10A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015
Culling: Groups say lawsuit
QRWDERXWµELUGVYHUVXV¿VK¶
Continued from Page 1A
Salmon impacts
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
A small purse seine is deployed on the Lower Columbia River. The net is played out in
a large circle, ready to be drawn or “pursed” in. Theoretically, any fish caught within the
purse can be sorted through, with wild-spawning individuals released back into the wa-
ter, while hatchery fish are retained.
Seine: Plan to replace gillnet gear
Continued from Page 1A
Also, much has changed
since 2013. Kitzhaber is no lon-
JHULQRI¿FHDQGIRUPHUJLOOQHW
strategist Bruce Buckmaster
was appointed to the Oregon
Fish and Wildlife Commission
this spring. As questions remain
about the viability of using
seines on the river, opponents of
the plan are feeling optimistic.
“I’m feeling more hopeful
than I was,” said Hobe Kytr
of Salmon For All, an Asto-
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
ria-based association that rep- Fish are able to swim freely while crew members sort
resents gillnetters. “Let’s put it through them.
that way.”
have done an admirable job in 5LYHU ¿VKHG XVLQJ ³UHVHDUFK
collecting data and monitoring LPSDFWV´PHDQLQJWKHZLOG¿VK
Questions
Kitzhaber’s plan to replace seine operations. When Ellis they caught during the course
gillnet gear with purse and went out on a boat this summer, RI QRUPDO ¿VKLQJ GLGQ¶W JHW
beach seines and phase gill- WZRVWDWH¿VKHU\REVHUYHUVZHUH deducted from the regular com-
mercial impacts.
nets out by 2017 went into ef- also aboard.
7KLV ZDV WKH ¿UVW FRPPHU-
fect in 2013, restricting gillnet
FLDOVHLQH¿VKHU\WRRSHUDWHRQ
¿VKLQJ WR VLGH FKDQQHOV OLNH
Landings
Youngs Bay. Voters had shot
/DVW\HDUVWDWH¿VKHU\PDQ- WKH /RZHU &ROXPELD 5LYHU LQ
down the plan in 2012 only to agers opened the purse and decades, and the seiners were
see Kitzhaber and Oregon and EHDFK VHLQH ¿VKHULHV IURP$X- able to catch and sell their salm-
RQMXVWOLNHDQ\RWKHU¿VKHUPHQ
Washington’s Fish and Wildlife gust through September.
This year, the seiners were
commissions proceed with it in
By the end of the season,
2013.
beach and purse seiners had considered part of the regu-
For the last two years, state landed a total of 2,439 marked ODU FRPPHUFLDO VDOPRQ ÀHHW
¿VKHU\ PDQDJHUV LQ 2UHJRQ Chinook and 4,046 unmarked DQGWKHLULPSDFWV²QRORQJHU
and Washington have operated Chinook, 1,031 marked coho billed as “research impacts”
commercial purse and beach and 2,222 unmarked coho as ²FRXQWHGLQWKHVDPHZD\,Q
VHLQH ¿VKHULHV RQ WKH ULYHU ² well as 703 steelhead, accord- WKHIXWXUH¿VKLQJVHDVRQSODQ-
gear outlawed by Washington LQJWRDIDOOVHLQH¿VKHU\ ning could get complicated and
in 1935 and by Oregon in 1950. observation summary published expensive with seines in the
But according to interviews on the Oregon Department of mix, too, Ellis said, especially
if seines do in fact have a high
conducted with members of the Fish and Wildlife’s website.
Oregon and Washington depart-
This fall, purse seiners land- impact on salmon.
There are also questions
ments of Fish and Wildlife over ed a total of 2,312 Chinook and
the past two years, questions 526 coho during the fall season, DERXWZKDWVXFK¿VKHULHVZRXOG
have plagued Kitzhaber’s plan according to numbers available ORRNOLNHIRU2UHJRQ¿VKHUPHQ
from the start.
from Oregon. Beach seiners YHUVXV:DVKLQJWRQ¿VKHUPHQ
Both state Fish and Wildlife
Mortality studies released ODQGHG VLJQL¿FDQWO\ OHVV IURP
last year seemed to indicate the August through the end of Sep- departments oversee the seine
seines had too high of an impact tember, ending with 681 Chi- ¿VKHULHVDQGDOORIWKHSDUWLFL-
SDWLQJ¿VKHUPHQWKLV\HDUQHHG-
on salmon, meaning high per- nook and 61 coho.
ed to have a current Columbia
centages of seine-caught wild
5LYHU FRPPHUFLDO VDOPRQ OL-
¿VKZHUHPRUHOLNHO\WRGLHDIWHU
The future
being released back into the riv-
For Kytr and the Lower Co- cense and be able to show that
HU)LVKHUPHQ²ERWKVSRUWDQG OXPELD 5LYHU JLOOQHWWHUV YHU\ the had landed salmon from the
commercial, on the river and real questions remain about the mainstem of the river or in se-
RQWKHRFHDQ²DUHOLPLWHGWRD economic impact of losing the OHFWDUHD¿VKHULHVRIIWKHPDLQ-
certain percentage of wild salm- PDLQVWHP7KHVHOHFWDUHDV² stem within the last two years.
