CFSB Board Meeting Minutes - May 26, 2026 4PM
Attendees: Adrian Stimson, Kaira Wallace, Kim Selkoe, Chris Voss, Pierre Charest, Jason Woods, Harry Liquornik, Gary Burke, Blake Hermann, Doug Bush, Gary Burke, Manny Gorgita, Jeff Maassen, Jeff Hepp, Trent Petterson, Mark Brubaker, Michael Harrington, Tony Luna
Notes: Ava Schulenberg
Agenda:
*Housekeeping, time limits, 3 minute maximum policy on individual comments
Ocean Rainforest Pt 2
Board Elections
Phos Check Rosa Fire
Purple urchin removal/kelp restoration project update
USDA Announcement on Office of Seafood
GGGI Oceanside event recap
Ocean Collective Update
SBCC funding contributions
Tribal engagement
Apprenticeship program
Steve Owen SBA meeting recap
MPA Bioregional Meetings Recap
County Supervisors Support
Original decadal review minutes re petitions from March 2023
Cleanup grant
$77.5K from NMSF to be used by June 2027 (islands only)
Lobster tailing 6/17 FGC
Sea urchin market - Jeff Maassen
Ava & Kim raises
Ava’s last raise was Feb 2025, prior to that was 2023
Kim’s last raise was Dec 2024, prior to that was 2021
Recording: Link
Chris calls the meeting to order at 4:03PM upstairs in the harbor classroom.
Agenda:
Ocean Rainforest Pt 2
Kaira alludes to the previous presentation they did a couple months ago and some of the sonar surveys they’ve done since
The Coastal Commission is floating the idea that Ocean Rainforest contribute mitigation funds to PCFFA for cleanup work as a debris offset, but they haven’t mentioned a dollar amount - they’ll let us know after their next meeting with CC tomorrow.
Chris says he’s on the board of PCFFA so maybe there’s a way for them to give funds to those who potentially snag gear
Kaira says they won’t know exactly how much money yet
Gary asks what kind of grapple with weight or how it was attached? Doug says they tried different configurations with a leicester chain or trailing chain 15 inches in diameter each triple hook, Mark asks if it’s line that they’re trying to grab
2 blocks on each short link chain so they’re trying to hook into that but it’s in the mud
They didn’t lose any grapple hooks
Jeff Maassen asks if they employed any divers because Shaun brought it up
They said no because maybe it’s too deep
Manny says 2x2 2 hooked together with chain is what he caught
Jeff Hepp says they can try and put an old net and try to clean the area they can go get the coordinates and go through like a vacuum cleaner Manny says they’re heavier than you think though
Kaira says it’s a delicate dance of doing more environmental damage than it’s worth and a debris cleaning offset fund might be a good reason
Jeff says the area is where they’ve been fishing the past 40 years and now they can’t
Kim says they need to know if the funds will be sufficient or not
New nets are 12 grand plus
Manny says he caught 2 blocks but they were too heavy to get on the boat 30x60x60 cm concrete blocks 2 together with a cast chain connecting and; Manny moved a pair and he says he has the numbers of where he dropped them; He says it was the size of 2 big green totes
Manny asks how much rope did they leave? Kaira said should be none and all of the cultivation system everything was removed and accounted for, all of the plow anchors, the chain shots associated with the plow anchors, the buoys, the connection shackles (~1 inch diameter steel), Doug says they have everything accounted for but Manny says he’s caught other items of theirs so their inventory should be off
Kaira asks if that’s a reasonable next step for them to get funds to PCFFA and Gary says it doesn’t solve the problem of losing gear; Gary says if you can’t even cleanup that little spot what is going to happen in Ventura especially after a year or so
Kaira says they learned a lot of lessons; Gary says you can learn all the lessons you want but boats will end up on the beach; Kaira says they have things they will change based on this experiment
Jeff Hepp says slightly deeper positioning of the demo site could have avoided interference with trawl grounds
Manny asks why doesn’t the state want this? Why does it have to be federal?
