Saving Seafood

Tuna too few: Commercial season off to standard slow start

July 21, 2021 — Commercial albacore tuna season swam into action last week with the first official landings hitting local docks.

Safe Coast Seafoods and Ilwaco Landing each recorded their first offload of the 2021 commercial tuna season Monday, July 12 in Ilwaco.

Landings have been slow to start the season, fishermen and processors reported, which is par for the course. August has historically been the month with the heaviest commercial tuna landings for Oregon and Washington, with the season wrapping up around October, depending on weather.

“It’s a pretty typical start with fish scattered and in low numbers, but we are encouraged that the water temperature and sea life look more typical and are in good shape to hold large numbers (of tuna) as they come in,” said Tre-Fin Day-Boat Seafood co-founder Michael Domeyer, who recorded their first tuna of the season Saturday, July 17.

Read the full story at The Chinook Observer

Oregon Bill Aims to Fund Actions Supporting Fisheries, Communities in face of Changing Ocean

July 20, 2021 — Oregon is taking healthy oceans seriously. The state legislature passed House Bill 3114 in what proponents call a historic Oregon first in the fight against ocean acidification and hypoxia. It will help retain the successful sport and commercial fisheries on which coastal economies depend, proponents say.

It also shows Oregon leaders’ awareness of the importance of healthy oceans, according to a press release from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Oregon is an epicenter for acidification and hypoxia and was one of the first places in the world to observe direct impacts of ocean change when oyster hatchery production collapsed in 2007 from ocean acidification.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Ad Hoc Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast Coho Workgroup to hold online meeting August 10, 2021

July 14, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council)  Ad Hoc Southern Oregon Northern California Coast (SONCC) Coho Workgroup (Workgroup) will host an online meeting that is open to the public. The online meeting will be held Tuesday, August 10, 2021, from 9 a.m., Pacific Daylight Time, until 5 p.m., or until business for the day has been completed.

Please see the SONCC Coho Workgroup August 2021 meeting notice on the Pacific Council’s website for the purpose of the online work session.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff Robin Ehlke at 503-820-2410.

Pacific Northwest heat wave sets up ‘grim’ migration for salmon on Columbia, Snake rivers

June 30, 2021 — This is shaping up to be a dire summer for fish and trees.

Temperatures in the Columbia and Snake rivers are already within two degrees of the slaughter zone of 2015, when half the sockeye salmon run was lost because of high water temperatures. An estimated 250,000 sockeye died that year long before reaching their spawning grounds.

The sockeye run is at its peak right now just as temperatures hit record highs across Washington state and in Idaho. Spring and summer chinook and steelhead migrating in the rivers also are at risk.

Salmon are cold-water animals. Temperatures above 62 degrees make them more vulnerable to disease, and as temperatures climb higher, they will stop migrating altogether.

The risk of heat stress is present in the mainstem rivers, but also in fish ladders, where salmon will turn around and head back down river if the temperature is higher at the top of the ladder than where they entered it. Cooling water released at the top of the ladders can only do so much as air temperatures reach unprecedented highs.

Water temperatures are already at dangerous levels despite an earlier start to cold-water releases from deep in the Dworshak Dam, on the Clearwater River, upstream of Lower Granite Dam on the Lower Snake River. Nonetheless, temperatures in the tailrace at Lower Granite are still edging above safe levels for salmon and are even hotter downriver.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times

Aquaculture advocates want to bring more Oregon-grown fish from farm to table

June 22, 2021 — While the word “farm” might conjure visions of corn planted in neat rows, Luke Fitzpatrick’s acreage looks, feels and functions more like wetlands. Chirps and squawks emanate from the ponds covering his patch of land just a short drive from Salem.

Fitzpatrick called out avian creatures by name as he maneuvered an off-road vehicle around the farm on a sunny Thursday this spring. Stilt sandpiper. Cinnamon teal. Western meadowlark, Oregon’s state bird.

He pulled to a stop, got out and dipped into a duck blind filled with decoy mallards and rolling desk chairs to gaze out over his crop growing beneath the glassy surface of the water.

“I’m tied to the land,” he said. “I love it out here.”

Fitzpatrick is a fish farmer. He raises and sells warm-water species like bass, bluegill, crappie and catfish through a practice called aquaculture. It’s basically just farming in water, and it’s used to grow a variety of finfish, shellfish and aquatic plants.

