A spring break
for adults?
Gulls bounce back;
WHS triumphs
POINT OF VIEW • 2A
SPORTS • 7A
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015
142nd YEAR, No. 191
ONE DOLLAR
Damian Mulinix — EO Media Group
A double-crested cormorant
rests atop of nest of eggs in the
colony on East Sand Island.
Corps
moves
to
cull
PINNIPEDS
BY THE SCORE birds
Photo courtesy of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Washington state biologist Steve Jeffries estimated more than 6,400 harbor seals hauled out on the Desdemona Sands during an aerial
pinniped survey Feb. 11. Jeffries estimated them to mostly be from between Netarts to Grays River, Wash.
Sea lions abound seeking smelt in local places
By KATIE WILSON
EO Media Group
CHINOOK, Wash. — Despite
objections from bird advocates, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is
moving forward with a plan to kill
thousands of double-crested cormo-
rants on a small island at the mouth
of the Columbia River near Chinook.
A record of decision was signed
March 19, approving the Corps’
management plan. Now the agency
must apply for a depredation permit
from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services
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number of birds this year.
It is a move the Corps says is nec-
essary to protect threatened and en-
dangered young salmon, but critics,
including the Oregon State Univer-
sity researchers who were hired by
the Corps to study the bird popula-
tions on the island, say the Corps is
not using the best available science.
Also, they say, East Sand Island is
one of the few places where these
cormorants are thriving. Elsewhere,
populations are not as robust.
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
F
lying over the Desdemo-
na Sands during a teleme-
try survey, the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife
caught a photo of what looked like
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was actually more than 6,400 re-
gionally based harbor seals.
It’s not unusual, WDFW bi-
ologist Steve Jeffries said, to see
4,000 to 5,000 of them hauled
out on Desdemona, between the
Astoria Bridge and Hammond in
the Columbia River, a fraction
of the 15,000 regional popula-
tion from Netarts north to Grays
River, Wash. “They’ve been mov-
ing seasonally into the Columbia
River in response to smelt runs
forever.”
During a Feb. 11 aerial survey,
WDFW also counted more than
1,200 California sea lions at the
East End Mooring Basin, along
with nearly 600 Steller and Cali-
fornia sea lions on the South Jetty.
On Friday, spokeswoman Jessica
Sall of the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife said, her agen-
cy counted 2,340 California sea
lions at the East End Mooring
Basin.
Increasing numbers of pinni-
peds, driven by starvation in Cal-
ifornia to the healthy smelt and
salmon runs in the Columbia Riv-
er, have put a strain on the Port of
Astoria’s infrastructure and creat-
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Plans move ahead to
cut size of cormorant
colony on island
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Sea lions and seals rest on the docks of the East Mooring Basin Tuesday. During a survey Feb. 11, it
was estimated that more than 1,200 California sea lions were in the East Mooring Basin. By March 20,
the count was more than 2,300.
sea lions there Feb. 11; 1,649 Feb.
20; 1,211 March 2; and 2,340 on
Friday, which Sall said was an all-
Read about how sea lions are adapting to the changing climate
time high.
on Page 4A.
“I think that will be telling once
the smelt run is done, how many
sea lions leave,” Sall said. “They’re
under the federal Endangered Spe-
And sea lions reserved their already tapering off.”
cies Act. The past two years have spot at the dinner table.
But even when the smelt are
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Their seats are largely at the gone, an estimated 312,600 adult
ignation that they’ve been allowed Port’s East End Mooring Basin, spring chinook salmon are expect-
for commercial and recreational which has two docks for boats, and ed to provide a continuing food
harvest. Fisheries managers esti- WZRXQRI¿FLDOO\IRUVHDOLRQVWKDW source. A National Oceanic and
Here for smelt
mated 200 million smelt returning also cover the rock breakwaters Atmospheric Administration report
,Q3DFL¿FVPHOWNQRZQDV to the Columbia in 2014 and a sim- surrounding the marina. Fisheries
See PINNIPEDS, Page 4A
eulachon, were marked threatened ilarly strong run this year.
agencies counted 1,256 California
MORE INSIDE
See CORPS, Page 10A
coast
weekend
THURSDAY
Meet Jane Barnes
Checkmate! Chess groups come back into play
School clubs
hope to spark a
‘renaissance’
By KATHERINE
LACAZE
EO Media Group
SEASIDE — It’s deathly
quiet in the Broadway Middle
School library for a few mo-
ments. An engaging competi-
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ry of activity is taking place
entirely in the competitors’
minds.
Every so often, they make
hand movements, but even
those are subtle and muted.
At last, the silence is bro-
ken when sixth-grader Sage
KATHERINE LACAZE — EO Media Group
Gearhart Elementary School students Olivia Mayhugh, front
left, and Cara Foust, front right, play a game of chess during
a chess club meeting. The club is in its second year under
the guidance of Dan King, who has years of experience lead-
ing a chess club at Seaside Heights Elementary School.
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“Checkmate.”
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The game is over, but
the excitement to play is
not. Park’s opponent, fellow
sixth-grader Crystal Rouse,
immediately asks if Park wants
to strike up another match, and
the process starts over.
That is one of the girls’ fa-
vorite things about the game
of chess: Even if you lose a
match, you can play again,
and there’s always something
new to learn.
“You’re just getting smart-
er every time you play,”
Rouse said.
The two students, along
with others at the middle
school, now have ample op-
portunity to play and learn,
thanks to the school’s new
chess club, one of very few in
the county.
Until recently, the offering
of scholastic chess oppor-
tunities in the area has been
sparse, but that may change
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local schools work to spark a
renaissance.
David Rouse, Crystal
Rouse’s grandfather and the
former Seaside Lady Gulls
soccer team coach, started the
middle school club. Although
he led a club at the former
Cannon Beach Elementary
School for a time, he still is
learning the ropes at Broad-
way Middle School when it
comes to student interest level
and club objectives.
“I’ve seen some kids in
here who might want to play;
we’ll see how that develops,”
he said.
See CHESS, Page 10A