Saving Seafood

At The Water’s Edge: Embracing Science and Education As Key Local Industries

January 4, 2018 — Many rural Oregon towns share the same problems; the natural resources they traditionally based their economies on no longer support them, and isolation and limited funds often make solutions hard to come by. But how these communities grapple with these changes can vary.

JPR’s Liam Moriarty takes us to Port Orford, on the state’s south coast, to see how people in one fishing town are working to carve out a potential future.

About two miles south of Port Orford — and less than a mile off the beach — is a cluster of rocks and reefs. Sitting in the cabin of his fishing boat on the dock at the Port of Port Orford, Orion Ashdown says the area known as Redfish Rocks has been a favorite fishing ground.

For years, the abundance of species there drew Ashdown and other Port Orford commercial fishermen. But that ended in 2012, when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife closed what had by then become the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve. Now, the only fishing done there is for scientific research …

Leesa Cobb, with the non-profit Port Orford Ocean Resource Team, says the idea of closing a productive local fishing ground was at best, counterintuitive.

Read the full story at KLCC

 

Oregon commercial crab fishery to open Jan. 15

December 22, 2017 — NEWPORT, Ore. — The commercial Dungeness crab fishery will open on most of Oregon’s coast on Jan. 15. Dungeness crab will be ready to be harvested from Cape Blanco to the Columbia River and north into Washington.

While the commercial season can open as early as Dec. 1, the opening can be delayed to ensure a high quality product for consumers by allowing crabs more time to fill with meat, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Prior to the opener, crab vessels may set gear from Jan. 12 onward, using the “pre-soak” period of time to set gear in anticipation of the first pull of ocean crab pots on Jan. 15.

The recreational crab fishery in Oregon is already open in this same region (Cape Blanco north to the Columbia River). The area south of Cape Blanco will remain closed to both recreational and commercial crabbing due to persisting domoic acid in the region. Continued testing will determine when this closed area can reopen.

Read the full story at The World Link

 

Most of West Coast Dungeness Season Delayed Until Dec 16th to Allow for Better Meat Fill

November 21, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Washington and northern California also will delay their commercial crab seasons until at least Dec. 16 and let the Dungeness crab populations fill out with meat a bit more.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials decided last week [link] to delay the state season until Dec. 16 at the earliest and, after a Tri-State conference call, all three states agreed to delay the season until the same date.

In California, the delay applies only to the area from Point Arena to the Oregon/California border. The central California fishery has been open since Nov. 15.

“This decision was based on crab condition tests conducted by WDFW, [Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife] and [California Department of Fish and Wildlife] which shows that all test areas do not currently meet the minimum meat recovery criteria,” the WDFW notice to industry said.

The Tri-State Dungeness Crab Pre-Season Testing Protocols specify that after the first round of testing, if any area does not meet the minimum meat recovery criteria (23 percent north of Cascade Head and 25 percent south of Cascade Head) a delay is required and additional testing is required before a season opening date can be confirmed, WDFW said.

Some news media have reported the delay also is due to concerns of domoic acid. However, tests from Washington show results below the action level of 30 ppm for crab viscera. Portions of the Oregon coast have had crab with levels higher than 30 ppm and ODFW has closed part of the coast to recreational crabbing.

A second round of both meat recovery and domoic acid testing is scheduled to be conducted after Thanksgiving, the WDFW said in the statement. Oregon and California also are continuing testing.

The latest round of domoic acid results in California show areas near Point St. George Reef, near Crescent City, having one of six crab with a level of 65 ppm and also one crab from the Usal area near Fort Bragg with a level of 150 ppm.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

Fish Habitat Enhancement Talk in Portland, Oregon September 7

August 28, 2017 — The following was released by the West Coast Seafood Processors Association:

For those of you who will be in Portland, OR the evening of Thursday, September 7, please consider the following event hosted by the OR Wildlife Foundation.

You are invited to the OR Wildlife Foundation’s Thursday, 9/7 presentation at Columbia Sportswear’s downtown Portland store (6:30 PM). More information and RSVP (through the OWF Facebook page) here: http://www.myowf.org/events

The presenter is Dave Stewart, Stream Restoration Biologist for ODFW. OWF has worked closely with Dave on a succession of projects including tributaries to the Clatskanie, Clackamas, and Siletz rivers. OWF has an upcoming project on the Little Clatskanie River and two more slated for summer 2018 on tribs to the Yaquina and Siletz respectively.