Aquaculture has become a much bigger part of the global food system in recent years. The world now produces more seafood on farms than it catches wild, by volume, and the fish farming industry is still growing rapidly.

Read the full story at OPB

OSU chosen to lead NOAA institute for marine research

June 9, 2021 — Oregon State University said Tuesday it has been selected to host a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration institute focused on collaborative study of the rapidly changing ocean and expanded demands on its use.

The Cooperative Institute for Marine Ecosystem and Resources Studies, or CIMERS, will focus on four research themes: conservation, protection and restoration of marine resources; marine ecosystems; ocean acoustics; and ocean, coastal and seafloor processes.

The institute will be eligible for up to $37 million in funding over the next five years, with potential for renewal for five more years.

“NOAA’s significant support of this collaborative marine institute underscores Oregon State University’s longstanding contributions in leadership, research and teaching to protect and enhance our oceans,” said OSU Interim President Becky Johnson. “We must accelerate that work due to the extraordinary pressures and changes taking place in our oceans and climate. OSU’s collaborative model of engaging many colleges, academic disciplines and external partners is well-suited to address these issues.”

NOAA supports 20 cooperative institutes in 28 states and the District of Columbia, providing funding to extend basic and applied research beyond the federal agency’s capacity. The institutes also serve as a training ground for future NOAA employees through undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral education programs that align with NOAA’s mission.

Read the full story at KTVZ

Oregon fishing families face climate change impacts

June 7, 2021 — For four generations Kevin and Taunette Dixon’s families have followed the rhythm of the sea: Harvesting groundfish, such as cod and pollock, early in the year. Pink shrimp beginning in April, sometimes followed by albacore in the fall. Then, Dungeness crab, Oregon’s biggest and most lucrative fishery, just in time to bring in holiday cash.

It’s been the same for fishing families up and down the Oregon Coast.

But the ocean is changing, and with it, life in tight-knit coastal communities.

For the past six years, Oregon’s traditional Dec. 1 Dungeness opening has been significantly delayed because elevated domoic acid levels make the crab unsafe to eat.

The toxin comes from harmful algal blooms caused by marine heatwaves, which are increasing in frequency and intensity.

The warming planet can actually fill the catch with poison.

And this is only one effect of climate change.

Oregon now has a regular “hypoxia season,” when ocean oxygen levels near the sea floor plummet and some sea life flees the region or dies.

In 2017, a huge hypoxia event occurred off Washington. The next year it extended into Oregon, resulting in almost no halibut caught. Over the next two years, Oregon commercial crabbers reported pulling up pot after pot of dead, suffocated crabs.

Read the full story from the Salem Statesman Journal at USA Today

PFMC Ad Hoc SONCC Coho Workgroup to hold online meeting July 7, 2021

May 27, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s (Pacific Council) Ad Hoc Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast (SONCC) Coho Workgroup will host an online meeting that is open to the public. The online meeting will be held Wednesday, July 7, 2021 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time or until business for the day has been completed.

Please see the meeting notice on the Pacific Council’s website for additional details.

For further information:

  • Please contact Pacific Fishery Management Council staff officer Robin Ehlke at 503-820-2410; toll-free 1-866-806-7204.

REP. HUFFMAN’S BILL BANNING OFFSHORE DRILLING CONSIDERED BY SUBCOMMITTEE THURSDAY

May 17, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA):

North Coast Congressman joined a subcommittee hearing on Thursday on protecting coastal communities and ocean resources from offshore drilling, which included consideration of his legislation, the North Pacific Ocean Protection Act.

Huffman said the bill would prohibit new oil and gas leases off the coasts of Northern and Central California, Oregon, and Washington, ensuring a sustainable future for coastal communities and the millions of jobs and billions of dollars in wages that depend on healthy oceans and coasts.

“We are not going to sacrifice the scenic, economic, tourism, cultural, and environmental values of our coastal regions at the altar of short-term profits for the fossil fuel industry. The risks of offshore drilling for our ocean-dependent economies and for marine ecosystems is not even close to worth it for us,” Rep. Huffman said during the hearing. “The bills we’re considering today go hand in hand with other necessary actions to reduce emissions and invest in renewable energy all while reducing risks and making sure that our coasts are clean, safe, and available to all Americans, not a sacrifice zone for the fossil fuel industry. Now we have an administration that gets it, and they are putting forward thoughtful, comprehensive solutions. But administrations can change, and we saw that during the last four years — what it means when an administration has a reckless drill everywhere agenda. We should not leave this to chance. Our oceans, our fisheries, our coastal communities and economies, and our planet are too important to put at risk.”

