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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/13/2016 Shellfish Advisory Committee (SAC) Meeting 12-13-16 3:00 PM Town Hall Annex Members Present: John Bredemeyer, Chair, Trustee Pres. Michael J. Domino, Acting Secretary, Trustee Vice. Pres. Michael Collins, Town Engineer Jim Baker, member Len Llewellyn, member Joe Hinton, member Jim Papadopoulos, member Mike Slade, member Dean Yaxa, member Minutes: 1) Michael Collins discussed proposed sampling for 2017 after comments about the success of our 2016 sampling. Whole point of the program is to prevent the shipping of contaminated shellfish. NYSDEC is responsible to FDA for water quality sampling to maintain certification. There is only one certified lab, DEC's. John Bredemeyer and Michael Collins in discussions with the DEC and their offer to run more of Southold's samples due to their expanded lab capacity have decided that the committee can handle 2X/month sampling with added rainfall-based samples possible if samplers are available. Prior to 1997 all samplings were performed under Adverse Pollution Conditions ("APC") protocol after rainfall. The DEC was unable to maintain their database under this regime and changed their program to the FDA allowed Systematic Random Sampling ("SRS") protocol in 1997. To maintain the certification status of a shellfishing water body, the DEC's database must include a minimum of 30 SRS samples. To re-open a water body to shellfishing, the DEC’s database must include a minimum of 30 SRS samples for both the “warm” and “cold” seasons, and at least 20% of these must be post-rainfall samples taken within 96 hours of a 0.75-3.0” rainfall event. 2) Sampling since April 2016 has proven that Inner Little Bay and Latham's Drain in Hallock's Bay, Orient can be certified for shellfishing year-round. Future samplings will be prioritized as follows: A) Sample shellfish areas subject to TMDL pathogen loadings to discern the true sources of contamination in such water bodies, B) Sample shellfish areas know to contain significant resources, C) Sample the areas with the fewest number of missing data points and those missing their 20% APC requirement. 3) Winter 2016-2017 priorities: Mattituck Creek to be sampled 3 times and Goldsmith Inlet to be sampled 7 times through the end of April 2017. Upper Wickham Creek "single" station to be sampled each time Goldsmith Inlet or Mattituck Creek is sampled. 4) Spring priorities will be different and will be discussed at a subsequent SAC meeting. 5) Stirling Basin remains closed based on a DEC administrative closure with the inference that past shipbuilding activities there may have put heavy metals etc. into shellfish meats. SAC priority will be to build the bacteriological database and then address the alleged potential contamination from historic boat building operations there. 6) Winter post-rainfall sampling conducted in conjunction with the Bay Constable will focus on Narrow River, Spring Pond, Stirling Basin and Pipes Cove. 7) Michael Collins, Jamie Richter and John Sepenoski will provide back up to ensure that committee samplers can safely conduct land based sampling of Goldsmith's Inlet and Wickham Creek 8) Michael Collins outlined the unique situation with Fishers Island sampling with only 9 samples taken in Pirates Cove by DEC in the last 10 years. 9) Michael Collins submitted the more detailed written report, attached, that was the basis of his oral report to the committee. 10) Len Llewellyn reported on the efforts to get a National Weather Service recognized weather station at the Orient Beach State Park. 11) Joe Hinton reported on numerous instances of harvest of undersized "bug" scallops and that Cornell Cooperative extension will have a meeting to provide discussion and training on the issue. 12) Good and welfare: Committee members agreed to visit committee member Ray Huntington at Peconic Landing. Meeting adjourned at 3:41 PM Respectfully submitted, Michael J. Domino, acting secretary SHELLFISH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING DECEMBER 12, 2016  NYSDEC’s sanitary shellfishing program is based on the National Shellfish Sanitation Program’s “Guide for the Control of Molluscan Shellfish, 2015 Revision”  Certification of shellfish beds for harvesting includes: Shoreline pollution surveys o Annual water quality testing and sanitary surveys o Triennial evaluations of water quality data o  NYSDEC water quality testing: Prior to 1997, testing was conducted under the Adverse Pollution Condition (APC) o protocol, designed to measure coliform concentrations after rainfall Since 1997, testing has been conducted under the Systematic Random Sampling (SRS) o protocol, which cannot be used to deliberately measure rainfall impacts  Shellfish beds can be uncertified based on poor water quality measurements or for administrative reasons, such as the presence of marinas or sewage treatment plant outfalls  In order to “upgrade” a shellfish bed from Uncertified to Seasonally Certified or from Seasonally Certified to Certified, the NYSDEC requires that a minimum of 30 SRS samples be taken during the months that the “upgrade” is being sought. These samples should be relatively recent (ideally taken within the last 6 years) and a minimum of 20% of these samples should be taken post- rainfall (within 96 hours of a single rainfall event that dropped 0.75”-3.0” of rain within a 24-hour period of time). As the SRS protocol states that samples must be randomly schedules without regard to rainfall, this often means that the Town must conduct post-rainfall sampling in addition to SRS sampling.  The NYSDEC lab is the only one on Long Island currently certified to process samples for the sanitary shellfish program, limiting the number of tests that can be processed each year. Fortunately, the lab hired additional personnel this year and since April has allowed trained Southold SAC members to sample waterbodies under the SRS protocol twice per month.  Based on the efforts of Southold’s SAC, the Town has been informed that Inner Little Bay and Lathems Drain will be upgraded from Seasonally Certified to Certified, returning 28.29 acres of Hallock Bay to full harvest.  Future sampling efforts by the SAC will be prioritized as follows: 1. Shellfish Growing Areas subject to Pathogen Total Maximum Daily Loads 2. Shellfish Growing Areas with the greatest known shellfish resource 3. Shellfish Growing Areas that require the fewest number of sampling runs to provide NYSDEC with a complete dataset for analysis  SRS Sampling priorities through the end of April 2017 are as follows: Mattituck Creek will be sampled three times from 1/15/17 – 4/15/17 o Goldsmith Inlet will be sampled twice in December 2016 and five times from 1/1/17 – o 4/30/17 Wickham Creek will be sampled every time Mattituck Creek or Goldsmith Inlet is o sampled  Post-rainfall sampling priorities through the end of April 2017 are as follows Mud Creek and Goldsmith Inlet will be sampled after rainfall events between 0.25 - 0.75 o inches Narrow River, Spring Pond, Stirling Basin and Pipes Cove will be sampled after rainfall o events between 0.75 - 3.0 inches  Sampling required to fill gaps in NYSDEC datasets: Goldsmith Inlet - 30 samples must be taken; 6 of these must be post-rainfall or additional o post-rainfall sampling must be conducted Mud Creek - 6 post-rainfall samples must be taken o Narrow River - 6 post-rainfall samples must be taken o Spring Pond – 11 samples must be taken; 5 of these must be post-rainfall or additional o post-rainfall sampling must be conducted *Stirling Basin - 3 post-rainfall samples must be taken o Mattituck Creek - 8 samples must be taken; 5 of these must be post-rainfall or additional o post-rainfall sampling must be conducted Pipes Cove - 4 post-rainfall samples must be taken o *Please note that Stirling Basin is subject to a year-round Administrative closure due to suspected contamination of the sediment by past industrial activity. The objective is to demonstrate that Stirling Basin meets the shellfishing pathogen standards prior to expending additional resources investigating the suspected sediment contamination.