MONTEREY BAY NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY
ADVISORY COUNCIL

FINAL
Meeting Minutes
December 3, 1999
Big Sur Multi-Agency Facility
Big Sur Station

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) Advisory Council met on Friday, 
December 3, 1999 at the Big Sur Multi-Agency Facility in Big Sur.  Public categories and 
government agencies were present as indicated:

Agriculture: Richard Nutter
Diving: David Clayton
AMBAG: Stephanie Harlan
Education: Patricia Clark-Gray
At Large: Steve Webster
Enforcement: Doug Huckins - ABSENT
At Large: Karin Strasser Kauffman
Fishing: Dave Danbom
At Large: Chet Forrest
Ports & Harbors: Steve Scheiblauer
Business & Industry: Steve Abbott
Recreation: Sally Smith - Takashi Hattori
CA Coastal Commission: Tami Grove - ABSENT
Research: Gregor Cailliet
CA EPA: EMPTY
Tourism: Ed Brown
CA Resources Agency: Brian Baird - ABSENT
U.S. Coast Guard: LCDR Phyllis Blanton
Conservation: Ron Massengill

The following non-voting members were present as indicated:

Channel Islands NMS: Ed Cassano - ABSENT
Gulf of the Farallones NMS and Cordell Bank NMS: Ed Ueber - ABSENT
Elkhorn Slough NERR: Becky Christensen - ABSENT
Monterey Bay NMS: William Douros

I.	CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL, APPROVAL OF OCTOBER 1, 1999 DRAFT 
	MEETING MINUTES, REVIEW OF CORRESPONDENCE

A)	Call to Order and Roll Call

The meeting was called to order by the Chair at 9:05 a.m.  Lisa de Marignac conducted the 
roll call - a quorum was present.

B)	Approval of Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the October 1, 1999 Advisory Council meeting were approved as 
amended.

C)	Review of Correspondence

The Chair passed around the sign-up folder for Advisory Council correspondence written 
since the last Council meeting.

II.	PUBLIC COMMENT ON ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA

Steve Shimek, The Otter Project, announced the availability of a postdoctoral research 
associate position to work on disease mortality of the southern sea otter population.  The 
Otter Project is funding the position.

Jim Stilwell, Moss Landing Harbor District, announced that the U.S. Army is planning to 
conduct a landing exercise this spring at Moss Landing beach.  Army representatives are 
meeting with harbor representatives on December 17, 1999 to discuss the issue.

Bill Raver, Friends of the Elephant Seal (FES), announced FES' recent release of a book and a 
video documentary on the Piedras Blancas elephant seals.

David Zaches, Save Our Shores (SOS), introduced SOS' new executive director, Glenda 
Nelson.  Vicki Nichols will return to SOS in February as the director of policy and research.

Kaitilin Gaffney, Center for Marine Conservation (CMC), introduced herself as the new CMC 
representative for the Monterey Bay region.

David Ebert, US Abalone, announced that his company recently opened "Pearls of 
Passion", a store selling cultured abalone pearls.

William Douros introduced the Sanctuary's new Assistant Manager, NOAA Corps Officer 
Michele Finn.

III.	FOLLOW-UP ON PREVIOUS AGENDA ITEMS

… Per an earlier request for information by Advisory Council members, Bill Douros 
provided clarification regarding authorized enforcement officers under the existing 
National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA).  The NMSA states that the Secretary of 
Commerce is authorized to enforce the Act and to enter into enforcement agreements 
with state and federal enforcement agencies.  NOAA's General Counsel for Enforcement 
and Litigation (GCEL) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) enforcement have 
been designated by the Secretary to enforce statutory mandates placed on the 
Department of Commerce and subsequently, NOAA.  The U.S. Coast Guard is also 
authorized to enforce the NMSA under separate legislation that grants them broad 
enforcement powers in U.S. waters.  Under the current MBNMS cooperative enforcement 
agreement, wardens and park rangers from CA Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) 
and CA State Parks, are also authorized to enforce the NMSA within the MBNMS.

