MONTEREY BAY NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY
ADVISORY COUNCIL

CONSERVATION WORKING GROUP

Meeting Minutes 
Tuesday, October, 17, 1995
Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve
Watsonville, CA 

Conservation Working Group members in attendance included: Rachel Saunders, Chair 
(Center for Marine Conservation); Vicki Nichols, Vice-Chair (Save Our Shores); Milos 
Radakovich (American Cetacean Society/BAY NET); Donna Meyers (Coastal Watershed 
Council); Korie Johnson (UC Sea Grant Extension Program); Ellen Faurot-Daniels 
(Friends of the Sea Otter); Jack Wickham (Sierra Club - Ventana Chapter); Thomas 
LaHue (Surfrider Foundation); and Terry Jackson, Mark Pickett, and Jane DeLay 
(MBNMS).

Special guests in attendance were: Jeanne Sedgewick, the Packard Foundation; Mason 
Killerbrew, Honda/Kawasaki of Monterey; and John Donaldson, Yamaha/Personal 
Watercraft Industry Association.

I.	CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m.

II.	CWG ADMINISTRATION

1) The minutes from the September 19, 1995 CWG meeting were approved as 
presented;

2) The next meeting of the CWG will be Tuesday, November 28, 1995 from 10:00 a.m. 
- 12:30 p.m. at the Moss Landing Harbor District Office;

3) Other meeting dates for November/December:

á Sanctuary Advisory Council -- Friday, December 1, 1995 from 8:30 a.m. - 
4:30 p.m. at a place to be determined;
 
á Research Activity Panel -- Friday, December 8, 1995 from 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 
p.m. at Hopkins Marine Station;
 
á Sanctuary Education Panel -- Thursday, November 16, 1995 from 3:30 p.m. - 
6:30 p.m. either at Elkhorn Slough NERR or the Moss Landing Middle School.

III.	REPORT FROM THE SANCTUARY OFFICE 

Mark Pickett reported on the current activities of the Sanctuary office.  Highlights 
included:

Research -- 

á Andrew DeVogelaere, MBNMS Research Coordinator, is revising the Sanctuary 
Research plan -- CWG members were encouraged to submit comments to Andrew and 
to provide a copy of the comments to Jane at the Sanctuary office so that a 
compilation of the comments can be circulated to working group members prior to 
the November meeting.  A review of the Research Plan will be the first agenda item at 
the meeting on November 28.
 
á CWG members were also asked to put together a list of priorities for resource 
management issues that they feel need to be addressed. 
 
á Greg Cailliet is among a group of scientists from the Monterey Bay region who will 
be attending a workshop sponsored by the Center for Marine Conservation and the 
Smithsonian Institution on All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI).  It is hoped that 
the Monterey Bay NMS will be identified as a marine ATBI site, which would result 
in additional research opportunities and funding for the area.
 
á The ATOC program will be doing some cable laying in the next couple of weeks -- 
Aaron King, MBNMS Program Specialist, will be observing the process.
 
á The 75k grant for research in the three northern California Sanctuaries has been 
awarded to Dan Costa, Jim Harvey, and John Croll who will be working with large 
whales and harbor porpoises.   The goal of the research is to look at the habitats, 
population distribution, and feeding behaviors.  

Education --

á The MBNMS newsletters are being mailed out.
 
á New regulations brochures are being printed. 
 
á The Business and Tourism industry has been invited to participate in the Sanctuary 
Symposium scheduled for March 8-9, 1996 at California State University, 
Monterey Bay.  The morning session will focus on the site characterization project, 
and the afternoon will feature concurrent sessions on research, education, 
conservation, and business in the Sanctuary.  An in-depth discussion of the CWGÍs 
agenda for the symposium will be included on the November agenda.

á There will be a Teacher Training workshop at Long Marine Lab on Saturday, October 
21, 1995.

Water Quality Protection Program --  

á The regional monitoring databases are completed.
 
á A Sea Grant participant will be in the Sanctuary office working on the marinas and 
boating strategies and an intern will be working on the agriculture strategies. 

IV.	PERSONAL MOTORIZED WATERCRAFT

John Donaldson, a representative of the Personal Watercraft Industry Association 
(PWIA), and Mason Killerbrew, from Honda/Kawasaki in Monterey, provided the 
industryÍs perspective of the regulations concerning the use of jet skis in the Sanctuary


Following a brief outline of the SanctuaryÍs plans to mark the ñpersonal watercraft useî 
zones and the need to promote a user education program, the industry representatives 
indicated that the PWIA is not willing to invest resources for a personal watercraft 
education program in the Monterey Bay NMS.  The industry continues to feel that the 
regulations are arbitrary and capricious, despite the courtÍs ruling to the contrary.  
They would be more inclined to cooperate if NOAA would revisit the issue and create a 
regulation that would better balance the needs of personal watercraft users with the 
needs of the SanctuaryÍs mandate.  They also recommended that the users be included in 
the regulatory process in the hopes that this would help alleviate the need for expensive 
enforcement methods.

CWG members reinforced their support for a zone management approach to regulation of 
personal watercraft use.  While the working groups acknowledged the industryÍs need for 
incentives to cooperate, they felt it was premature to open up the regulatory process and 
eliminate existing zones before testing whether or not they would work.  CWG members 
also continued to emphasize the need for an education program in the form of signage and 
brochures.  It was felt that an insert be developed for the current boating brochure.

A planning committee composed Vicki Nichols, Mason Killerbrew, Milos Radakovich, 
Ellen Faurot-Daniels, Mark Pickett, and Rachel Saunders will meet on Thursday, 
November 9 at the Moss Landing Harbor District Office to further discuss regulatory and 
education options.  The meeting will begin at 4:30 p.m.  Discussion will focus on the 
merits of holding a workshop to bring together the Sanctuary staff, enforcement 
agencies, representatives of the PWIA, user groups, and interested members of the 
community to revisit the regulations and to develop an education program. 

V.	ANNOUNCEMENTS

á The Regional Board will be sending a letter in support of funding for the State Mussel 
Watch Program to the State Water Resources Control Board.  The Sanctuary office 
and the Advisory Council are encouraged to send a similar letter of support as soon as 
possible.
 
á There will be a public hearing on the Central California Regional Water Recycling 
Project on November 6, 1995 at the Salinas Community Center.  CWG members 
were encouraged to attend to state their support for water recycling projects, but to 
voice opposition to any potential dumping of agricultural wastewater into the 
Sanctuary.  
 
á With respect to the 6217 Non-point Source Pollution plan for California, the 
California Coastal Commission adopted a resolution aimed at strengthening the 
submittal from the State to the Federal Government (EPA and NOAA).  The resolution 
added the Technical Advisory CommitteesÍ recommendations as an addendum and asked 
the state to take a stronger stance in combating non-point source pollution.

The Meeting adjourned at 12:20 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,


Jane M. DeLay
SAC Coordinator
 







CWG Draft Minutes
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