How Using Light Could Help Reduce Bycatch

July 20, 2017 — British startup SafetyNet Technologies is using light to develop a potential new solution to one of the fishing industry’s biggest problems: bycatch. Bycatch—the fish, turtles, seabirds, dolphins, and other types of marine life that end up caught in fishing nets and then discarded—has both environmental and economic consequences. It damages marine ecosystems and adds cost to the fishing industry. According to Oceana, around 20 percent of the catch in United States fisheries is thought to be of unintended species. Worldwide, it could be as much as 40 percent.

SafetyNet recently developed PISCES, a light-emitting device that fits existing nets and helps fishermen target certain species. It is based on the theory that fish vary in their reactions to light, with different types of light attracting some species and repulsing others. It is designed to be flexible and comes in different shapes and sizes to accommodate a variety of equipment. PISCES is also programmable, allowing the user to choose specifications such as the type of light, its intensity, and the flash rate.

Other solutions for bycatch, such as turtle excluder devices or the Nordmore grate, tend to involve gear adapted to particular fishing environments. These devices either physically prevent certain non-target species from entering nets or allow them to easily escape. Unlike these solutions, PISCES does not focus on a specific species. Light has been shown to affect a range of fish and crustaceans, as well as turtles and birds, and the planned trials for PISCES are spread across diverse fishing environments.

SafetyNet conducted an initial trial of PISCES in 2016 in partnership with Young’s Seafood and Cefas. The tests were based in the North Sea and showed that light could reduce bycatch by up to 60 percent. Recent trials in shrimp by scientists with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have shown that light can reduce bycatch by as much as 90 percent.

Read the full story at Foodtank

OREGON: Fund to aid commercial gillnetters never tapped

June 20, 2017 — A fund that was supposed to provide commercial fishermen $1.5 million to adjust to new regulations curtailing gillnetting in the Columbia River has never been tapped.

The Columbia River Fisheries Transition Fund, a 2013 creation of the Legislature, was supposed to set aside $500,000 every two years to provide financial assistance to commercial gillnetters through 2019.

The money was intended to help fishermen buy replacement gear and offset economic harms due to the expected phasing out of non-tribal gillnetting in the lower main stem of the Columbia.

The money’s not been used yet, and after some of it was reverted back to the general fund due to an accounting error at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Legislature is now poised to do away with the last $500,000 installment.

That leaves $500,000, a third of the amount initially intended, and it’s not immediately apparent whether commercial gillnetters will end up applying for or receiving the money.

Gillnets are hung vertically and catch fish by the gills. Their use is a source of a longstanding dispute between commercial fishermen and sports anglers.

But the issue has come to a head in recent years. These days, sportsmen have rights to most — 70 to 80 percent — of the catches in the main stem of the Columbia, depending on the season. That’s a fact most commercial gillnetters resent.

Gillnets were, back in 2013, likely to be phased out of legal usage on the lower main stem of the Columbia by entities other than tribes. The bill followed an agreement with Washington brokered by former Gov. John Kitzhaber.

Read the full story at the Portland Tribune

Chuck Tracy Named New Executive Director of the Pacific Fishery Management Council

June 29, 2016 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Fishery Management Council today named Mr. Charles “Chuck” Tracy as the new Executive Director for the Pacific Fishery Management Council. Dr. Don McIsaac, the former Executive Director, retired in April.

“We believe Chuck’s experience serving as both Deputy and Acting Executive Director and his in-depth knowledge of the issues facing the Council will allow for a seamless transition as the Council deals with important ongoing issues,” said Council Chair Dorothy Lowman. “We are convinced he will be able to motivate the Council staff to continue their high level of performance and enable the Council to successfully take on future challenges.”

Mr. Tracy’s appointment is effective immediately. He has been serving as the Acting Executive Director since Dr. McIsaac’s retirement; before that he served as Deputy Director for four years.

Mr. Tracy has a degree in biological oceanography from Humboldt State University with additional graduate level work in estuarine ecology. He has been with the Council since 2001, following several years of service with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife focusing on interjurisdictional fisheries issues, including Columbia River sturgeon research and salmon management. Before becoming the Deputy Director, Mr. Tracy was the Staff Officer responsible for coordinating Council activity on salmon fishery management matters.

Oregon’s Forage Fish Management Plan available for public comment

June 15, 2016 — SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is asking for public comment on the Oregon Forage Fish Management Plan, which will establish protections for forage fish through new fishing regulations, and guide resource management decisions.

Forage fish are small, schooling fish which serve as an important source of food for other fish species, birds and marine mammals. There are forage fish species that are currently tracked and managed individually, such as sardine, herring and mackerel; in some years, these species are caught in large numbers.

In contrast, the Forage Fish Management Plan applies to a grouping of forage fish species that are not currently caught in significant numbers, such as sand lance, smelt, and squid. These species are caught in commercial and recreational fisheries.

Read the full story at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife