Western Regional Panel
Executive Committee Minutes
Thursday, June 09, 2005

Members Present: Ted Grosholz, John Chapman, John Wullschleger, Mark Sytsma, Tina Proctor

Members Absent: Susan Ellis, Scott Smith, Karen McDowell, Blaine Parker

Invited guest: Mike Fraidenberg

1. ANS Task Force Meeting - Monterey, CA

Tina reported on the WRP portion of the ANS Task Force meeting and thanked Susan for all the effort she put into getting the speakers and field trips organized.

2. Aquarium Industries Strategies Workshop

Ted reported on the day-long workshop? targeting small and medium-sized aquarium stores to discuss strategies for educating the industry’s customer base in California about ways to prevent the release of non-native aquatic plants and animals. Marshall Meyers attended representing PIJAC? to discuss the Habitattitude™ project. In these small stores, there is not usually space for displays or film loops as there would be in larger pet stores.

There are two big issues that emerged. People generally want to do the right thing but they don’t know what to do about disposing of fish which have gotten to large or when they move or drain their aquariums. There is a need to develop a system for euthanasia or disposal. To minimize the need for return, more information should be given to the consumer about how big some fish may get.

The message to consumers about not dumping their aquarium fish and plants is an important one that may not be penetrating the smaller markets.

Ted will be organizing a similar workshop with the small nursery and landscape stores as a similar education effort.

3. Pacific Northwest Rapid Response Plan

Mike Fraidenburg from Dynamic Solutions Group joined the call to report on the progress of the Columbia River Basin Zebra Mussel Rapid Response Plan. Mike has written a draft (straw-man) document which creates a list of initial steps that can be put in place and in a more far-sighted view and discusses how the agencies can build a more comprehensive response. Several people commented on the draft and Mike will assimilate the comments. He will coordinate and facilitate a meeting later in the summer bringing together State, federal and other jurisdictions to begin building an infrastructure for responding to a zebra mussel invasion. John C. asked if there was any analysis on what could be done based on where the zebra mussels might show up, such as a reservoir or tributary. Mike noted that the California Bay Delta zebra mussel draft plan has that kind of analysis and will be imported into this plan. Mark commented that one of the biggest issues is getting permits to take action, that this is a complex part of the bit picture. Mike sees this as a significant capacity building effort and many people have mentioned the need for permit guidance across the northwest.

Mike has a distribution list for invitation to the meeting and to review the draft. If anyone wants to be on the list, they can send a message to fraid@earthlink.net. He encouraged people to send the information to other experts who might want to be involved.

4. Sea Grant 2007

The EC discussed Dorn Carlson’s straw proposal to regional panels to create a paragraph with the panel priority or priorities to be presented for the Sea Grant 2007 funding cycle. Tina asked WRP NOAA representative, Blake Feist, to chair a subcommittee to draft the paragraph which can be considered at the WRP meeting in September and also the ANS Task Force fall meeting.

5. Current Projects

• Desert Fishes Council Meeting

  John C. is working with the DFC to create an extra day to their meeting in Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico for ANS presentations and discussion. He doesn’t have a list of invitees yet, but the DFC is grateful that the WRP will be providing travel funds for Mexican scientists to attend. Information about the meeting can be found at http://www.desertfishes.org/index.html

• Workshop to Develop Research Priorities for Invasive Aquatic Plants

  Mark has found additional funding from California Fish and Game for $5,000 and California Food and Agriculture for the remainder needed to put together this workshop. There is still discussion about exact date and time but it will be in Southern California in November or December. He will recruit people to attend from the Aquatic Plant Management Society meeting in San Antonio in July.

• ANS Early Detection Program – Prototype for Watershed Groups

  Karen is still working on developing an agreement with PSMFC for this project.

• Establishing Collaboration with Mexico to Prevent Hull Transport of AIS on West Coast

  Leigh Johnson, California Sea Grant, reported that they have hired Cesar Alvarez, whose parents emigrated from Mexicali (just across the border) and who is fluent in Spanish. They will go to Ensenada next month to meet with a marina owner and possibly others. They are developing contacts with Autonomous University of Baja California that has a marine laboratory in Ensenada. The Mexican contacts have indicated an interest in a short report or fact sheet in Spanish and Cesar will be able to produce it.

• Bilateral Rapid Assessment of ANS in Puget Sound and Georgia Basin

  Kevin Anderson is still working to develop a cooperative agreement with British Columbia. There has been some difficulty in moving this project forward since Pat Lim left. It is possible we may need to re-target these funds.