later apologized for
The meeting had a lot of roundabout discussions that did not really get anywhere
Chris encouraged them to continue dragging their feet because everything has taken so long
Chris emphasized that the entire thing is a waste of resources that could be better allocated to other important issues, which many others at the meeting echoed
Chris emphasized that before we proceed with co-management of any MPAs, figure out what that process would look like; community stakeholders needed to be emphasized
OPC meeting recap (minutes here)
The 30x30 roadmap was announced and many environmental groups spoke against the roadmap because it included the Chumash Sanctuary which allows for some commercial fishing which they’re against and felt that that shouldn’t be able to contribute to the state’s percentage (including that brings the amount to 21.9%). This is a win for us but the 8% is still outstanding and the MPA petition process is still being considered
Status of Ocean Collective project
Logo input
Kim shows some different options
Harry says it needs to be a bit more nautical/granola
Gary says where’s the dolphins?
Chris says there should be a fish on it
We like option 13 the most so far, but we will discuss further in a staff meeting
Blue Economy Employer Survey - please fill out!
The more fishermen that fill it out the better so that the Ocean Collective can prioritize fishing community needs.
Status of Kelp restoration project
OPC proposal
Kim says before she went out of town they did 2 successful trips to clear urchin barrens. Spending on the budget is on track.
Boating/Fishing Safety Course August 18th, 19th, and 20th
We’re co-hosting a safety training course with CA Sea Grant
Ava will send information to Mary for her to distribute; Max capacity is 16 so we’re not broadly advertising and want to keep it within the fishing community
Other -
Summer BBQ in partnership with VCCFA
Ray pitches the idea of Hope Ranch Beach because that’s free
The group feels the Oil Piers location is great but a bit far and we’re willing to co-sponsor so it’s not all on VCCFA, if we can find a location that’s just a little closer, but ultimately right now that’s VCCFA’s decision
Sat Market
Rockfish has been inconsistent lately and customers are complaining more than ever, should we be seeking other vendors? Harry says there’s no limit to the amount of approved vendors we can have, so if others want to apply and get in line tell them they can go ahead.
Though this might not sound promising to anyone considering applying, we’ve experienced lulls where no one has rockfish for example right now for multiple weeks at a time - Which is a huge missed opportunity and an unfortunate circumstance for our regular (and new) customers.
Kim shares a Farmlink course called the Resilerator that’s 10 weeks this fall to help farmers/commercial fishermen with business skills and financial planning
Includes Loan assistance
For more info: https://www.californiafarmlink.org/forms/resilerator-application
When: Wednesdays, October 8 - December 17, 2025
Duration: 10 weeks
Schedule: Participants will be assigned to one of two cohorts based on their business needs to ensure a relevant and valuable learning experience. Cohort placement times will be determined soon.
The Resilerator is intended for those with two or more years of experience in one of the following:
Owner of a farm, ranch, or commercial fishing business
Significant involvement in managing their family's farm, ranch, or commercial fishing business
Kim ends the meeting at 6:04PM upstairs in the harbor classroom.