CFSB Board Meeting Minutes - June 13, 2022

Attendees: Chris Voss, Kim Selkoe, Mike Nelson, Tony Luna, Andy Rasmussen, Paul Teall, Harry Liquornik, Scott Streett, John Colgate, Nick Tharp, Gary Burke, Michael Harrington, Victoria Voss

Notes: Ava Schulenberg

Agenda:

  1. Harbor Commission Update - Mike Nelson

    1. Subcommittee reconvened

      1. Discounted slips discussion - min requirements, expanding the number of slips

      2. Discounts on slip transfer fees?

  2. Fishermen for Ukraine CFSB Donation

  3. Fuel Cost/Inflation

  4. AOA Webinar

  5. Maritime Collective 

    1. follow up meeting this week (Wednesday 3PM)

    2. Report back Carbajal meeting

  6. Offshore Wind Update

  7. Fish and Game Commission Fishing Communities Policy process

  8. Sea Otter Delisting

Chris Voss opened the meeting on June 13, 2022 at 4:09pm. Meeting was held in person in the harbor classroom and via Zoom.

Agenda:

  1. Harbor Commission Update - Mike Nelson

    • The Commercial Fisheries Subcommittee reconvened and elected Mike as Chair.

      1. Fishermen in attendance described slip transfer fees as a major impediment to conveying their commercial boats and businesses.

      2. Discounted slips to be examined for possible improvement by the Commercial Fisheries Subcommittee as an incentive for promoting the local seafood industry.

      3. Discounts on slip transfer fees? 

        1. Chairman of the Slip Assignment Policy Sub Committee (Stedman) indicated willingness to review slip transfer fees associated with commercial fishing vessels as a business practice that may be  subject to municipal code’s preferential treatment of commercial fishing and aquaculture.

      4. Tony Luna said he attended the Subcommittee meeting and emphasized that there are not enough commercial slips. Tony says it will cost him $1600/month for a recreational guest slip, because there’s no commercial guest slips, plus it’s extremely inconvenient to  show fish tickets every week, he suggested that there was ample opportunity for improving this system.

      5. Kim asked if folks liked the Waterfront Dept’s policy of assessing their landings to stay in a commercial fishing slip. Do fishermen think that’s the right way to manage commercial fishing slips? Paul states that the $15,000/biannually is not enough of a threshold

      6. Rasmussen reminded everyone that Mick Kronman (former harbor master) declared that if a fishermen's fishery was eliminated by regulation, the waterfront department would not terminate their slip permit.

      7. Harry summarized the discussion by stating that there were 2 issues:  first, the waterfront department's policy for discounted slips (numbers and rates of visitor, guest and grandfathered permits) and second, the cost of slip transfer fees.

  2. Fishermen for Ukraine CFSB Donation

    • Paul feels uncomfortable spending money from the general fund, and was under the impression that our donations would come from grant funding, but we don’t have a grant that can support us spending money on this specifically

    • Kim says it’s not appropriate to withdraw funds from any grants, but the general funds is like our nest egg, but it’s up to the board to decide what to do with those funds

    • Chris asks if anyone can make a motion to make some kind of financial commitment to donate to World Central Kitchen, he asks the 5 board members that are present if anyone wants to make a motion

      1. Harry asks to wait to see how much we gross and go from there

      2. Gary asks what the projected profits are: Paul explains that we’ve grossed $18,000 so far with the ticket sales alone, plus the auction items, and subtracting the CFSB reimbursement, we’ll likely be able to donate around 15-20k 

  3. Fuel Cost/Inflation

    • Andy says fuel will never go down until our government pushes more domestic production, we need to push Carbajal which he won’t like, but fuel went up 50 cents today alone, and we need to do something about it because this country is screwed right now. Right now, Exxon is trying to open the Santa Ynez unit and put it all on a truck to Bakersfield but they can’t do it because they’re not allowed by the state government.

    • Paul asked how can CFSB help? Andy suggested approaching  Carbajal about working to give the oil/gas companies permission to move forward. 

    • Kim suggested speaking with the Exxon folks too before submitting a letter and also calling Greg Hass for recommendations.

Harry makes a motion to write a letter to our city, county and federal representatives on behalf of CFSB supporting that the fire up the Santa Ynez unit and get all that existing infrastructure back online, Paul seconds the motion, unanimous approval of the 5 board members present (5 out of 7, vote stands)

  1. AOA Webinar

    • The atlas is now up for public comment and they are looking for specific information about the maps

    • The meeting is Monday June 27th so we encourage folks to attend and weigh in on the items they’re requesting (can be found in the email Ava sent out with the map)

    • Kim also brings up the question of if we want maps for ourselves because SeaSketch has offered to do this for us pro bono and says they could use a system to keep it all confidential, the alternative would be to see what Carrie Pomeroy is doing. We have until July to do the public comment and then they might be opening up the areas for lease applications by the end of the year

    • We’ve already expressed opposition to this and will continue to oppose it moving forward

    • Comments raised:

      1. Why don’t we just use the blocks because the data is already there? The block data is much lower resolution than would be useful in siting these aquaculture areas.

      2. We should  know specifics in terms of what species we are talking about before we give out this information - There are different issues for different species. 

      3. It’s just a chunk of area being gone no matter what, it’s spatial loss at the end of the day

    •  

      1. It works well in our favor when you can show them the map and pinpoint different impacts to different fisheries - If you have economists run numbers and put it on a chart, it will help.

      2. We should fully oppose it because we don’t know what might be of value in the future. Black cod gear on the backside of San Miguel is an example because no one used to care 10-15 years ago but now there’s maybe 12-20 guys going back there, so if there’s a change in the demographics of Santa Barbara and we get bigger markets, something like that might be of value in the future but not right now. There is a general agreement that we have to look forward to the generations coming down in the future and we need to broaden our vision.

    • We’ll come back at our next meeting with a presentation about SeaSketch and potentially Carrie’s option to have our options laid out on the table. Harry asks what about NOAA? He said they have economists, 

    • Chris makes a motion to oppose but if it’s going to happen anyway, it needs to be done with a better understanding of the significant economic impacts it will have, which can be aided by having a locally driven mapping process 

  2. Maritime Collective 

    • Follow up meeting this week (Wednesday 3PM)

      1. Meeting will take place in the harbor classroom and a Zoom link will be sent out as well for anyone who cannot attend in person

      2. We will discuss what we discovered in the surveys, plus a potential governance structure, etc.

    • Report back Carbajal meeting

      1. Kim stated that the Congressman agreed to have his staff help CFSB look for federal grant opportunities to fund the acquisition and development of  the Maritime Collective.

  3. Offshore Wind Update

    • Lease bidders are getting a 2.5% incentive if they engage with commercial fisheries, but we believe this percentage is far too low, so we will be suggesting a 15% figure vs. 2.5

    • Offshore wind costs 6x more than what onshore wind costs, plus if you factor in environmental impacts, once you add it all up, it’s wildly expensive, on a nice day out there, it’s crappy, so maybe we’ll find another solution than this extremely impactful idea that will end up being very expensive - Why not just do it on land? There’s plenty in Mojave that are working just great. 

  4. Fish and Game Commission Fishing Communities Policy process

    • There’s a policy drafting workshop on June 22nd from 3-5:30PM

  5. Sea Otter Delisting

    • Harry will forward a letter that we will sign off on in support

  6. Other

    • Michael Harrington asks for Ava to have a credit card, Kim and Chris need to approve this 

Chris Voss ended the meeting on June 13, 2022 at 5:40pm.