Meeting Information April 2018

AGENDA

April 4-5, 2018

Department of the Interior

North Penthouse Conference Room

1849 C Street NW

Washington, DC 20240

MEETING MINUTES - APRIL 4-5, 2018

On April 4-5, 2018, the Sport Fish and Boating Partnership Council (Council) held a 2-day meeting in Washington, DC. Council decisions are listed below, followed by a general summary of the meeting.

Council members in attendance

Janine Belleque, States Organization for Boating Access

Doug Boyd, Coastal Conservation Association

Barb Gigar, Aquatic Resources Education Association

Fred Harris, American Fisheries Society

Betty Huskins, Southeast Tourism Policy Council (Co-chair)

Scott Kovarovics, Izaak Walton League of America (Chair)

Mac McKeever, L.L. Bean Inc.

Mike Nussman, American Sportfishing Association

Collin O’Mara, National Wildlife Federation (phone participation)

John Sprague, Marine Industries Association of Florida

Nicole Vasilaros, National Marine Manufacturers Association

Alvin Taylor, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

Christopher Edmonston, Boat U.S. Foundation

John Arway, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

Gene Gilliland*, B.A.S.S.- alternate for Jerry McKinnis

Other meeting participants:

Ryan Zinke, Secretary, Department of the Interior (DOI)

Ben Cassidy, DOI External Affairs

Gregory Sheehan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Principal Deputy Director

Steven Guertin, USFWS Deputy Director

David Hoskins, Asst. Dir of USFWS Fish and Aquatic Conservation (FAC)

Ray Sauvojot, Assoc. Director Natural Resource Stewardship and Science, National Park Service

Bob Curry, Deputy Asst. Director USFWS Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration (WSFR)

John Schmerfeld, Deputy Asst. Director USFWS FAC

Linda Friar, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Designated Federal Office

Lin Phu, USFWS Coordinator for Secretarial Order Response -

Russell Dunn, National Policy Advisor, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, (By phone)

Tim Sartwell, NOAA Fisheries,

David Hu, Fisheries Biologist, Bureau of Land Management, Division of Fish Wildlife & Plant Conservation

Mark Apfelbacher, President CD3 General Benefit Corporation

Ed Rudberg, Chief Executive Officer, CD3 General Benefit Corporation

Frank Peterson, Executive Director Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF)

Council Decisions and Action Items

Council Actions:

• Agenda discussed and added a discussion on AFWA and commitment to end on day 2 at 12:30pm. Motion made to accept revised agenda (John Sprague) and seconded (Doug Boyd).
• Motion made (John Sprague) and seconded (John Arway) to approve minutes of January 17, 2017 meeting as submitted.
• The Council approved the minutes of its January 2017 meeting and the appointment of Elizabeth Yranski to the RBFF Board.

Council Decisions:

• The Council appointed Chair Scott Kovarovics to draft a letter, for Council review, to the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) on the Council’s opinions and new recommendations related to the agency reports outlining actions to implement both SO 3347 and SO 3356. A goal of completion for writing and review was set for the end of April.
• During the discussion a separate letter was identified to highlight the Council’s continued concerns related to improvement of implementation of the Clean Vessel Act. Janine Bellique and John Sprague were appointed to develop this letter for Council review.
• Council Chair and co-chair would move forward with DFO to develop a request for proposals and advertise for a contractor to complete the regular 3 year review of the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF) progress in implementing the National Outreach and Communication Program.
• Move forward to hold a conference call meeting before the Council current membership terms expires in August. A decision was for the DFO to poll the Council and set up a conference call date and try and work through the reporting and public announcement process if possible.
• Council would like a presentation from WSFR on their TRAX data management program during the next conference call meeting.

Committee Business:

Council Member and Committee Chair, Betty Huskins, indicated that there had not been any activity of the Outreach and Communication committee and asked for volunteers for this committee.

Meeting Summary

April 4, 2018 - Day 1

Introductions – Scott Kovarovics called for self-introductions of all members and those present.

Welcome Greg Sheehan, Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) welcomed the group and provided opening remarks. He recognized Brian Bohnsack the former Service DFO who has moved on and the new DFO Linda Friar who will be taking on managing these duties. He also provided the group background on his career and his support for the work of the Council to increase fishing and boating in the United States. Mr. Sheehan also shared some data from the recent fishing participant study conducted by the Service and investments the Service has made into the outdoor recreation industry through grants funded by excise taxes. He emphasized his focus on increasing access on Service lands and summarized several initiatives he’d launched to achieve that goal including a Hunt Fish Chief designated in each Service region, signing the 60 in 60 MOU with RBFF to increase fishing participation across the country, and prioritizing Service investments in infrastructure to address significant backlog in maintenance. He closed with a thank you to Council members for their time as volunteers on this important organization.

Presentation: Linh Phu of the Service provided a presentation on the status and update on implementation of Secretary Order 3347 and 3356. She traced the origin of these orders to Executive Order (EO) 13443 issued in 2007 by President George W. Bush “The Facilitation of Hunting, Heritage, and Wildlife Conservation. This orders focus was to increase hunting and fishing in the United States as well as on federal lands.