But while Oregon residents
on they are allowed to catch, places like Youngs Bay specif-
handle or keep.
ically designated for commer- also needed to purchase a $32
Since 2013, the states have FLDO¿VKLQJ²FDQ¶WVXSSRUWWKH nontransferable experimental
EHHQ VWXG\LQJ WKH VHLQH ¿VK- VDPHQXPEHURI¿VKHUPHQWKDW gear permit issued by ODFW if
eries, trying to determine how the mainstem can, they argue. they were selected to participate
they should function on the And, they say, not all gillnetters LQHLWKHURIWKHVHLQH¿VKHULHVLQ
river and what a commercial are able to or want to switch Washington, the cost of partici-
pation was higher.
VHLQH¿VKHU\IRU&ROXPELD5LY- gear.
:DVKLQJWRQ ¿VKHUPHQ ZKR
.\WU¿UPO\EHOLHYHVJLOOQHWV
er salmon even looks like. Each
\HDU WKH\ KDYH UH¿QHG WKHLU are much better at catching the were selected to participate in
ULJKW ¿VK OLPLWLQJ LPSDFWV RQ WKHVHLQH¿VKHU\ZHUHUHTXLUHG
GDWD¿VKHU\PDQDJHUVVD\
WR KDYH DQ HPHUJLQJ ¿VKHU\
“As it’s gone along, I think wild runs.
And, as Ellis points out, license and an experimental
people are a little more com-
fortable with the numbers go- there is still much work to be ¿VKHU\ SHUPLW ERWK LVVXHG E\
ing in,” Ellis said, looking back done if seines are to replace WDFW. While the experimen-
WDO¿VKHU\SHUPLWGRHVQRWFRVW
over the years since Kitzhaber’s gillnets.
Last year, commercial sein- DQ\WKLQJ WKH HPHUJLQJ ¿VKHU\
plan went into effect.
He and others say the states ers on the Lower Columbia license involves a $290 fee.
Veterans: µ7KHLUVHOÀHVVTXDOLW\
should be an example for all of us’
NOAA Fisheries estimated
that during 1998-2012, dou-
ble-crested cormorants con-
sumed 6.7 percent of juvenile
steelhead, 2.8 percent of Chi-
nook yearlings and 1.3 percent
of juvenile sockeye migrating
to the ocean.
Looking at it another way,
NOAA also calculated the
birds ate an annual average of
12 million juvenile salmonids,
many of them listed under the
Endangered Species Act.
The East Sand Island’s
cormorant colony, estimated
at 15,000 nesting pairs, rep-
resents about 98 percent of the
double-crested cormorant pop-
ulation in the Lower Columbia
5LYHU ,Q WKH FRUPRUDQW
breeding population was about
100 pairs.
As tons of dredged rock
and soil from the Columbia
5LYHUVWUHDPEHGSLOHGXSRYHU
the years, avian predators, such
as cormorants and Caspian
WHUQVVHWXSFRORQLHVRQWKH¿OO
The corps has a four-year
plan to reduce the cormorant
population in the estuary by
56 percent. The plan is spelled
RXW LQ WKH ¿QDO HQYLURQPHQWDO
impact statement, dated Feb. 6.
Lawsuit pursues end to
bird cull
In response, the Audubon
Society of Portland and four
RWKHU JURXSV ¿OHG IRU D SUH-
liminary injunction against the
corps, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service in April. The environ-
mental groups argued their suit
was not about “birds versus
¿VK´ 5DWKHU WKH\ VDLG IHG-
eral agencies were targeting
cormorants rather than operat-
ing dams to minimize juvenile
salmon mortalities.
NOAA Fisheries calculated
annual cormorant consump-
tion rates of juvenile steelhead,
yearling Chinook and juvenile
sockeye at 6.7 percent, 2.8
percent and 1.3 percent, re-
spectively, based on data from
1998-2012.
