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Federal judge rules that EPA and Oregon DEQ must work harder to keep Oregon creeks, steams and rivers cooler to benefit fish

Apr 122013

Coho Salmon
Cooks Creek near Newport

Mid Coast Watershed Council project using logs to shade Cooks Creek east of Newport to cool stream waters for salmon

It’s a well established fact of science that salmon need cool, if not downright cold waters to ensure their reproduction goes according to plan. Many conservationists have argued for decades that logging trees too close to rivers and streams causes more sunlight to reach the flowing waters and thereby heat them up. Sometimes too much. Less shade means warmer waters and it’s bad for fish.

As the pictures to the left show, fish love to linger in the shade, not the bright sun and when areas are logged right up to the sides of streams, it’s beneficial that some of those logs are stacked in the streamways to provide at least some shade to keep the water from heating up so much it damages the fishery in the creek.

A long running lawsuit in Federal Court in Portland has lent greater support to that argument. A Federal judge ruled this week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not properly supervised the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in protecting certain fish stocks by not properly regulating stream flow temperatures.

The story is found in the Columbia Basin Fish & Wildlife News Bulletin. Click here.

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The Salmon Season: Looking good, per the experts

Fisheries No Responses »

Apr 112013

Newport Bayfront

The long and the short of it appears to be that based on returns to the Klamath and Sacramento Rivers, the upcoming Salmon season looks to be a good one. The Eugene Register got a quick take on the announcement this morning. More details if you need it. Click here.

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Commercial fishing may be changing out on that long, blue horizon…

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Apr 092013

Newport Bayfront
Valerie Patterson photo

Instead of lurching back and forth between ‘crises’ on the water or fine tuning fisher behavior to maximize a certain catch, the federal powers that be have adopted a long talked about approach to the fishing industry – working WITH Mother Nature, instead of trying to second guess her. And it seems to focus on what some would call the least desirable critters out there. Forage fish.

The story is in the Oregonian. Click here.

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They’re not buggin’ the birds for nothing – they’re saving baby salmon!

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Apr 072013

Salmon fingerling headed for the open sea to grow big and return to spawn
Wikipedia photo

Cormorants feeding on fish
Wikipedia photo

Story from ODFW

TILLAMOOK, Ore. – With hundreds of thousands of young salmon now making their way toward the ocean, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is ramping up efforts to make sure they get there and aren’t picked off by hungry birds along the way.

For the next month and a half, volunteers assisting ODFW staff will haze cormorants in several coastal estuaries to keep them from feasting on salmon smolts as the young fish make their way to the Pacific Ocean.

Cormorants are large seabirds that inhabit Oregon’s estuaries during the spring and summer. They are voracious eaters and can consume up to two pounds of fish per day. Cormorant predation has been identified as a significant threat to the outbound migration of salmon and steelhead. To reduce this threat, ODFW will haze the birds in an attempt to disrupt their feeding patterns at the mouths of coastal rivers.

“Our goal is to interrupt the birds’ feeding patterns while young fish are still in the estuaries to improve their chances of getting to the ocean,” said Lindsay Adrean, ODFW’s avian predation coordinator.

Volunteers will be working with ODFW in Tillamook and Alsea bays and at the mouths of the Columbia, Nehalem, Nestucca and Coquille rivers through the end of May. The hazing effort will include driving at the birds in small boats and, occasionally, firing at them with small pyrotechnics. Manpower is being provided by the Clatsop Fisheries Project, Port of Nehalem, Port of Bandon, North Coast Salmon and Steelhead Enhancement Fund, and Alsea Sportsmen’s Association. ODFW will provide boat fuel and program oversight.

Cormorants are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, so extra care must be exercised to ensure the birds are not injured or killed. Cormorant populations have been increasing in some areas along the Oregon coast and Columbia River so in addition to hazing ODFW is conducting population surveys to identify opportunities to better strike a balance between the needs of birds and fish.

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Helping Salmon runs by dropping logs into the tributaries of Toledo’s Mill Creek Reservoir

Fisheries No Responses »

Apr 032013

Helicopter dropping logs into a fish spawning restoration area in Clackamas County.
Oregonian photo

When people think of Oregon’s creeks and streams, they imagine them open, clear and free-flowing. But fish biologists say don’t forget the trees that fall into those creeks and streams that provide shady cool water for fish as well as protection from predators.

Cooks Creek Project
Mid-Coast Watershed Council

Throwing trees and boulders into fish spawning creeks has become quite fashionable for those who believe Mother Nature always knew best. She absolutely allows trees to fall down into and over waterways, thereby providing intermittent protective canopies for salmon and steelhead coming upstream to spawn, and for their young trying to survive their dangerous journey to the ocean.

Carefully placed logs act like fallen trees providing shade and protection for migrating fish,

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife along with the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board recently approached the City of Toledo with a proposal to drop logs across two tributaries to Mill Creek Reservoir, a source of drinking water for the town. The state-funded project requires a little help from the city which the city council Wednesday night approved by agreeing to spend time reviewing the plans to “log up” the tributaries a bit to enhance migrating Coho Salmon and their young.

City Councilor Jack Dunaway observed that the “log-up” will allow the Mill Creek watershed to produce even more fish. He said the fishery already benefits from young smolts moving downstream, lingering and feeding in the Mill Creek Reservoir getting fatter and stronger for their arduous journey to the sea

The city council asked City Manager Michelle Amberg to draw up a letter of support for the project and have it signed by the Mayor.

