Education, Communication, and External Affairs Committee

Meeting Location: Driftwood Key Clubhouse Meeting Attendance: Tony Witek, Dave Hunt, Kathleen Peters, Bill Bidwell, Bob Dean, Cheryl Dean

Meeting Agenda

1. Salmon Education for NKPSA Club membership and Community

2. Signage Displaying Salmon Life Cycle in Support of Legacy Project

3. Fundraising Ideas

4. Marketing: Promoting the Legacy Project in the Community

5. Our Committee’s Budget Proposal to NKPSA Board

6. Set next Meeting Date

The meeting was called to order at 2:10 pm by Committee Chairman, Tony Witek

1. Salmon Education for NKPS Club Membership and Community

a. Kathleen Peters informed us that there is an organization named Environmental Kitsap Educators Group that meets monthly. This group works with local non-profits and is sanctioned by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. They develop materials/curriculum for educators to use in their classrooms. In recent years materials were produced in response to a school district request to help raise student awareness regarding Mid-Sound Fisheries Enhancement/Central Kitsap Clear Creek Project. As another example of their community service, they have worked in association with Kitsap PUD to develop materials to educate the public about issues relating to storm water.

b. Of particular note is their Kitsap Water Festival held annually in March. The event includes many activities that generate students’ interest via science experiments and hands-on use of plankton nets to simulate the kind of biological sampling that occurs in the field. The Water Festival would be a great opportunity for our committee members to: *network with members of this organization, *get on their mailing/email list for events that they sponsor, *possibly get permission to use their materials to educate the NKPSA Membership and Community about environmental issues that impact local fisheries, *seek out potential public speakers from their organization to present educational material at NKPSA meetings.

c. For good public relations, Kathleen suggested that there may be other topics of interest for us to present as a community service to our neighborhood community members who are not active fishermen/women in NKPSA. We could hold meetings at the community center with public speakers presenting topics such as: “Interesting Marine Life that can be found at the DWK Marina—Can we eat it? Why is it Growing?”, “What Marine Life Thrives Near Our DWK Crab Cleaning Stations?” Action Item: Kathleen Peters agreed to contact the Environmental Kitsap Educators Group on behalf of our committee to get on their email distribution list, to acquire additional information about their 2023 Water Festival, to inform them of NKPSA’s mutual interest in their work as it relates to our local fisheries and our assignment to educate our Membership on these topics.

2. Signage Displaying Salmon Life Cycle in Support of Legacy Project

a. Tony Witek reported on behalf of Peggy Lindquist that she is encountering challenges to identify existing fisheries organizations that have “ready-to-use” interpretative design artwork for the Salmon Life Cycles.

b. Also from Peggy’s report (via Tony): *Fast Signs in Lynnwood can fabricate additional signs for us for $160.00 per sign rather than for $140.00 like our previous sign; it will take 1 to 3 hours of design work if they can use artwork which is in the public domain *Fast Signs quoted an additional $250.00 charge for new design artwork

c. Dave Hunt said that he is confident that he can identify community members who can assist him in welding together framing (metal) material to hold the signs. It is recommended that the frames be slightly redesigned in order to incorporate water drains. Volunteers for assembling the signs: Bob Dean and possibly Dave Perea.

Action Item: (Peggy? and Dave?). Prepare a proposed budget line item for the signs and a line item for the frames for Tony to present as a part of our Committee Budget Proposal to the NKPSA Board for their consideration at their Meeting on January 25, 2023.

3. Fundraising Ideas (some are repeated from previous meeting)

a. Advertising on our website

b. Leverage local non-profits like the Hansville Club/Greenway Trails (they have ponds) Possible Contacts: Fred Nelson and Doug Miller who built platform overlooking ponds

c. Submit proposal for a grant

d. Sell wall /desktop calendars which contain sports fishing photographs and tide tables

e. Raffle for seafood dinner out

f. Buy a fish (made from painted marine plywood) to be displayed on community chain link fence or on pavilion siding

g. Garage sales of extra fishing gear to earmark funds to Legacy Project budget

Action Items: Tony to communicate with accountant to determine what parameters there are for advertising on our website and what is acceptable. If a committee member would like to volunteer to lead one of these other fundraising ideas, please identify the expected front-end expenses to implement the idea so that Tony can submit that as a line item on our committee budget proposal to the NKPSA Board Meeting on January 25, 2023.

4. Marketing: Promoting the Legacy Project in the Community

a. Bill Bidwell proposed the following good ideas:

*Wear T-shirts which stimulate curiosity, generate questions, and provide points to communicate information about the Legacy Project Front of T-shirt: Legacy Project/ Back of T-shirt: Farming for Future Fish Front of T-shirt: Legacy Project/ Back of T-Shirt: Egg and I

*Have a Junior Membership—- outreach to schools——“Salmon U” for kids *Have a Legacy Day Celebration Party at the Clubhouse for the community (display educational materials, hand out party favors ( fish earrings, fish pins, i.e. promotional “swag”)

b. From prior meeting: Peggy Lindquist suggested having a booth at DWK Day on Memorial Day weekend to promote Legacy to children & adults. Bob and Cheryl Dean volunteered to assist

c. Press Releases at local newspapers like the Kitsap Sun in order to promote Legacy Project Events

Action Items: If a committee member would like to volunteer to lead one of these other Legacy Project Promotional ideas, please identify the expected front-end expenses of the idea so that Tony can submit that as a line item on our committee budget proposal to the NKPSA Board Meeting on January 25, 2023

5. Our Committee’s Budget Proposal to NKPSA Board

Action Item: please submit items to be budgeted for our committee to Tony. Tony will aggregate these educational, signage, fundraising and promotional outlay line items as well as the actual Legacy Project work budget to give to Dave Hunt to present to the NKPSA Board at their meeting on January 25, 2023.

