143rd YEAR, No. 130
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2016
ONE DOLLAR
Taking
sea lions
to task
Port committee
looks at options
to thwart invaders
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Natalie St. John/EO Media Group
Workers at Jessie’s Ilwaco Fish helped to unload thousands of pounds of crab during a late-night shift Monday .
Crab kicks into gear with healthy start
Quality,
quantity,
prices
all good
Port of Astoria Commissioner
Bill Hunsinger marshaled his fellow
FRPPHUFLDO ¿VKHUPHQ 7XHVGD\ WR
talk about what the agency can do to
VWRSVHDOLRQVIURPUXLQLQJ¿VKLQJRQ
the Columbia River.
Hunsinger added the Sea Lion
Committee to he Port Commis-
sion agenda for the meeting Tues-
day,
which
was packed to
the gills with
commercial
DQG JXLGH ¿VK-
ermen
who
largely feel the
river’s endan-
gered salmon
runs, and by
extension their
Bill
livelihoods, are
Hunsinger
threatened by
pinnipeds. In
the front row was a small contingent
from the Sea Lion Defense Brigade,
a group formed several years ago to
monitor hazing and other violence
against sea lions in Astoria and at the
Bonneville Dam, where they feed at
WKH¿VKODGGHUV
Over the last few years, the Port
has become a focal point for the
See SEA LIONS, Page 10A
By KATIE WILSON
EO Media Group
I
LWACO and CHINOOK, Wash.
— It’s only a few days into this
year’s commercial Dungeness
FUDE VHDVRQ DQG ¿VKHUPHQ DOUHDG\
believe they are looking at a better
run than last year.
'DQ$\UHVFRDVWDOVKHOO¿VKPDQ-
ager with the Washington Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife, won’t
have initial landing numbers for an-
other week or so but, he said, “The
ZRUGZH¶UHJHWWLQJIURPWKHÀHHWLV
that it looks better than last year.”
After getting the all-clear from
state health departments, Oregon and
Washington’s commercial Dunge-
QHVV FUDE ¿VKHUPHQ ¿QDOO\ KLW WKH
water Monday after being delayed
for weeks due to elevated levels of
the marine toxin domoic acid. The
season traditionally opens Dec. 1,
though it has been pushed back into
January before when crabs have not
reached proper size. A delay be-
yond Christmastime is particularly
GLI¿FXOW IRU FUDEELQJ IDPLOLHV ZKR
rely on those paychecks for holiday
spending.
The toxin shut down nearly
half of the Washington coastline to
commercial crabbing last summer.
Though the price per pound had
been high and the crab looked big
and healthy, landings had been few
and far between through the winter
and spring. When the 90-mile-long
closure was announced, the season
ended, abruptly, on an already low
note.
The opener went smoothly off the
Washington coast this week, though,
according to Ayres. There were no
reports of vessel accidents or other
emergencies nor any reports of ille-
Natalie St. John/EO Media Group
Dozens of bins of live crab awaited processing at Bell Buoy in the Port of Chinook Tuesday. Each of
these bins, harvested on Monday, held between 500 and 600 pounds of crab.
‘The word
we’re getting
from the
fleet is that it
looks better
than last year.’
Dan Ayres
coastal shellfish manager with
the Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife
director of the Oregon Dungeness
Crab Commission, which also helps
WKH2UHJRQÀHHWZLWKPDUNHWLQJDQG
Natalie St. John/EO Media Group
A worker at Bell Buoy moved heavy tubs of crab into the plant, for advertising.
Link says the issues with domo-
processing Tuesday.
ic acid and the delayed start date did
JDOJHDUVHWWLQJ)RUWKH¿UVWWLPHWKH deadly effects of the toxin on humans not seem to complicate price ne-
coastwide start time for Washington who consume contaminated seafood gotiations in Oregon. Commercial
opener was shifted from midnight to ² ¿OOHG PHGLD UHSRUWV DORQJ WKH crabbers started the season at $2.90
DPJLYLQJ¿VKHUPHQWKRVHH[WUD West Coast leading up to the opener, SHUSRXQG/DVW\HDUWKHÀHHWVWDUWHG
hours to rest between setting their WKHLQGXVWU\LVFRQ¿GHQWLQERWKWKH at around $3.10 per pound, but that
¿UVWORDGVRIJHDUDQGWKHQ¿VKLQJ
safety of the crab now and consum- price quickly climbed. The average
price for the 2014-15 season reached
ers’ desire to still eat crab.
“Most of the concerns seemed about $4.11, but landings were low
Safety message
Though reports of high domoic to be, ‘When is it going to open and
acid levels — and warnings of the when can I buy it?’” said Hugh Link,
See CRAB, Page 10A
The best
present
Jail deputy has
a miraculous
recovery after
nearly dying
By KYLE SPURR
The Daily Astorian
Doctors were prepared to pro-
nounce Dave Hillard dead on Dec. 4,
¿YHGD\VDIWHUWKH\HDUROG&ODW-
sop County Jail deputy suffered a
heart attack at his Astoria home.
The left side of Hillard’s heart
was dead, and doctors did not see
any signs of improvement. Hil-
lard’s organs were being shopped for
donation.
Just as his family started gathering
to say their goodbyes, Hillard’s wife,
Michelle, overheard two doctors
whispering to each other. One doc-
tor came over and said they noticed
activity in Hillard’s heart, and that it
was beginning to beat on its own.
“They had no medical explana-
tion,” Michelle Hillard said.
Hillard woke up a week later to
one of his brothers asking, “Do you
know who I am?” He did.
See DEPUTY, Page 5A
Yogi, budtender, entrepreneur, ‘Goonie’
Afrika talks
about family’s
rough landing,
escaping the
corporate world
OUR NEW
NEIGHBORS
HIGHLIGHTING PEOPLE WHO ARE NEW TO THE COMMUNITY
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
Raja Afrika’s journey to
Astoria was a traumatic one,
something he still gets emo-
tional about.
Though he quickly rose to
a manager position at Hi Ca-
sual Cannabis Astoria — the
city’s newest marijuana dis-
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Raja Afrika sits behind the front desk at Hi in Astoria.
pensary — the 40-year-old
Afrika didn’t know whether
his family’s move from Port-
land in early October would
pan out.
It all began a year ago.
Afrika, a successful com-
puter programmer for 20
years, was working as a con-
sultant for Benson Industries,
DQ DUFKLWHFWXUDO ¿UP WKDW GH-
signs and installs windows
in skyscrapers worldwide,
including the new World
Trade Center building in low-
er Manhattan. The company
used his software to, among
other things, track the inven-
tory of parts, “so I had a hand
in that. I’m really proud of
that,” he said.
But when another com-
pany bought Benson, Afrika
lost his job, and soon he could
no longer afford his condo in
Hillsdale, where he lived with
his wife, Kathleen, and their
2-year-old son, Tenzin.
The couple had savings set
aside, but they used much of
See AFRIKA, Page 10A