CESAS-PD-E 29 August 2001
SUBJECT: Savannah Harbor Expansion Project; SEG Fisheries Committee; Minutes of August 27, 2001 meeting
PARTICIPANTS:
NAME REPRESENTING
In Person:
William Bailey US Army Corps of Engineers
Bo Ellis ATM
Bridget Callahan ATM
By Telephone:
Richard Weyers UGA Fish & Wildlife Coop Unit
Tom Reinert UGA Fish & Wildlife Coop Unit
Cecil Jennings UGA Fish & Wildlife Coop Unit
Priscilla Wendt SCDNR-MRD
Mark Collins SCDNR-MRD
John Pafford GADNR-CRD
Carl Hall GADNR-WRD
Ted Will GADNR-WRD
Ed Eudaly USFWS
Prescott Brownell NMFS
1. The meeting was held at the Corps of Engineers office in Savannah from 9:00 to 10:30 on Monday, August 27, 2001. Individuals who could not attend in person were able to participate through a teleconference capability.
2. The first section of the meeting was structured to review and discuss reports of three recent fisheries studies. The first was the Temporal & Spatial Distribution Study being performed primarily by the UGA Fish & Wildlife Coop Unit. Richard Weyers stated that they had worked out problems they had initially experienced in sampling the tidal creeks and along the marsh edges. They are now using a ¼-inch mesh, 50-foot X 6-foot seine with for sampling the marsh edges. For the tidal creeks, they use a ¼-inch mesh, 30-foot X 8-foot seine, with an 8-foot X 8-foot X 8-foot bag. With that gear, they have collected about 40 species of fish in those two habitats. They collected roughly 65-70 species in all of the habitats during this study. They will continue the sampling through about June 2002. They may stop their drop sampling in October.
3. The Sciaenid Study was the next report discussed. Mark Collins summarized what they had found in that investigation. He clarified that the initial reports of red drum spawning near the Southern LNG plan were incorrect. Later coordination with other researchers who viewed recordings of the sounds made by the fish revealed that the sounds were not made by red drum. Mark said it appeared that sciaenids used the lower harbor (between RKM 0 to 12) for spawning, while black drum were heard closer to the mouth of the river (RKM 0 to 4). Tom Reinert stated that UGA had found larval red drum in the lower portion of the harbor, around the LNG plant. He also stated that they had found larval red drum (9 mm) last year around August 22 at RKM 9. Mark said the final report for this study would be sent to GPA very soon.
4. The Shortnose Sturgeon Study was the third study discussed. Mark Collins gave a summary/overview of the study findings. They found a seasonal migration by temperature, with fish found upstream in the summer. The data suggest a temperature of 22 degrees C as an indicator of likely upstream vs. downstream location. Concentrations of fish were identified in the lower end of Middle River in the winter and near Abercorn Creek in the summer. The site in Middle River is a deeper area that probably developed when flows passed through New Cut. Flows are now reduced and that area could possibly be silting in. They performed some water quality sampling around the net locations, but didn't detect any differences between sites with concentrations of fish and adjacent waters. They didn't find any concentrations of fish in the Kings Island Turning Basin, where fish had previously concentrated. Mark said there appears to be a bottleneck in the SNS population, as there are adult fish capable of spawning but few young fish. Predation is not believed to be a problem. A recent study of flathead catfish in the Southeast (including the Edisto River) did not identify SNS as an observed food source. Pres Brownell stated that NMFS is working on a Habitat Suitability Index for SNS. That is scheduled to be complete in September 2002. The UGA researchers said they did not identify any SNS larvae this year.
5. The second section of the meeting concerned an individual to fill the role of the Committee chairman. I stated that I would be stepping down as chairman. After some discussion, the Committee agreed to recommend that GPA provide the Committee with a facilitator/notetaker to perform some of the typical duties of a chairman. Committee members agreed to report the Committee activities to the SEG, but they would like outside assistance to coordinate the meetings and prepare minutes of those meetings.
6. The third section of the meeting was an open discussion. Pres Brownell stated that he would like to better understand what outputs are available from the hydrodynamic model that could be used in predicting impacts to fishery resources. He stated that HSI models could be used for impact assessment. After some discussion, the Committee recommended that GPA make a presentation to the Committee on the hydrodynamic model's capabilities and limitations, and their impact assessment approach. At that presentation, the Committee would discuss their expectations of the hydrodynamic model. No more items were raised for discussion, so the meeting was concluded.
William Bailey Chairman