Discussion ensued regarding other possible Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) 
regarding enforcement.

… Bill provided an update on the 40 undeveloped oil and gas leases south of the 
Sanctuary's boundary.  Four leases have been terminated and the remaining 36 leases 
were granted two and three year extensions.  The Minerals Management Service (MMS) 
will now conduct an extensive environmental analysis of each plan, and provide each 
plan's details with corresponding decisions for review by the California Coastal 
Commission.  The Coastal Commission, however, plans to appeal the decision to extend 
the 36 leases without their review.

… Council members expressed concern regarding Bill Douros' follow-up memo on the 
October 1 workshop and Advisory Council processes.  Steve Scheiblauer felt that the 
memo did not accurately reflect all sides of the discussion that ensued at the workshop.  
Karin Strasser Kauffman disagreed with all points raised in the memo and requested 
that MSD put in writing the issue of the Council's authority to write to U.S. 
Congressionals.  David Clayton did not believe the issue of writing to Congress qualified 
as a topic for a Council working session.  Greg Cailliet expressed his concern about re-
addressing the issue of writing to Congress, reminding Council members that the issue 
has been a point of contention in years past, and that he did not want to see this issue 
create conflict again.  Council members agreed to wait for the written clarification from 
Washington, D.C. regarding the Council's authority to write to U.S. Congressionals.

IV.	UPDATE:  FY2000 BUDGET AND NMSA REAUTHORIZATION

Regarding the current reauthorization bills, HR1243 (Saxton) has been approved in the 
House and S1482 (Snowe) is currently in the Senate.  Bill pointed Council members to 
copies of letters written by local harbors regarding the reauthorization of the NMSA.  Bill 
explained that the issue of changing a particular Sanctuary's boundary such as the harbors' 
letters suggested would not be an issue addressed by reauthorization, by could be 
addressed in a Sanctuary's management plan review.  Bill also stated that he disagreed 
with the harbors' suggestions that "buffer zones" be established around harbors so that 
Sanctuary boundaries would not abut harbor boundaries.  He believes a "not in my 
backyard" attitude regarding Sanctuary boundaries near harbors would set a bad precedent 
for other users of the Sanctuary.  Discussion ensued regarding Sanctuary boundary issues 
and highly urbanized areas.

Bill announced that the President has approved a $26 million FY2000 budget for the 
NMSP, which is a significant increase over last year's budget at $14.3 million.  The 
Sanctuary is expecting to receive news of the final budget allocation to the MBNMS by the 
end of January.  Council members discussed programs and projects they felt were a 
priority for new funding.

Chet Forrest made a motion that the Council send a letter to Stephanie Thornton, 
MSD, making recommendations for priority projects to receive new funding, 
including education and outreach programs; implementation of program plans 
supported by the Council - vessel traffic strategies and the Agricultural Plan for water 
quality; and research on site characterization and ecosystem monitoring.  Karin 
Strasser Kauffman seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

V.	UPDATE:  WORKING GROUPS' TIDE POOL RECOMMENDATIONS

Ron Massengill presented the tide pool management recommendations drafted by the tide 
pool subcommittee, and edited by the three working groups.  The CWG led the 
subcommittee's effort to address the issue of tide pool management Sanctuary-wide.

Karin Strasser Kauffman asked for clarification on the issue of the Point Pinos tide pools as 
a result of the public comment letter submitted by Mr. James Willoughby on the issue.  In 
response to the points raised in the letter to Advisory Council members from the Coalition 
to Preserve and Restore Pt. Pinos Tidepools, Steve Webster discussed his personal 
involvement in the issue.  Lisa de Marignac provided a brief background on the 
Sanctuary's involvement in the Point Pinos tide pool issue.  The Sanctuary has dedicated 
extensive staff resources and funding specifically for education and research initiatives at 
the Point Pinos tide pools.  Discussion ensued on the need for scientific data to make 
resource management decisions and ways to make the collaborative process underway in 
Pacific Grove a positive one.

