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SALMON ENHANCEMENT AND HABITAT ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES

General Meeting, October 26-28, 2007
Dunsmuir Lodge,
1515 McTavish Road, Sidney BC

FRIDAY FORUM

The Salmon Enhancement and Habitat Advisory Board (SEHAB), in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, organized and hosted a public forum in response to the Department’s initiation of a review of the Community Involvement Program (CIP), administered by Community Advisors (CA’s) in the Pacific Region.

Forty-three of forty-nine registrants attended the two-hour Friday Forum on October 26th at the Holiday Inn in Victoria, 3020 Blanshard Street.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) requested input from volunteer stewards for its current review of the CIP, including the Community Advisor’s role and responsibilities. Participants were all engaged in a volunteer project supported by a CA (Strategic enhancement, restoration, public awareness or education)

Participants agreed to the following timeline for SEHAB:

  1. Following October 26th live Forum, gather workshop data.
  2. On November 15th, gather online Forum data.
  3. By December 30th, synthesize and distribute results to SEHAB and CIP Review WG.
  4. Post workshop results to participants’ distribution list by December 30th.
  5. February/08 discuss results at SEHAB meeting.
  6. By February 29th, forward advisory to CIP Review WG and Rebecca Reid, Director OHEB.

    DFO will integrate the product of this workshop into the data collection phase of the review process, toward the establishment of Program priorities.

    Participants - Of the forty-three registrants, thirty-five were volunteers working in some capacity with eleven different Community Advisors. With considerable overlap, the following group types were represented:

  7. Strategic enhancement – 14
  8. Habitat Restoration/Streamkeepers – 14
  9. Province-wide NGO’s – 3
  10. Local NGO’s providing services to volunteers – 2
  11. Education programs/institutions - 2

Eight others who attended as observers were CIP field staff, RHQ staff and a recent Masters graduate from Simon Fraser University.

SATURDAY, October 27, 2007

  1. ATTENDING

    1. Members – Lynne Broekhuizen, Jack Minard, Don Lowen, George Farrell, Dave Smith, Ev Person, Tracy Bond, ZoAnn Morten, Dianne Ramage, Jeff Jung
    2. Guests: Tom Rutherford, Rebecca Reid, Joanne Day, Matthew Justice, Jan Lemon, Carmen Brown
    3. Regrets: Shaun Hollingsworth, Eric Carlisle

  2. REPORTS, PRESENTATIONS and ROUNDTABLES

    1. Reports

      1. Chair’s Report - Lynne Broekhuizen
      2. Correspondence in -
      3. Correspondence out –
      4. Treasurer’s Report - Dave Smith
      5. Election of Secretary - Don Lowen nominated as per NavAids criteria, and elected by acclamation.

    2. Presentations

      1. Rebecca Reid - Departmental Update and OHEB Program Overview
        Rebecca presented a brief overview of the operating context for Pacific Region and OHEB. She also touched on the Regional strategic direction, and provided an update on key program issues. View Powerpoint Presentation.
      2. Tom Rutherford – Presentation on the New Cowichan Round Table
      3. Matthew Justice – “Volunteering in Fish Habitat Rehabilitation Projects in BC” Matthew shared the research done for his Master’s thesis./li>
      4. ZoAnn Morten – Update on Community Workshop sub-Committee activities.

  3. Regional Roundtable Reports

    QCI/Haida Gwaii Roundtable Report
    Upper Skeena
    Central Interior
    Lower Fraser Regional Stewardship
    Central Vancouver Island
    South Vancouver Island
    Steelhead Society
    Roundtable Summary
  4. Departmental Update – Jeff Jung reported on activities and changes within his area of responsibility.
  5. Review Action Items of Last Meeting

SUNDAY October 28, 2007

  1. COMMITTEE REPORTS
    1. Standing Committees
      1. Communication (ZoAnn, Jack, Dianne) - Remaining committee members have met via teleconference. ZoAnn and Jack helped with the Friday night forum. People are posting to the message board or providing articles for posting. This is not public– it is for SEHAB members only. As for the List-serve, if a reply should go only to one person, use the forwarding option, rather than hitting reply.
      2. Financial (Dave, ZoAnn, Jeff)
      3. Membership (George, Jack, Eric) Tracy is now representing the Central Interior (Roy Argue / Tina Chestnut) region and Jan will be representing Rod Dam’s region. George and Don will set up some protocols for addressing members who do not attend regularly.
    2. Ad hoc Committees
      1. Steelhead (Eric, Shaun, Ev, Jack)
      2. WSP Committee (George, Don, Dianne, Jack, ZoAnn and Lynne)
      3. Friday Night Forum – Don asked if there was any questions about how the data was retrieved for the Friday night forum. The on-line forum was put up on the website on Friday night, so there will be ongoing data collection. November 15th is the response deadline.
  2. NEW BUSINESS
    1. Business Items
      ITEM SPONSOR DECISION
      1. New Group Photo ZoAnn Done
      2. Proposal re outreach Meetings/increased membership 2008 Executive Committee Finance committee to present information
      3. Review Agenda and Minutes process Don Don will incorporate changes and send out for review
      4. Feedback to Consultative Secretariat George and Rebecca George to follow up with Rebecca, Jeff and Paul Sproat.
      5. Gumboot Award Chair Don and Tom to determine whether it can be presented to Gary Logan in May at the Community awards event in Shawnigan Lake, or at our next meeting in February; Lorraine to organize
      6. Issue re task assignments to CAs and filling North Island CA position All Lynne will write a letter to Rebecca, cc Bruce Adkins
      7. Agree on a process for releasing Board Members when they haven’t attended for three meetings. Don and George Membership committee to follow up as per guidelines in Nav-Aids.
      8. Pinks on the Pier. Communications / ZoAnn Write a letter to DFO asking for an update on their pink salmon production strategy
      9. CAs being directed to undertake specific tasks, rather than activities being client-driven. Chair Don Lowen to draft letter
      10. Poor communication between agencies that result in the loss of fish habitat All Recommendation that Habitat Biologist copies any letters of advice and/or authorization to the CA.
      Ask Rebecca to explore a way to include the CA in decision-making processes concerning projects that might have an impact on fish habitat.
    2. Identify agenda items for next meeting
      ITEM SPONSOR
      1. Provide cost options that consider cost of one annual “out of town” meeting and full representation, for 2008 fiscal year Finance committee/Executive
      2. Recognition of retiring board members Zo Ann
      3. Invite past board members to community outreach meetings Chair
      4. Provincial fish derby and another line of info Jan
      5. RAR review Lynne
      6. Liability issues for volunteers as to training requirements, bear aware, swift water rescue etc Jan
      7. Draft letter re management-driven agendas for CA’s Don
    3. Identify Action Items for Next Meeting

  3. PLANNING

    1. Minutes from this meeting to be ratified by November 5, 2007
    2. Date of next meeting – February 1-3, 2008 at the Holiday Inn, North Vancouver
    3. Invitation to build agenda on January 1st, 2008
    4. Draft agenda due on January 15th, 2008

  4. ADJOURN AT NOON

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