January 10, 2025 — Microplastics — tiny synthetic particles shed from clothing, packaging and other sources — are prevalent in many of the fish species eaten in Oregon, per a new study.
Why it matters: Ingestion of microplastics has been linked to cardiovascular risks and other adverse health impacts.
Driving the news: Researchers at Portland State University looked to quantify how many microplastic particles were making their way into the edible tissues of commonly eaten fish in Oregon.
January 3, 2024 — The governors of California, Oregon, and Washington have asked the U.S. federal government to provide financial aid for the states’ struggling commercial West Coast Pacific albacore troll/hook-and-line fishery.
Last year was the fishery’s worst performing season in 30 years, California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a recent statement. The fishery generated USD 9.5 million (EUR 9.3 million) in ex-vessel value in 2024, notably lower than the five-year average of USD 24.6 million (EUR 24 million).
December 11, 2024 — While California’s Dungeness crab fleet waits for delayed waters to open, Washington and Oregon fishermen have geared up for their 2024-2025 seasons under familiar pressures of conservation and commerce. With winter crabbing generally in full swing, balancing marine sustainability with vital economic returns is the focus.
In Washington, the Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) emphasizes its regulatory approach to protecting marine mammals, citing updates from previous seasons as a foundation for the current year. Measures to reduce entanglement risk remain crucial, with state and tribal co-managers collaborating to meet conservation goals while supporting fishermen. WDFW published a Dungeness Crab Newsletter to go over a report of the 2023- 2024 season and new regulations for this year. Other sources have shared that the Washington Dungeness season will be delayed until the end of 2024.
December 10, 2024 — Fisheries regulators on the West Coast are further delaying the opening of their states’ respective commercial Dungeness crab seasons due to the presence of humpback whales and low meat quality, with all but a small portion of Oregon’s coast unlikely to open before the end of the year.
On 6 December, the state of California announced it was delaying the start of the commercial crab season for a third time this year, citing the continued presence of blue and humpback whales in the area. The season was initially slated to open on 15 November.
December 9, 2024 — Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab fishery will open on Dec. 16 from Cape Falcon south to the California border.
The commercial fleet can begin setting baited crab pots in the water in this area on Dec. 13.
Areas north of Cape Falcon will remain closed until at least Dec. 31 due to low meat yields. The season will open in coordination with southern Washington state.
On Friday, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife ordered another delay in that state’s commercial Dungeness crab fishing season — the third so far this year.
November 22, 2024 — Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab season is delayed coastwide until at least Dec. 16, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) announced yesterday. Pre-season testing shows that Dungeness crabs are too low in meat yield in some ocean areas and have elevated domoic acid in crab viscera (guts) in two areas on the south coast.
Oregon’s ocean commercial Dungeness crab season, targeted to open Dec. 1, can be delayed so consumers get a high-quality product and crabs are not wasted.
The commercial bay crab fishery (currently open from Cape Blanco to the Washington border) closes at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 1 in conjunction with the delayed ocean commercial season. The commercial bay crab season runs through Dec. 31 but will only reopen in December if the ocean commercial season does so.
November 18, 2024 — A giant female Chinook salmon flips on her side in the shallow water and wriggles wildly, using her tail to carve out a nest in the riverbed as her body glistens in the sunlight. In another moment, males butt into each other as they jockey for a good position to fertilize eggs.
These are scenes local tribes have dreamed of seeing for decades as they fought to bring down four hydroelectric dams blocking passage for struggling salmon along more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) of the Klamath River and its tributaries along the Oregon-California border.
Now, less than a month after those dams came down in the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, salmon are once more returning to spawn in cool creeks that have been cut off to them for generations. Video shot by the Yurok Tribe show that hundreds of salmon have made it to tributaries between the former Iron Gate and Copco dams, a hopeful sign for the newly freed waterway.
“Seeing salmon spawning above the former dams fills my heart,” said Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe. “Our salmon are coming home. Klamath Basin tribes fought for decades to make this day a reality because our future generations deserve to inherit a healthier river from the headwaters to the sea.”
The Klamath River flows from its headwaters in southern Oregon and across the mountainous forests of northern California before it reaches the Pacific Ocean
November 4, 2024 — Researchers are expressing optimism over the initial signs of salmon migration in the Lower Klamath River following the nation’s largest-ever dam removal, saying fish are moving upstream into previously blocked regions as the waterway shows signs of improving health.
A series of four dams were removed from the river in Northern California and southern Oregon, with demolition completed in early October, restoring more than 400 miles of free-flowing waterway that had been blocked for a century.
Federal, tribal and state fisheries managers predict it could take at least a decade for the region’s fisheries to recover to healthy population levels, but on Thursday they touted the first post-removal migration.
October 7, 2024 — To Courtney Krossman and Jesse Beers, the windswept view off Gregory Point offers more than just postcard-perfect scenery.
The majestic cape juts into the Pacific Ocean just south of Coos Bay, its sharp sandstone cliffs ringed by dark water.
“When you look in that direction, the view is essentially the same as what our ancestors saw when they were standing here. It has not altered,” said Krossman, the tribal historic preservation officer for the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians.
The headland was once home to a village of Miluk-speaking Coos people. Officially returned to the coastal tribes just a decade ago, the site is home to first salmon ceremonies, remembrances for the dead and prayers for ancestors – traditions that Krossman and Beers, the tribes’ cultural stewardship manager, are working hard to preserve.
The tribes’ leaders say the view, the land, the fish and other marine life – fundamental to their cultural and spiritual legacy – could in the coming years be marred by massive floating wind towers and their turbines.
October 7, 2024 — For most of his life, Paul Kujala has called himself a fisherman. The Warrenton local owns and operates a small bottom-trawling vessel that he uses to catch sole, sablefish and rockfish — but over the last few years, he’s had his eye on a new technology he fears could threaten that work: floating offshore wind.
Kujala isn’t the only one.
For months, fishermen and others who work in the fishing industry have been calling on the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to slow down its process for two proposed wind energy lease areas — a 61,204-acre site 32 miles offshore in Coos Bay and a 133,808-acre site about 18 miles off the coast of Brookings — citing economic and environmental concerns for communities up and down the coast. Those concerns were amplified last month after the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians filed a lawsuit against the bureau and Gov. Tina Kotek sent a letter urging the bureau not to move forward with a long-anticipated Oct. 15 lease auction of the two sites.
Read the full article at The Astorian