U.S. District Judge Michael
Simon ruled against the Audu-
bon and its allies May 8, citing
their failure to prove that le-
Sondra Ruckwardt/Contributed Photo
Fish-eating Cormorants are pictured here on East Sand
Island near Chinook, Wash.
thally removing the number of
cormorants stated in the corps’
plan would likely cause “irre-
vocable harm” to the overall
population. The decision al-
lowed the federal agencies to
start their 2015 culling opera-
tion in late May.
Final oral arguments in the
case are scheduled for March 7
before Simon.
Meanwhile, on Goose
Island upstream of the Co-
OXPELD¶V FRQÀXHQFH ZLWK WKH
6QDNH 5LYHU IHZHU WKDQ
nesting pairs of Caspian terns
have been counted this year.
“Last year, before the dis-
suasion program, there were
about 400 nesting pairs,” said
Michael Lesky, natural re-
source specialist for the U.S.
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(SKUDWD¿HOGRI¿FH
These Caspian terns wear
ankle bracelets, actually bands
that indicate where the bird
was tagged.
Tern populations have been
big consumers of juvenile sal-
monids. Studies conducted
during 2008-2013 estimated
terns were annually taking 16
percent of upper Columbia
5LYHU VWHHOKHDG VPROWV DQG
2.5 percent of spring Chinook.
5HFODPDWLRQDQGWKHFRUSVZLOO
release estimates next month of
the number of juvenile salmon
and steelhead taken by Caspian
terns in 2015.
Lesky, who visited the ref-
uge in May, said he saw the
birds nesting, rearing their
young and using the habitat
there.
The purpose of the new
California habitat is to attract
Caspian terns away from the
&ROXPELD 5LYHU WR D ORFDWLRQ
where there are fewer or no
ESA-listed species for prey.
The San Francisco Bay refuge
LVRQWKHELUG¶VDQQXDOÀ\ZD\
It won’t be known if Cas-
pian terns at the Don Edwards
refuge are terns from Goose
Island until agency personnel
have information from satellite
tags on the terns, which will
come later this year, Lesky
said. The terns nesting there
could also be from East Sand
Island on the Lower Columbia,
where efforts to reduce their
numbers have met with limited
success.
To redistribute Caspian
terns, a method called social
attraction is used to entice
them away. This involves the
Corps of Engineers building
up islands at appropriate loca-
tions, and biologists then hold-
ing a big, loud party there. In-
stead of setting out chairs and
tables and turning on music,
they plant the new terrain with
Caspian tern decoys and blast
audio recordings of screeching
terns.
Social attraction seems to
work to lure a limited number
Relocation efforts
of the terns to new areas, but it
As part of the dissuasion is hard to predict whether this
plan, federal agencies have cre- widely dispersed and migra-
ated alternative Caspian tern tory species will continue to
nesting habitat at Don Edwards return to a new island or breed
1DWLRQDO :LOGOLIH 5HIXJH LQ there, and whether relocation
San Francisco Bay. The alter- helps reduce Caspian tern con-
native habitat was available for sumption of juvenile salmon
the 2015 spring nesting season. and steelhead on the Columbia.
CO M IN G IN FEBRUARY!
2016 ED ITIO N
of th e a w a rd-w in n in g publica tion from
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Continued from Page 1A
Eight-grader Isabella Mor-
rill explained why she thinks
Veteran’s Day is important.
“Veterans give their free-
dom to give us ours. Their
VHOÀHVV TXDOLW\ VKRXOG EH DQ
example for all of us in Amer-
ica,” Morrill said.
“Why do we celebrate Vet-
eran’s Day? To give our grat-
itude, our honor. We must re-
alize that Veteran’s Day is not
a pointless holiday. Veteran’s
Day is not a day that Ameri-
cans should shuck aside.”
Members from Veterans
of Foreign Wars Fort Stevens
Post 10580 attended, giving
RXWEXGG\SRSSLHVWKHRI¿FLDO
PHPRULDOÀRZHURIWKH9):
Leroy Dunn, quartermaster
of the Fort Stevens chapter,
read “When a Soldier Dies,”
a poem written by Jim Willis,
a former director of the Ore-
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Leroy Dunn, quartermaster of the Veterans of Foreign
Wars Fort Stevens Post 10580, took the stage to read the
poem “When a Soldier Dies” by Jim Willis, a former direc-
tor of the Oregon Department of Veterans’ Affairs, during
a Veteran’s Day celebration Wednesday at Gateway Com-
munity Church.
gon Department of Veterans’
Affairs, in 2004.
“So enjoy your freedom,
your family and fun, but stop
to remember where it all came
from,” the last stanza of Wil-
lis’ poem reads. “Freedom is
triumph over evil and lies, and
it’s paid for each time a sol-
dier dies.”
RES ERVE YO UR S PACE TO DAY!
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