Greg Cailliet made motion to endorse the submitted tide pool management 
recommendations and to send thanks to the tide pool subcommittee for their work.  
Chet Forrest seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Greg Cailliet made a motion requesting that the Sanctuary Superintendent send a 
reply letter to Mr. James Willoughby providing a copy of the tide pool management 
recommendations and identifying the work of the tide pool subcommittee as well as 
that of the Sanctuary staff, related to the tide pool issue.  Chet Forrest seconded and 
the motion passed unanimously.

The Advisory Council, in endorsing the tide pool management recommendations below, 
has advised Sanctuary management to consider these recommendations as a proactive 
approach to managing one of the Sanctuary's valuable habitats throughout its boundaries:

1. As coastal human populations and ecotourism increase, rocky shores are a habitat that 
will potentially feel the brunt of this growth.  Rocky shores should be considered a high 
priority habitat for resource management, and efforts should be made to attract state 
and federal funding to gather baseline and archival research of past studies, and to 
address the questions below.
 
2. The Advisory Council and Sanctuary staff should play a major role in the state process 
of reviewing marine protected areas.  An example of how this could be done is by 
obtaining seats on related review and advisory committees and demonstrating strong 
influence at public proceedings.  This effort would match well with the Sanctuary's 
priority to study zonal management.
 
3. There is great concern about the use of piecemeal regulation for small segments of 
coastline.  The Sanctuary should be viewed as the agency to address concerns, and then 
it should facilitate a process with citizens and management agencies to come up with 
regional solutions.  The Advisory Council may want to consider the best ways to inform 
the public of this opportunity.
 
4. Related to the above recommendation, tide pool management issues should be viewed 
in regional and Sanctuary wide perspective.  For example, we may be interested in 
increasing access at some sites for education while discouraging access a sites with 
sensitive species.  We do recognize, however, that there is so much variability between 
rocky shore sites that each merits individual assessments.
 
5. When possible, Sanctuary staff should be present at regional public meetings where tide 
pool issues are on the agenda, clearly stating the Sanctuary's interest and role in this 
process.
 
6. Monitoring information with studies to address specific questions, see below, are 
needed for effective long-term conservation.  Management decisions should be based on 
objective information.  Public perceptions, accurate or not, must be addressed as part of 
management and regulatory solutions.
 
7. The Sanctuary should be mentioned in the CDFG publication "Sport Fishing 
Regulation" which talks about all the different regulatory agencies involved in resource 
management.
 
8. The Sanctuary should play a lead role in coordinating and working with regional 
partners and communities to conduct education programs aimed at the importance of 
habitat and tide pool etiquette (especially including reduction of adverse human 
impacts).

Questions related to the management of the Sanctuary's rocky shores:

1. Are there harvested (legally and illegally) species that are heavily depleted?
 
2. What species are susceptible to local and regional extinction?
 
3. How do different human uses and varying intensities of these uses impact rocky shore 
communities?  Trampling, harvesting, water quality degradation from land use 
practices, and ship groundings are examples of human impacts.
 
4. What is the natural variability in time and space for the distribution and abundance of 
rocky shore species (this includes biodiversity)?
 
5. What is the potential for oil spills, and what are the optimum cleaning schemes to 
maximize recovery rates?  A response plan for an oil spill on Sanctuary rocky shores 
should be outlined and understood by potential responders.
 
6. What are the impacts of road maintenance on the Big Sur coast to rocky shore systems?
 
7. What is the potential for restoring rocky shores that have been damaged by human 
impacts (trampling, collecting, oil spills, groundings, land use issues)?
 
8. What is the best method to assign monetary value to rocky shore resources?  This is 
critical information for mitigation after human impacts, and for knowledge of the value 
of maintaining a healthy ecosystem (i.e. for tourism, etc.).
 