Secretarial Order 3347 was issued shortly after the new administration entered office in March of 2018. This order entitled “Conservation, Stewardship, and Outdoor Recreation,” built on EO 13443 and generally tasked the DOI agencies to provide an assessment of what had been done to implement that order, to identify any barriers preventing implementation of that order and to develop recommendations to further implement that order. The Service and the NPS developed a report to respond to the Secretary’s order and these were provided as read ahead materials for this meeting. Council members were also provided a copy of the assessment of these 2 reports by the Wildlife Hunting Heritage Conservation Council to inform a discussion on SO 3347 later in this meeting, as requested by the Secretary of the DOI. Secretarial Order 3356 was issued in September 2017, this order titled “Hunting, Fishing, Recreational shooting, and Wildlife Conservation Opportunities and Coordination with States, Tribes, and Territories,” built on SO 3347. This order included specific directives for DOI agencies to implement that would increase access for hunting and fishing.

Linh provided several examples of the Service’s work to implement both of these orders and an ongoing commitment to support this priority of the DOI and the Service. She spent some time explaining the priority of the newly designed regional Hunt Fish Chiefs who were doing an assessment of all Service lands to determine what lands could be opened for additional outdoor recreation opportunities. In addition, the Service is updating websites, increasing focus on fishing and hunting activities on lands already open to the public for these activities, and increasing communication initiatives to let the public know about these opportunities. She also provided information about the Service’s R3 efforts (recruit, retain, and reactivate anglers and hunters) including a workshop for state and federal R3 coordinators.

This presentation was followed by a discussion key points discussed include:

• Discussion of the mixed success of the state and federal agencies implementation of R3 strategies to increase angling.
• Overview of the pilot First Catch Centers that are being tested to provide support for increased angling in partnership with refuges and hatcheries as well as states was provided.
• The backlog of maintenance needs for the hatcheries and refuges was discussed and Service leadership shared some details on what has been done about this to date.

Council breaks for lunch

Comments by Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, welcomed council members and made opening remarks. The Secretary talked about the progress DOI has made under the new administration related to improved access to public lands, provided an overview of a proposed DOI reorganization that would push more staff into the field, discussed improvements underway for streamlined implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review and permit process, and provided an overview of the benefits of the recently signed Executive Order 13795 “Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy”. His remarks were followed by a short question and answer period and a group photograph was taken at the conclusion of this session.

During the Question and Answer period several topics came up of interest to Council members. Key points of this session summarized below.

• The council appreciated the focus of the Secretary and USFWS Director on outdoor recreation. Council suggested that the new Made In America Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee recently created should coordinate with the SFBPC as there is some overlap in responsibilities. The Secretary suggested a joint meeting sometime in the future.
• The Council members generally supported the current U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) and DOI leadership but asked for improved coordination with the National Park Service (NPS) to improve recreational fishing and boating. The Secretary agreed and provided additional information about the changes going on in the NPS related to these topics.
• A Council member stated that the federal fish hatcheries perform an important function in raising broodstock broodstock
  The reproductively mature adults in a population that breed (or spawn) and produce more individuals (offspring or progeny).
  
  Learn more about broodstock , stocking fish, and dealing with disease issue that the states can’t address by themselves. A concern was raised on the backlog of maintenance at fish hatcheries. The Secretary recognized the concern and thanked the member for the input.
• There was discussion about partnering more with RBFF and in ways to accomplish R3 goals – recruit, retain, and reactivate anglers.

Council Discussion: Following Secretary Zinke’s talk the Council members discussed the Secretarial Orders and recommendations that they’d like to provide to the Secretary to improve recreational boating and angling. Chair Kovoravics was assigned to draft a letter reflecting the Council’s discussion and recommendations to be delivered to the Secretary by the end of April. Some of the key points that the letter would include are:

• In regards to public access on federal lands – equal focus on boating
• Continue positive collaboration with states and other partners – get to more local level particularly around R3
• Importance of investment in hatchery infrastructure –attacking the backlog of maintenance
• Don’t just modernize physical infrastructure but also modernize information infrastructure
• Outdoor recreation roundtable –Council was interested in how this group interacts with Council and would like representation of boating and fishing industry on that board. (this may be a separate letter)

In addition to this letter, Janine Bellique and John Sprague would develop a letter on their boating committee recommendations on participating in the BIG grant review process and continuing to work to improve boating access in the U.S. There was also discussion on the progress of improving the implementation of the Clean Vessel Act.

Presentations: This discussion was followed by 3 presentations – these presentations had minimal discussion and are available on the Council website

• Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program Update – Bob Curry, Deputy Assistant Director
• Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation Update – Frank Peterson
• 150th Anniversary Fisheries Program Planning Discussion – John Schmerfeld, Deputy Assistant Director, Fish and Aquatic Conservation

Public Comment: No public comment provided. Meeting adjourned at 4:30pm

Thursday – April 5, 2018

Open Meeting (Day 2)

Generally Day two the council was provided several presentations and updates by agencies working in fisheries.

Presentations:

• Fish and Aquatic Conservation Program Update – David Hoskins, Assistant Director
• National Park Service, Roy Sauvojot Associate Director
• NOAA Fisheries Update – Russ Dunn, National Policy Advisor, NOAA Fisheries
• Bureau of Land Management, Division of Fish Wildlife & Plant Conservation, David Hu,
• Fish Biologist
• CD3Waterless Cleaning – a resource tool to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species

Committee Updates

As the Council had not met but once during the past year and the committees had also not met there was little to report in committee activity. The Boating Issues Committtee Chair, Mike Nussman, the Fisheries Issues Committee Chair Dough Boyd, and Outreach and Communications Committee Chair Betty Huskins each spoke briefly about their committee work

Public Comment: No public comment provided.

Meeting adjourned at about 12:30 PM