NKPSA Funds that are earmarked for the Legacy Project are $2700.00 plus a portion of the Bake Sale Proceeds.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:17PM 6. The next meeting of the Education, Communication, and External Affairs Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at 2:00 PM at the Driftwood Key Clubhouse. Respectfully submitted, Cheryl Dean

Tuna Fishing - submitted by Dan R.

----- Original Message -----From: TERRY MOSHERTo: EARL O SANDE

Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2015 11:14 AM Westport Tuna Trip Oct. 2015Subject: Tuna column back By Earl Sande

 Two years ago I found out just how good tuna fishing can be out of Westport during the month of October. That year we went out on October 12th which happened to be opening day of deer season. Tim Zech called me on the 10th and said “The weather looks good for tuna!”

  We knew it would be our last chance of the year as we all had hunting plans for the following week. We went southwest out 40 miles and were amazed to see tuna jumping all around us as far as we could see! In two stops while fishing with live bait we caught 56 tuna and were soon headed back to Westport at 30 miles per hour under clear, calm conditions.

 This year we planned going sometime during September, but the weather just didn’t want us to go when we wanted to go. Finally, the October 4th forecast looked like fairly calm tuna water.

 We had a crew of four that included Tim’s brother Steve and Tim’s son Taylor and me. At 4:15 A.M. we were gassing up Tim’s 24-foot Sea Sport in Belfair and two hours later we were buying live bait at the Westport Marina. We loaded two nets of anchovies into the live tank at 50 bucks each. Ten years ago it was five dollars each, but when you’re the only game in town they can charge whatever people are willing to pay.

 The last two days the tuna reports were good for 50 miles west and a bit north. Once we motored off the continental shelf and were in 2500 feet of water we saw lots of tuna jumping and they seemed to be big, like maybe 20-30 pounds.  

 We all grabbed a pole and hooked up a live anchovy on a tiny tuna hook. A few moments later the crew was yelling fish on!!

 It wasn’t long before we had five in the now bloody fish box. But there was one problem.  I hadn’t had a bite!

 I never have taken the time to buy a pole, reel and line exclusively for tuna fishing with live bait. I’ve been using one of my bottom fishing poles with braided line which has worked fine in the past. But these tuna were different. They were big, older and apparently much wiser. There was little doubt in my mind they could easily see the line and wanted nothing to do with it, even though I had three feet of sea- guar invisible leader on the end.

 All of Tim’s poles had the nearly invisible mono line on them, so I quickly traded mine in. Within 30 seconds I had my first tuna of the day on. I tightened the drag, but the line was still screaming off the reel.  I knew better, but I put my thumb on the reel and seconds later my skin was fried. A 25- pound tuna is an amazing swimming machine. Pound for pound, no other fish in the sea even comes close as far as I know.

 It was a very busy couple of hours as we had three big tuna on at the same time more than once. We were all down to our tee shirts and the sweat was dripping off our foreheads. This was extreme fishing at its finest.

 We had all fished together before so we knew what to do, and even though gaffed tuna were flying through the air and blood was just about everywhere it was really just organized chaos.

 By the time we ran out of live bait we had 22 tuna between 22 and 30 pounds and should have had at least six more that came off close to the boat. But we were very satisfied with the days catch and iced down the fish boxes. Two hours later we had the boat on the trailer and headed for home.

 Albacore tuna (Thunnus Alalunga) are perfectly designed for speed and are among the fasted and highest endurance species in the world’s oceans. These fish are powerful ocean predators and have been clocked swimming at 60 mph. There have been disputed claims of albacore swimming up to 73 mph for a short burst.

 These high-performance fish require a lot of fuel and they will spend most of their life looking for food in the open ocean. Tagging studies have shown that albacore can travel more than 5,000 miles in less than one year, from California to Japan.

 Tuna feed on anything that swims that they can swallow, including anchovies, sardines, herring, myctophids, suary, small rockfish, squid and euphasiids. Their only known predators that are fast enough to catch them are blue and striped marlin and Wahoo.

 Albacore, which are members of the mackerel family and can reach maturity in six years, are found in all the world’s warm oceans but appear to be more abundant in the Pacific. They prefer water between 58 and 70 degrees and are often found in the vicinity of underwater mountains and above banks and valleys on the ocean floor.

  The albacore is one of the smaller tuna species with an average weight of around 20 pounds, but can grow much larger. The all-tackle record is 88 pounds taken near the Canary Islands.

 Albacore can grow pretty fast and seldom live beyond 12 years. After one year they weigh between two and six pounds and can be 18 inches long. At three years they can by 14 pounds; at four 22 pounds; at five 30 pounds; at six 40 pounds; at seven 46 pounds; at eight 54 pounds; at nine 60 pounds; and at twelve 85 pounds.

 North Pacific albacore are considered to a single spawning stock. Most spawning happens from March through August in the subtropical Pacific Ocean somewhere between Mexico and the Philippines.

 Female albacore over four years old will spawn from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 eggs that will float near the surface until they hatch. The juvenile tuna will remain in the area where they were spawned until their second year. That spring they will begin their northern migration up the North American coast.

 Albacore tuna swim and feed near the surface together in loose formations for the first five years of their lives. But under stormy conditions they may dive down 500 feet until the sea calms. As they get older they become more independent and spend more of their time in deeper and cooler water, but still may hunt for food near the surface at night.

 Albacore never swim in really tight schools. That’s why most commercially caught albacore are not caught by purse seiners. Fishermen must catch them one-by-one with troll, long line, or pole and line gear.

Interesting column - provided by Dan R.

----- Original Message -----From: TERRY MOSHERTo: EARL O SANDE

Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2015 4:26 PMSubject: Column back

By Earl Sande

    Our Pacific Lamprey in Peril

 Like many life forms that most people know little about, the Pacific Lamprey gets very little press. Modern humans find them kind of disgusting.

 These 12 to 30-inch long slimy eel looking creatures with a large round blood sucking apparatus and a bunch of teeth aren’t the most appealing looking things on the planet, and in the not too distant future they could become endangered or extinct.

  Here in the Pacific Northwest during the last 150 years we have been very industrious, which is necessary for our life style but tough on the native creatures that have survived here for millions of years.

  The Pacific Lamprey really hasn’t changed in the last 360 million years and they somehow survived the last two major extinction events. A little over 200 million years ago massive volcanic activity poisoned the air and oceans causing 90 percent of life on earth to perish.

 Then an asteroid hit in the Gulf of Mexico 60 -some million years ago wiping out the dinosaurs along with many other plants and animals. It’s almost hard to believe we could be so good at exterminating life forms in such a short period of time.

  Only 175 years ago there were of millions of Pacific Lamprey spawning in rivers from California, up the coast to Alaska, across to Russia and Northern Japan. The major spawning rivers on the west coast were the Fraser, Columbia, Klamath, Trinity, Eel, Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. There were also lots of them in the Chehalis River, and there are still some there.

  Lampreys belong to a primitive group of eel-like fishes that have no true fins, scales, jaws or bones. Like some other ancient fish, they have cartilage instead if bones similar to sharks and rays. And like salmon they are anadromous, meaning they are born in fresh water streams and rivers and then migrate to salt water and eventually return to their river of origin to spawn.

 During their one to three years in the ocean they are always looking for their next host to lock on to and suck out some nutrients. They tap into salmon, various flatfish, rockfish, Pollock and others. But they are also food for larger fish and marine mammals.

 Pacific Lamprey have been caught in commercial fishing nets down to 2600 feet deep and over 60 miles out in the ocean.

 After feeding in the ocean for up to 42 months, they migrate back to their river during late winter and spring. They will never feed again and usually won’t spawn until the next year, just living on their fat reserves.

 The lampreys aren’t powerful swimmers against the river current and will use their sucker like mouth to attach to a rock and rest. Pacific Lampreys like to spawn in nice clean gravel, just like salmon do. Both male and female build a nest with their tails and lay eggs and deposit sperm similar to salmon.

 A large female can lay up to 80,000 tiny eggs. Within a month after spawning the lampreys die of old age and become food for other creatures. They also decompose, adding marine nutrients to the ecosystem.

 At a water temperature of 60 degrees, the eggs will hatch in 20 days.

 The young are called ammocoetes and will drift downstream until they reach suitable habitat of slow current and a muddy bottom that they can burrow into and eat diatoms and algae, feeding kind of like a worm for the next three to seven years.

 During this time, they are a major food source of baby Coho salmon and many other hungry creatures. After that they start evolving and eventually will look like a small adult lamprey of about four inches long and start heading downstream for the ocean to continue their amazing life cycle.

  During their years feeding in the mud, they cannot survive our man-made chemicals and pollution. They never had to deal with all that nasty stuff we let drain into the rivers, so they sometimes die way before their time.

 High late summer water temperature of over 75 degrees will also wipe them out. Dams, even with salmon ladders, make it almost impossible for lampreys to reach ancient spawning grounds. And to make matters worse in the last hundred years non-native fish like bass, sunfish, walleye, stripped bass, catfish  and others have been feeding on baby lampreys.

 With so many things working against our Pacific Lampreys their population has decreased by at least 80 percent in many areas. They were once an important food source for Native Americans, and they still harvest some on the Columbia River. But they really don’t have any economic value in the Pacific Northwest, so the money to help save them is out of the question.

 The world is changing and if creatures can’t adapt to our life style they may eventually go extinct.