9. What trends could be detected from CDFG collecting permits, and should the permit 
process be modified?
 
10. Are there potential management schemes, such as a rotating human access in time, to 
maintain healthy species assemblages while allowing compatible multiple use?

This list should be viewed as preliminary, not as comprehensive.

Karin Strasser Kauffman made a motion authorizing Ron Massengill and the CWG to 
publicize these recommendations.  Stephanie Harlan seconded and the motion passed 
unanimously.

VI.	PRESENTATION:  NRDC REPORT ON UNDERWATER SOUND

Karin Strasser Kauffman reviewed the role of the Advisory Council in the issue of 
underwater sound and expressed her desire for the Council to be helpful in addressing this 
issue.  Karin introduced Mr. Michael Jasny, author of the Natural Resources Defense 
Council's (NRDC) report, "Sounding the Depths."  Mr. Jasny provided a presentation on 
the report.

Mr. Jasny reviewed how sound is measured in water and discussed what he believes are 
potential impacts of noise in the sea.  Mr. Jasny provided details on these impacts, which 
included physiological, behavioral, cumulative and long-term impacts to marine mammals.  
Mr. Jasny also discussed sources of noise, including shipping, fisheries and fishing boats, 
oil and gas exploration, low-frequency active sonar, and acoustic thermometry.  Mr. Jasny 
emphasized that there is very little scientific data about the noise sources and their potential 
impacts.  Mr. Jasny made several recommendations regarding noise and Monterey Bay 
which included the following:

… Request from the U.S. Navy any data it possesses on the Sanctuary's acoustic 
environment, as may have been compiled on a scale of decades through the Navy's 
SOSUS system.
… Establish a system of fixed passive receivers (or "hydrophones") to monitor the 
Sanctuary's acoustic environment, particularly in impacted habitat used by 
endangered/threatened species or species known to be affected by anthropogenic noise.
… Request data from CDFG and/or NMFS on the use of Acoustic Deterrence Devices 
(ADDs) and Acoustic Harassment Devices (AHDs) by fisheries, aquaculture farms, 
and recreational fishing boats within Sanctuary waters.  If this information is 
unavailable, request that it be compiled.
… Send letter to NMFS requesting that the agency propose and adopt regulations for the 
use of non-lethal acoustic devices by fisheries, as the Marine Mammal Protection Act 
requires.
… Continue to push IMO for rerouting of large container vessels away from significant 
habitat.  Consider using a 2000m isobath, rather than a 12nm zone, as a standard for 
rerouting.
… Send letter to NMFS (as proposed by Conservation subcommittee) requesting workshop 
on impact of shipping noise and on "quiet" ship technologies.
… Evaluate extant methods of detecting marine mammals and sea turtles (i.e., ship-based 
visual spotting, aerial spotting, passive acoustics) and develop new methods of 
detection.
… Using data compiled through monitoring program, conduct comparative population 
analyses or other studies of long-term physiological or behavioral impacts of noise 
exposure.
… Test for threshold shift in marine mammals and sea turtles.

Advisory Council members questioned the sources of information and/or data to support 
much of the conclusions drawn in the NRDC report.  Greg Cailliet explained that studies 
have been conducted on undersea sound and that the RAP has addressed this issue in the 
past.  He feels that RAP would agree to a letter to NMFS that would support more research 
in the area of undersea noise and a non-redundant workshop on the issue, but could not 
support the CWG draft letter as it is currently worded.  Ron Massengill agreed that he 
would work with Andrew DeVogeleaere, MBNMS staff, to get the latest information the 
Sanctuary has on the issue.