Doug says they’ve been working with NOAA aquaculture areas and they said operationally it would be easier to have it closer to shore but the way the regulations and permits are structured right now aren’t equipped for this type of process they don’t have funding for CEQA right now etc. Manny says then why don’t we wait until they have the funds to do it? They say because it could be 20 years
Jeff Hepp says yes give money to PCFFA and we can do cleanups
2000 acres for the new site
Manny says you couldn’t manage the current site but you’re going to build a bigger one? Kaira says we learned a lot at the smaller site that will inform the bigger one
Manny says are you not going to ask me for the numbers? Doug says fair enough and they leave
Ava asks Jason if they’ve reached out to VCCFA and he says no because they’re strictly opposed
Adrian asks if you can fish in the buffer zone? We’re not sure but I don’t think so
Jeff Maassen says they gave them an extra year because of the warm water blob, they didn’t have the growth, but then it was reasonably successful
Jeff Hepp says isn’t there an el nino coming doesn’t seem like the best time to start this project
Chris says we need to let Heather with the Coastal Commission know we don’t approve of the way they’re doing this process
Harry says debris is one thing but you lose the area that’s the real problem
Adrian asks if they’re going to fund the Ventura fishermen for their lost grounds? Chris says Heather is aware of fishermen losing area that can’t be something that’s blown past
Jeff Maassen says the next steps approach would be CFSB recommends preliminarily to send divers out
Jeff Hepp says it’s too deep at 43 fathoms but Jeff Maassen says if they have mixed gas they’ll be ok
Next steps will be Ava will send a letter to them to pursue diving
Manny will send Ava the coordinates because it’s a navigational hazard
Board Elections
Kim encourages new members to be a part of the process, we have open alternate and board seats to consider
Tony says he talks to Garrett all the time and he’s got a lot going on but either way even if he steps down it’s good that we keep communication with him because we get a lot of good feedback from the ports up there
Kim says we can put it on the agenda to make sure we hear about what’s going on with those other ports
Tony says he’ll ask him some more about his interest when he sees him but if he’s not down here fishing is it worth it to have him on the board I don’t know
Harry asks Tony if he’s interested in taking over Ray’s VP position but at the time Ray said that wasn’t totally necessary at least not yet but where things are now with Ray’s health we need to replace his seat
Kim says Blake Hermann is awesome if we want to invite Blake to be an alternate or board member
Tony says if we need to nominate him he’ll do it because he agrees and says it’s great
Blake says he wants to wait til the MPA process wraps up first before affiliating with any groups directly because so far it’s been to his advantage for him to be independent and it’s not anything against any organization but all groups in general, it’s just better for him to wait til everything is wrapped up
Jeff Hepp says to Adrian why don’t you take Ray’s seat?
Adrian says he’s too busy unfortunately but is super appreciative of everything that the board does and he says having more experienced fishermen on this board is huge for him and for younger fishermen
Jeff Maassen suggests postponing altogether
Jason makes a motion that if no one challenges the existing board that we should keep status quo for now but we flip Ray and Tony Luna so Tony is officially VP and Ray is now alternate and we talk to Garrett before the next meeting to learn more about his stance, otherwise everything remains the same, Harry seconds, all in favor 5-0-0 unanimous approval
Phos Check Rosa Fire
Kim says she’s reached out to a variety of groups with no response yet
Harry Rabin from HTO confirmed with Ava that they are using phos check but there might be more regulations in CA that make it a more environmentally sensitive chemical makeup
Jeff Maassen says there’s some surveying being done this Thursday to collect a baseline in case a negative impact on algae starts to happen but it’s tentative based on weather so we’ll see how it evolves
Ken Covrey got back to us on the 27th: “Regarding suppression actions, the vast majority of aerial drops used on Santa Rosa Island were water. That said, some retardant was applied as an emergency response to save key resources. To protect marine resources all retardant operations followed label requirements, including maintaining required buffer distances from water, including waterways that lead to the marine environment. I understand the concerns from the fishing community and appreciate you reaching out.”
Purple urchin removal/kelp restoration project update
Kim gives a project overview and seeks input from the divers in the room about barrens at carp reef. Pierre says there aren’t a lot of purples at Carp Reef.
Pierre says front side of Santa Cruz might be a good option
Jason says Scorpion to Pedro Point would be a good spot
Pierre says you’ll get a lot of flat weather there and it’s relative close and it’s out of the south swell all summer
Kim says they were able to get about 50 lbs per hour and want to design the trips so guys can service other markets. Need to know if $3 per pound for purples is doable to figure out if we have enough budget left to start a new site.
USDA Announcement on Office of Seafood
Chris says there’s an effort on the part of the Fishing Communities Coalition (FCC) to make sure that it helps small-scale fishermen not just big beneficiaries like big businesses that benefit from the industry
Adrian says he’s reached out to their email address ([email protected]) with no response yet; Ava has reached out as well
Brubaker asks if it’s specific to small shrimp trawling, Chris says west coast is an after thought so it’s our job to ensure we get a seat at the table and big industry interests aren’t the only thing acknowledged
Ava says the west coast is definitely underrepresented on a federal level and having us be present as much as possible in their conversations is needed. Ava was the only one on the recent FCC DC trip from the west coast and the only one there alone (other reps from different regions had fishermen and advocates).