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Newport: Science on Tap Wednesday @ Rogue Ales, South Beach

Fisheries No Responses »

Mar 112013

Dan Bottom
NOAA Fisheries Biologist

Dan Bottom, editor and contributing author of the 2012 Oregon Sea Grant publication Pathways to Resilience: Sustaining Pacific Salmon in a Changing World, will discuss the importance of salmon diversity and the attributes of resilience. His talk will draw from the book’s 11 peer-reviewed articles, including case studies of salmon and salmon fisheries, and will explore management actions that draw on salmon life history and genetic diversity to maintain salmon populations into the future. Pathways to Resilience will be available for purchase and book signing.

Speaker: Dan Bottom, fisheries biologist with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center at HMSC

Title: Celebrating Diversity: Sustaining Pacific Salmon in a Changing World

When: Wednesday, March 13. Doors open at 5:30 pm; presentation begins at 6 pm.

Where: Rogue Ale’s South Beach waterfront location, Brewers on the Bay, in the downstairs Board Room.

Additional Info: The family-friendly event is free and open to the public. Appetizers will be provided, and additional food and beverage will be available for purchase from the regular menu.

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“Crab Krack” for Maritime Center January 20th

Fisheries, Fishing, Newport No Responses »

Jan 032013

Crab Festival Court, 1949
Lincoln County Historical Society

The fifth annual Crab Krack to raise funds for the Pacific Maritime & Heritage Center of the Lincoln County Historical Society will be held at 4 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 20 at the Best Western Agate Beach Inn in Newport.

Local Dungeness crab will be provided by Newport’s seafood processing plants, fishermen and Pacific Shrimp. The dinner will include a whole crab, potatoes, salad, roll, and desserts with a no-host bar.

“We’re relieved to hear that the crab season is open so we can serve fresh, local seafood,” Steve Wyatt, executive director of the Society, said.

Ticket sales for the Crab Krack are in full swing; tickets can be purchased from Crab Krack committee members or at the Lincoln County Historical Society Burrows House Museum. Cost for members is $40 per person, for non-members $45. Memberships start as low as $20 a year. For more information, call 541-265-7509.

“Lucky Gap” is scheduled to play. They feature traditional Americana and blue grass. Members of the group include Chas Malarkey, Bob Llewellyn, Jerry Robbins, Mike Harrington, and Linda Sickler.

The event features silent and oral auctions with donations from many businesses and individuals including vacation trips, furniture, quilts, artwork, tools, baskets and other items.

“This year should be especially exciting because we are very close to opening the Pacific Maritime & Heritage Center,” Dawn Pavitt, chair of the event, said. “The goal is to open the main floor by June of 2013.”

Newport has a long love affair with the Dungeness crab. In 1938, with an abundance of crab and a need for tourists, the town started a Crab Festival, giving away the delicacies by the thousands. During the first Crab Festival, 25,000 people visited Newport for the free lunch. The festival ended in 1951 with a big bang: 38 cases of crabs were shipped to soldiers in Korea.

The Lincoln County Historical Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the history of Lincoln County. It operates the Burrows House and Log Cabin museums located at 545 SW Ninth Street in Newport. The museums are free and open to the public. The Burrows House Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; the Log Cabin Museum is open Thursday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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Heavy seas hammer Newport based fishing vessel Ocean Force – one crewman injured

Fisheries, Newport No Responses »

Dec 282012

Backed up fishing vessels trying to get home

8:07am

The Coast Guard has just now given permission for the fleet to cross the bar. Conditions were terrible last evening. The injured crewman on the F/V Ocean Shore is expected to be taken to PCH to be evaluated for injuries when he was thrust up against a bulk head by two large waves that topped the vessel last evening.

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Over thirty Newport based fishing vessels are riding-out rough seas off the end of the jetties this evening. The bar is too nasty to cross at this hour, midnight.

The 46-foot F/V Ocean Force took two 17 foot waves over the top and scrambled the decks severely Friday evening, one crewman getting tossed around and thrown up against the bulkhead. But his injuries were not thought to be severe. He’s conscious and breathing and talking, but in some pain. Due to the high seas the Coast Guard determined the risk of a motor lifeboat patient transfer to the beach was just too risky. Same for a helicopter transfer. So they’re holding all fishing vessels outside the bar for a time to let the seas calm down and for an incoming high tide to make crossing the bar less difficult. The two waves broke out a number of windows aboard the Ocean Force. They’re now boarded up.

The Coast Guard says the vessels may be able to cross the bar by 1am. An ambulance will be waiting for the injured man when the R/V Ocean Force gets inside the bay.

The second picture shows some of the boats’ upper mast areas and little else meaning the troughs to peak distances are pretty substantial.

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Witness a ritual of the ages here in the coast…

Fisheries No Responses »

Nov 292012

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Gentlemen! STOP YOUR ENGINES!

Fisheries No Responses »

Nov 142012

ODFW image

Fishery managers in California, Oregon and Washington have delayed the opening of the commercial Dungeness crab season by at least two weeks to allow the crabs to “bulk up” with more meat. The same thing happened last year.

The Dungeness season along the Oregon Coast normally opens the first of December but it can be delayed by regulating agencies in order to improve the quality of the catch.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) says more tests on crab quality will be performed later this month or early December. At that point fishery experts will decide if the season should open December 16th or be further postponed.

ODFW says another option is staggering opening dates depending on local crab conditions.

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