Read the full press release:

House Natural Resources Committee Holds Hearing on Huffman’s Bill to Ban Offshore Drilling

Legislation would protect North Pacific Coast, Communities from Offshore Drilling Risks

Washington, D.C. – Today, Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) joined a subcommittee hearing on protecting coastal communities and ocean resources from offshore drilling, which included consideration of his legislation, H.R. 3048, the North Pacific Ocean Protection Act. This bill would prohibit new oil and gas leases off the coasts of Northern and Central California, Oregon, and Washington, ensuring a sustainable future for coastal communities and the millions of jobs and billions of dollars in wages that depend on healthy oceans and coasts.

Representative Huffman has led the charge to protect the entire West Coast as well as the Arctic Ocean from offshore drilling. In 2015, Rep Huffman first introduced his West Coast Ocean Protection Act to permanently protect the California, Oregon, and Washington coasts by amending the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prohibit new oil or natural gas leases in each state’s outer continental shelves and permanently protect the $44 billion coastal economies of the three states.

Rep. Huffman has led several other key pieces of legislation to shepherd permanent protections for the West Coast, including:

  • the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act, bipartisan legislation to permanently ban oil and gas leasing off both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts;
  • the Keep it in the Ground Act, legislation that would reduce carbon emissions and our nation’s addiction to fossil fuels by permanently barring new fossil fuel leases on all federal public lands and in federal waters;
  • the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act, which would prohibit new or renewed oil and gas leasing in the Arctic Ocean Planning Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf.
  • Rep. Huffman’s West Coast Ocean Protection Act was also included in the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis’ Climate Action Plan, a comprehensive congressional climate action framework, during the 116th Congress.

“We are not going to sacrifice the scenic, economic, tourism, cultural, and environmental values of our coastal regions at the altar of short-term profits for the fossil fuel industry. The risks of offshore drilling for our ocean-dependent economies and for marine ecosystems is not even close to worth it for us,” Rep. Huffman said during the hearing. “The bills we’re considering today go hand in hand with other necessary actions to reduce emissions and invest in renewable energy all while reducing risks and making sure that our coasts are clean, safe, and available to all Americans, not a sacrifice zone for the fossil fuel industry. Now we have an administration that gets it, and they are putting forward thoughtful, comprehensive solutions. But administrations can change, and we saw that during the last four years — what it means when an administration has a reckless drill everywhere agenda. We should not leave this to chance. Our oceans, our fisheries, our coastal communities and economies, and our planet are too important to put at risk.”

“Permanently protecting our coasts from dirty and dangerous drilling is a crucial step toward addressing the climate crisis and protecting millions of jobs nationwide that rely on a clean coast economy,” said Oceana Campaign Director Diane Hoskins. “Oceana applauds Congressman Huffman for introducing the North Pacific Ocean Protection Act, which would permanently protect the waters off of Central and Northern California, as well as Oregon and Washington from new oil drilling. From toxic oil spills to accelerated climate devastation, we cannot afford any new offshore drilling. We must permanently end new leasing for offshore drilling and transition to clean, renewable energy sources like offshore wind to create jobs and power our clean energy future.”

“The North Pacific Ocean Protection Act will ensure that the Washington, Oregon and Northern and Central California coastal environments, economies and ways of life will be protected from the harmful effects of offshore oil and gas development. The Surfrider Foundation strongly endorses HR 3048 and urges members of Congress to support this and other legislation to permanently ban new offshore drilling in U.S. water,” said Pete Stauffer, Environmental Director, Surfrider Foundation

“Offshore drilling and leasing are not compatible with President Biden’s climate goal of protecting 30 percent of our lands and 30 percent of our waters by 2030, for a safe, livable future. We need to protect our coastal economies, stop pollution and spills from damaging fragile coastal ecosystems, and fight climate change. That’s why the Sierra Club continues to oppose any leasing or drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf and wholeheartedly supports this legislation,” said Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program.

“This bill is exactly what is needed now to safeguard our coastal economy, restaurant and fishing jobs, and the health of our oceans. We can’t afford to subject our coastline or our country to more industrial pollution and the ever-present threat of another BP-style disaster,” said Irene Gutierrez, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council.