GGGI Oceanside event recap
Ava and Chris went to a marine debris workshop last week that had stakeholders from around the world (Canada, Mexico, etc.) and learned about how the cooperativa works in relation to marine debris in Mexico; It was a huge time commitment but valuable to learn from Tom Mason with CDFW and TNC, and everyone else that was in the room
Brubaker talks about his experience when he worked with Kirsten Gilardi in the past and how the problem was usually big clumps that would drift and stick together and once they’d clean those big clumps, they wouldn’t have gear the following year
Ocean Collective Update
SBCC funding contributions
SBCC is giving CFSB another $15,000 from the Catalyst funds to finish the Blue Economy Report with Devin Spencer, and another $50K to CFSB to contribute to the permitting and planning process for the boat yard.
Tribal engagement
We’re working with Theresa Romero who’s father was an ab diver and she’s also managed intertribal fisheries on the great lakes so she has a lot of relevant experience
Apprenticeship program
Kim has been speaking with Jason and others about an apprenticeship program with CA Sea Grant
Kim invites anyone who’s interested in this to reach out to her
Steve Owen SBA meeting recap
Chris and Ava met with a rep from the small business administration’s office of advocacy last week and discussed tariff relief, uni market, and other pertinent local issues that should get relayed up to the appropriate people who might be able to help
Steve recommended that any fishermen seeking business advice should utilize the free resources available at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
Steve will join one of our future board meetings so he can introduce himself and members can speak to him directly
MPA Bioregional Meetings Recap
County Supervisors Support
Roy Lee says he does support the fleet and will submit a letter of opposition that corrects his office’s opinion of neutrality/support that was conveyed at the public comment section of the meeting
Original decadal review minutes re petitions from March 2023
Chris thanks all the fishermen for making comments at the Goleta meeting and now it should be recognized that they can’t blow past our interest
Chris says there’s huge controversy amongst tribes too
Chris says we had a conversation with Morgan about Carp reef petition and how it will affect trawl fisheries and he said it will close extremely valuable grounds
With an election coming if it happens things will be completely different; Harry says they’re all playing political football on the backend we’ve got to be aware of that
Blake says he thought the meeting went more positively than he thought regarding his petition and all in general. Overall the Staff and Commissioners understand our concerns and the lengths petitioners will have to go to achieve their requested outcomes. Blake is hopeful his petition has a fair chance given its community based support that staff and commissioners understand. He also mentioned possible windows for himself and other petitioners to amend things which, while beneficial to himself, may pose a problem for the other petitions.
Cleanup grant
$77.5K from NMSF to be used by June 2027 (islands only)
Ava is excited about this new grant that will be islands-focused so it’s funneled through CFSB, some documentation required (e.g. location of effort, weight removed, etc.), reach out to her if interested
Tailing June FGC Meeting Agenda Item
Ava mentions this even though this is a CLTFA item so the room is aware of the fact that this petition for regulatory change is on the agenda for the June FGC meeting in Sacramento
Kim brings up how crazy it is that Harry told her you cann’t have a lobster roll sold in CA unless you have the shell on the plate; it’s time for a regulation change like this
Tony Luna says we need to be careful because he’s not sure that this will work for the fishermen because what’s going to stop them from buying massive amounts when the price is low and tailing them and freezing them it’s going to really benefit the buyers more than the fishermen; he worries this could burden us in the future; Chris says the 365 day market should outweigh that concern
Brubaker says there’s a lot of hypotheticals
Harry says if you can freeze your lobster you can take the time to market it you’ve got to market your own; Tony says if it’s doable maybe yes
Sea urchin market - Jeff Maassen
Jeff says Tradewinds Seafood were impacted by Mexican urchins last year, Russian urchins via Japan impacted Ocean Queen and MMP he says he reached out to the urchin commission with no follow through
He says they have lost 3 processors so it could impact the fishery not having markets it won’t be what it was anytime soon
Jeff also says while he has the floor he communicated with Tim Archer at marine spill response corporation; He wants to get funding from JOFLO and CFSB to fund fishermen to be 24 hr hazwoper trained that would be needed on an annual basis so that if anyone wants to make money rescuing wildlife or participating in spill cleanup maybe they can do that in lieu of a booming market with their respective fishery; Things to consider are insurance, if this could be done through CFSB or VCCFA because everything becomes connected when the emergency speaks
Ava & Kim raises
Ava’s last raise was Feb 2025, prior to that was 2023
Chris says he makes a motion to raise Ava’s pay from $35 to $45 per hour
Kim’s last raise was Dec 2024, prior to that was 2021
Kim asks about for $120 per hour for all work except Coastal Conservancy funded work which will be $150
Harry makes a motion of approval, Gary seconded, 5-0-0 unanimous approval
Chris ends the meeting at 6:11PM upstairs in the harbor classroom.