Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary-
Sanctuary Advisory Council Meeting
May 9, 2000
Savannah State University, Savannah, GA

Attendance:
SAC Members Present: Jim Henry, Chairman, Anne Lindsay Frick, Matt Gilligan,
Patty McIntosh, George Sedberry, Judy Wright
SAC Members Not Present: Doug Rader, Bing Phillips
NOAA Gray's Reef Staff: Reed Bohne, Marcy Lee, Tom Potts, Ralph Rogers, Becky Shortland
Others: Gail Krueger, Savannah Morning News, Dr. Dionne Hoskins, Savannah State University

Distributed Materials:
Agenda
March 2000 meeting minutes
Draft format of Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary "State of Sanctuary"
Summary Report
Gray's Reef Management Plan Review Schedule as of May 2000
NOAA Ship Ferrel Research Cruise Operations and Report
Printout of Savannah Ocean Festival 2000 coverage on website and in Creative Loafing and Diversions
Earth Day highlights
South Atlantic Fishery Management Council April 12, 2000 News Release
Reef Fish Monitoring Program draft for State of Reef Report

Approval of Last Meeting's Minutes
Approved.

Tour of SSU Marine Biology Building
Matt Gilligan led a tour of Savannah State University's Marine Sciences building and gave an overview of the program's activities and progress.

State of the Sanctuary Report Update
Reed discussed the status of the State of the Sanctuary Report and said that a draft would be completed by the end of May. The draft will then be distributed to the SAC for review over the following 2-3 weeks. Reed asked the SAC for suggestions of other parties who could review the draft during the same period. Jim Henry asked SAC members to send their recommendations by email. Reed mentioned that the draft would then be sent to a professional writer. Matt suggested that the SAC review the professional writer's product. He also stated that the report needs to be information rich.
Becky reviewed the report format and asked for input on sections that could be added or deleted. Jim stated that the Sanctuary Management Activities section needs to follow the management plan goals. Matt asked whether there were any key indicators that could be pulled out for comparison in future reports. Patty McIntosh asked whether any offshore water quality indicators could be developed to assist in determining the health of nearshore waters, and vice versa.
Patty asked whether the report would include anecdotal information. Becky suggested including historical information from commercial and recreational fishermen. Reed suggested including a quote from each SAC member representing constituent views. Jim asked the SAC to review the management plan, review the goals that apply to each member's constituency and measure progress since the plan was adopted. The SAC agreed to submit statements for sidebar quotes describing the function and concerns of each represented organization, and where the Santuary is and where it should be relative to each constituency.
Reed said that the State of the Reef report would serve as a good tool for keeping the dialogue going between the scoping meetings and the final EIS. Current plans are to have a final report by the end of June.

Research Coordinator
Matt brought up the need for research coordination. He mentioned that SSU was planning to add fisheries and aquaculture graduate classes and that student research could be coordinated with the efforts of the Gray's Reef research coordinator and DNR's Coastal Resources staff to assist with Gray's Reef data needs. Anne suggested also involving sports fishermen in research efforts. SAC members agreed that a research coordinator is badly needed.

National SAC Coordinators Workshop and Management Plan Meeting Report
Becky discussed the coordinators workshop and plan meeting report. Because new rule making procedures and regulations have been promulgated since the last plan update, the SAC coordinators are preparing a new plan development handbook and SAC handbook. Jim suggested inviting the Sanctuary Program Director, Dan Basta, to a future SAC meeting.
The SAC approved a motion to do so.

Management Plan Workshops
Reed and Becky discussed the management plan workshop objectives, format, and timeline and asked for SAC member help in scheduling constituent meetings. The SAC discussed plans for a retreat to talk about the philosophy of the sanctuary program and how it should be reflected in the management plan. The SAC agreed that the retreat should be facilitated.

Savannah Ocean Festival
Reed discussed the successful Ocean Festival held on Earth Day. He mentioned that next year's festival would be technology-based and that former President Jimmy Carter would be asked to present the award.

Ferrell Cruise Report
Ralph presented the Ferrel report. Judy suggested sending a press release regarding the replacement of corner buoys in response to scoping meeting comments.

South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) Activities
Becky briefed the SAC on SAMFC and the marine reserves concept. She referred the SAC to the list of future scoping meetings in the notebook and encouraged SAC member attendance. George Sedberry talked about the recent Charleston meeting. Becky discussed the status of the MOU. She mentioned that the SAMFC would meet in June to discuss and hopefully accept a final MOU.

Other Discussion
The subject of revenue enhancements was brought up and will be taken up at a future meeting.
Jim mentioned the need for SAC letterhead stationery and asked for input on logo and layout. Becky will send examples of other sanctuary SAC letterheads to Gray's Reef SAC.
Jim stated the need to add a Gray's Reef representative on the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve advisory committee. The SAC discussed the idea of adding an ex-officio member to the SAC from DNR's Coastal Resources Division and other organizations to improve communication. Becky will look into whether that would necessitate altering the charter and provide a list of government organizations with which Gray's Reef shares regular communication.

Public Comment
None.

Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for July 12th from 10am-2pm at Gray's Reef.