Saving Seafood

BOEM Approves Controversial Wind Energy Areas off Oregon

February 14, 2024 — After a months-long process of engagement with local fishermen and tribes, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has designated two final Wind Energy Areas off the Oregon Coast. Despite local opposition and skepticism from fisheries stakeholders, the areas will still go forward in BOEM’s planning process, but will be 11 percent smaller.

BOEM’s initial draft wind areas announced in August 2023 would have allowed the development of about 220,000 acres off Brookings and Coos Bay, with power generation potential of about 2.6 GW. After months of stakeholder meetings, held at the request of the state’s governor and both of its senators, the revised final areas cover about 195,000 acres – about 11 percent smaller than the draft – and have about 2.4 GW of generation potential. The physical locations and distances from shore are comparable to the draft areas.

The final result drew scathing criticism from the local fishing industry. Heather Mann, executive director of the Coos Bay-based Midwater Trawlers Cooperative, called BOEM’s engagement process “a slap in the face to Oregon’s coastal communities.”

“The final wind energy areas are slightly different from the draft wind energy areas produced earlier this year, but certainly not an acceptable or meaningful response to the many concerns including those raised by tribes, fishermen, marine scientists, environmentalists, and state and federal legislators,” said Mann.

Read the full article at the Maritime Executive

OREGON: Oregon receiving $7M for fishery disaster amid ‘dwindling’ salmon population

February 7, 2024 — Oregon is set to receive a “lifeline” $7 million in federal funding to address the state’s fishery disaster impacting Chinook salmon, lawmakers announced last week.

Commercial fishermen can apply for reimbursements from the disaster funding through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to recover from economic losses between 2018 and 2020, which saw declining salmon populations in Oregon, officials said.

From 2013-2017, the commercial value of Chinook salmon was around $6.3 million annually for Oregon fisheries; however, the impact of climate change on salmon populations led their value to drop to $2.3 million in 2018, $2 million in 2019, and $1.4 million in 2020, state lawmakers report.

Read the full article at KOIN

The Largest Dam Removal Project in U.S. History Begins Final Stretch, Welcoming Salmon Home

January 23, 2024 — The Klamath River in California and Oregon is one step closer to a healthy new beginning.

Officials gathered earlier this month at the Iron Gate Dam in Hornbrook, California, to unlatch a gate at the base of its reservoir. As the water flowed through, it signaled the beginning of the end of the largest dam removal project in United States history, report Erik Neumann and Juliet Grable for NPR.

The gate’s opening, formerly just a crack, was extended to three feet wide. Dark brown waters rumbled through the gap, washing years of sediment buildup downriver. Over the next week, 2,200 cubic feet of water per second were expected to flow, lowering the reservoir between two and four feet per day. Eventually, the channel’s entire width—stretching 16 feet across—will allow the uninhibited passage of water and sediment.

Opening the Iron Gate Dam represents a critical advancement in the historic demolition project, which was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in November 2022. The effort will remove four aging hydroelectric dams in the Klamath River, restoring hundreds of miles of salmon habitat. The first and smallest dam, Copco 2, was already deconstructed this past autumn, and the rest are slated for removal this year.

Read the full article at the Smithsonian Magazine

OREGON: Commercial Dungeness crab season delayed due to low meat yield

November 21, 2023 — The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says the commercial Dungeness crab season is being delayed at least until December 16.

According to ODFW, pre-season testing shows the crabs are too low in meat yield in some ocean areas.

The commercial bay crab fishery closes at midnight on December 1 in conjunction with the delayed open season.  ODFW says it will reopen when the ocean commercial season opens.

Read the full article at KOBI

OREGON: Oregon Tribes declare opposition to wind energy areas

November 13, 2023 — Oregon Indian tribes this week said that they oppose two draft wind energy areas off the state’s coast, over their concerns about how fisheries and cultural resources could be affected.

In a statement the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians said it recently passed a unanimous resolution expressing the opposition, meeting a deadline for comments to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

After meetings with BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein, “it was apparent to the Tribe that its concerns regarding offshore wind development’s impacts to fisheries and cultural resources were not going to be addressed in a meaningful way,” Tribal Council Chair Brad Kneaper said in a statement Nov. 8. “We recognize that all energy development has impacts and BOEM has failed to provide assurance that wind energy development will do good and not harm the Tribe, its members, and the greater coastal community.”

The council said its comments to BOEM have included requests that wind energy areas be at least 12 nautical miles off the continental shelf “to preserve “important, cultural viewsheds” and “avoid areas critical to resident and migratory species, including important areas for fishing.”

Read the full article at WorkBoat

OREGON: Struggling salmon fishermen getting federal help in Oregon and along West Coast, but it may be too late

October 24, 2023 — The federal government will dole out disaster relief to commercial Chinook salmon fishermen who have weathered a string of poor seasons on the Oregon Coast. But some fishermen say the help won’t be enough to rescue the fast-shrinking industry.

Earlier this month, two years after a request by Oregon’s governor, the U.S. Department of Commerce declared a Chinook fishery disaster for 2018, 2019 and 2020, years when local salmon populations plummeted. Fishing regulators blame the drop on poor habitat conditions and climate change near the California-Oregon border, where thousands of Chinook migrate from the ocean up rivers and streams to spawn.

Read the full article at OPB

OREGON: Disaster funds available from 2018-2020 Chinook salmon fishery

October 22, 2023 — With the 2024 Chinook salmon season underway, lawmakers including Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced on October 13 that the 2018-2020 Chinook salmon fishery has been declared a disaster by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The announcement allows local fishermen to apply for disaster assistance funds to help recover from low fishing returns during those years.

“This means that they’re going to be able to cover their rent, and their groceries, and their gas bill, and maybe get a pair of shoes for their kids. It’s going to help them get back on their feet,” said Wyden.

The 2023 Chinook salmon season was closed along the Pacific Northwest, aside from limited opportunities with tight catch limits.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council’s 14 members comprised of representatives from California, Washington, and Oregon manage salmon fishing 3-200 miles off shore and set those limits with help from fisheries managers.

Jeff Reeves, chairman of the Oregon Salmon Commission has fished Oregon’s waters the last 50 years and says the fishery’s downturn in 2018 led to a broad reaching economic wipe out among fishermen.

Read the full article at KPIC

OREGON: Oregon officials consider adding southern resident orcas to state endangered species list

October 3, 2023 — The number of southern resident orcas that forage along the Oregon Coast has been on the decline for decades as they struggle to find food and confront boats and pollution.

Just 73 are left, down from a peak of nearly 100 in the late 1990s. Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division project the number could decline by half during the next 20 years.

Now, the state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission will weigh whether to add the orcas to the state’s endangered species list, creating more protections for the orcas and directing more conservation money toward their survival. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on Thursday produced an assessment of the situation that the commission will review. Southern resident orcas are already listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act and in Washington and Canada, where they also live and forage. Being listed under Oregon’s Endangered Species Act would offer even greater protections, according to Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity.

“While the federal listing is helpful, some of its provisions only apply to federal actions,” Sakashita said via email. “By having a state listing, the state has more powerful tools to address threats to orcas and their salmon prey.”

If listed, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department would need to develop a management plan and coordinate with other state agencies to take action and address the primary threats to orcas in Oregon. The commission is scheduled to decide whether to add the southern resident orca to the state’s endangered species list by February 2024.

The primary threats to southern resident orca survival include a lack of salmon to eat, pollution from chemicals and oil spills and disturbances from boats, including sounds from the boats.

Read the full article the Oregon Capital Chronicle