ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE

 

3.

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF RENEWED MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE MONTEREY PENINSULA WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT AND THE CARMEL RIVER STEELHEAD ASSOCIATION – SLEEPY HOLLOW STEELHEAD REARING FACILITY OPERATIONS

 

Meeting Date:

July 6, 2006

Budgeted: 

Yes

 

From:

David A. Berger,

Program/

Various

 

General Manager

Line Item No.:

 

Prepared By:

Beverly Chaney

Cost Estimate:

N/A

 

 

 

 

General Counsel Approval:  Yes

Committee Recommendation:  The Administrative Committee reviewed this item on July 6, 2006 and recommended _______________.

CEQA Compliance:  N/A

State & Federal Agency Review: Consistent with the Annual Memorandum of Agreement between California Department of Fish and Game and the District for operations at Sleepy Hollow Steelhead Rearing Facility and the District’s License Agreement with California American Water and permit application pending with NOAA Fisheries.

 

 SUMMARY: The Board will consider approval of a proposed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Carmel River Steelhead Association (CRSA) to deliver juvenile steelhead that are rescued from tributaries and the mainstem of the Carmel River and to rear these fish at the District’s Sleepy Hollow Steelhead Rearing Facility (Facility) (Exhibit 3-A).  Only three minor revisions have been made to the proposed MOA from last year’s MOA: (1) the District’s contact person was changed to Beverly Chaney, (2) wording in item 8 was changed to reflect consistency with the pending NOAA Fisheries Permit, and (3) the duration of the agreement was changed to two years through June 30, 2008.  Prior to the Administrative Committee Meeting on July 6, 2006, the proposed MOA was sent to CRSA for their review.  Staff will report on CRSA’s reaction to the proposed MOA on July 6, 2006.

 

RECOMMENDATION:  District staff recommends approval of the proposed MOA (Exhibit 3-A), and authorization for the General Manager to enter into the MOA.

 

IMPACT TO STAFF/RESOURCES: Additional staff time may be needed to comply with the proposed 2006-08 MOA with CRSA.  This depends primarily on the frequency of times when staff will be needed to pick up fish from CRSA after weekday rescues.  While the frequency cannot be predicted with certainty, the total additional time should not exceed 24 hours, based on an assumption of six weekday rescues at 4 hours per day.   No additional cost would be incurred for this task, as the staff positions for this activity receive compensatory time-off instead of overtime payment.

 

BACKGROUND:  In 2000, the CRSA requested that the District accept and rear juvenile steelhead rescued by CRSA.  In response to this request, staff assembled a proposed protocol for this operation, and negotiated with CRSA representatives to implement the request, subject to approval of a MOA and review and approval by CDFG and NOAA-Fisheries.  For the 2003-2004 season, a one-year MOA between the District and the CRSA was signed in July 2003.  The CRSA delivered one batch of fish to the Facility in June 2004.

 

Two key issues were: (1) whether the additional tributary and mainstem fish would impact existing operations at the Facility, which is funded by the District’s user fee on CAW bills and specifically designed to mitigate for existing CAW pumping along the mainstem of the Carmel River in Carmel Valley and (2) that the CRSA needed to add the District and CAW to its general insurance liability policy as an “additional insured”.  Regarding Issues (1),  staff reviewed this situation and believed that the anticipated increased costs were relatively minor, including small amounts of additional food, limited additional time on weekdays and Saturdays to accept the fish, and some additional time to process and treat the fish during the rearing season.  Regarding Issue (2), CRSA was willing to hold the District, its employees, and agents harmless in the event that CRSA members were injured at the Facility. 

 

For the 2005-2006 MOA staff made several revisions with the goal of improving security at the Facility and continuing the practice of receiving fish from CRSA rescues.

 

The proposed 2006-2008 MOA has no substantial changes from the 2005-2006 MOA.

 

EXHIBITS

3-A      Proposed Memorandum of Agreement Between MPWMD and the Carmel River Steelhead Association: Limited Access and Use of Sleepy Hollow Steelhead Rearing Facility

 

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