VII.	PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION:  FORT ORD STORMWATER PIPES

Patrick Cotter, MBNMS, provided an overview of the Advisory Council and staff 
involvement in Fort Ord issues.  The Advisory Council sent a letter to the U.S. Army on 
January 31, 1995 regarding clean-up activities in the marine environment, and the Army 
responded by addressing the Council at its February 24, 1995 meeting.  Discussions 
focused on the Sanctuary's concerns about potential environmental impact in the Danger 
and Restricted Zones off Fort Ord.  The Advisory Council was instrumental in helping the 
Sanctuary achieve its goal of urging the Army to assess potential environmental impacts in 
the zones off Fort Ord and helped produce the Army's "Enhanced Preliminary Assessment 
of Monterey Bay" published in January 1999.  The document included input from the RAP 
and many local scientists.

Recently, the Sanctuary, along with State Parks, the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, and the 
City of Seaside have all supported the idea of removing stormwater pipes located in the 
Fort Ord dunes and using the stormwater wisely.  One of the stormwater pipe outfalls has 
been broken for about two years and a gully has been eroded into the historical dunes.  As 
of November 18, 1999, the gully was about 450 feet long and about 75 feet wide.  Three 
other pipelines are in danger of erosion and breakage.  On September 10, 1999, the 
Sanctuary sent a letter to the Army detailing the Sanctuary's continuing concerns about the 
dissolution of the Restoration Advisory Board; the degrading stormwater pipes; ordnance 
and explosives; and the trichloroethylene plume under Fort Ord sites 2 and 12 that may be 
flowing into Monterey Bay.

Army representatives explained the Army was legally in compliance with the RWQCB 
requirements regarding stormwater discharge.  A representative from the RWQCB 
confirmed this.  Discussion ensued regarding the lack of water quality testing at the outfalls 
and the pending response from the Army to the Sanctuary's letter.

The Advisory Council agreed that they would wait to receive a copy of the Army's 
response to the Sanctuary letter before taking any action.

VIII.	UPDATE:  FIBER OPTIC CABLE PROJECTS

Bill Douros updated the Advisory Council on the latest activities regarding the two 
proposed fiber optic cable projects.  Global Photon submitted a Draft Environmental 
Impact Report (DEIR) to which to the Sanctuary commented on in a detailed letter to the 
State Lands Commission, in short, advising extensive revision.  The Sanctuary continued 
to urge preparation of a joint DEIR and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

Karin Strasser Kauffman expressed her concern about the lack of scientific data in 
the Global Photon document and made a motion to send a letter to the State Lands 
Commission expressing concern about the DEIR, requesting a full DEIS and 
supporting the Sanctuary letter.  Greg Cailliet seconded and the motion passed 
unanimously.

Discussion ensued about the differences between the two proposed projects and the high 
level of scientific research being conducted as part of MCI's Globenet project.

Bill reported that the Sanctuary is still working with MCI to develop an out-of-the-
Sanctuary alternative, and that a DEIS on this project should be available in March.  

The NMSP and the Department of Commerce are considering developing a policy 
regarding fiber optic cable projects.

IX.	DISCUSSION:  FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

Steve Webster and Bill Douros directed Advisory Council members to written suggestions 
for future agenda items.  Additional suggestions from Council members included 
ecosystem monitoring for April, and follow-up on the Fort Ord stormwater pipes issue 
(pending Army response).  Other suggestions included a post-SAC meeting social in the 
future, and a coastal managers meeting (separate from a SAC meeting).

X.	COUNCIL MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Richard Nutter announced that the Sanctuary is planning a "rollout" for the Agricultural 
Plan which will include participation from the Department of Commerce.

Steve Scheiblauer reported on a successful Navy visit in Santa Cruz and that another diver 
clean-up day is being planned.

Karin Strasser Kauffman announced that Friends of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories is 
planning a party for the new opening of MLML for April 7-9.

Greg Cailliet suggested that the April Advisory Council meeting be held in or near Moss 
Landing because of the planned festivities for the new MLML.

Phyllis Blanton announced that the ceremony for the arrival of the new USCG Cutter is 
scheduled for January 7.  Also, the USCG is hosting a "Coastal Aquatic Safety Forum."

The meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m.

Submitted by
Lisa de Marignac
Advisory Council Coordinator