12A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
Cormorants: Lawsuit against culling continues
Continued from Page 1A
Judge: Sanctioned slaughter
oI ¿sheating Eirds EroNe laZ
The Corps can kill 3,114
double-crested
cormorants,
93 Brandt’s cormorants and 9
Pelagic cormorants. The other
two species are allowed because
some birds that are not dou-
ble-crested cormorants will be
PLVLGHQWL¿HGDQGVKRW
The permit also allows the
Corps to destroy 5,247 cormo-
rant nests through egg addling
by coating eggs with 100 per-
cent corn oil, which suffocates
the growing embryo inside the
shell.
However, the Corps is
unlikely to begin this year’s pro-
gram until more of the cormo-
rants show up in the estuary and
begin nesting.
“The double-crested cor-
morants have not arrived in the
Columbia River estuary in num-
EHUVVLJQL¿FDQWHQRXJKWREHJLQ
culling activities,” Corps spokes-
woman Amy Echols said.
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ELUGVWRVDYHRWKHU¿VK
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Associated Press
Lawsuit pending
The Audubon Society of Port-
land, along with four other con-
servation and animal welfare
JURXSV¿OHGDODZVXLWLQODWH$SULO
2015 to stop the Corps from ini-
tiating its cormorant management
plan. The suit lists the Corps,
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice and Wildlife Services as
defendants.
The lawsuit alleged that
the killing could jeopardize the
entire Western population of dou-
ble-crested cormorants.
A motion for a preliminary
injunction to stop the culling plan
immediately was denied in May
by presiding Judge Michael H.
Simon.
The lawsuit has continued as
ERWKVLGHVDJUHHGWRSUHVHQW¿QDO
oral arguments before Simon
in early March, but that was
postponed.
Big increase in colony
The colony of cormorants on
the island increased from about
100 breeding pairs in 1989 to
more than 15,000 pairs in 2013,
according to the Corps.
Roy Western/For EO Media Group
A cormorant grooms itself, an important process that
helps its ability to dive in pursuit of small fish. Cormo-
rants’ preference for migrating young salmon is leading
to the second year of a federal campaign to lower their
numbers of East Sand Island near Chinook, Wash.
As the populations of cormo-
rants grew, along with popula-
tions of gulls and Caspian terns,
so did the number of juvenile
salmon and steelhead they eat
while the juveniles migrate down
the Columbia River on their jour-
ney to the ocean. The number is
estimated to be 12 million juve-
niles and many are species listed
as endangered or threatened
under the federal Endangered
Species Act.
Ultimately the Corps plan
will cut the size of the cormorant
breeding colony on East Sand
Island — believed to be the larg-
est in the world — to between
5,380 and 5,939 breeding pairs.
The colony accounts for 98 per-
cent of the double-crested cor-
morant breeding population in
the estuary.
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one-year depredation permit
from Fish and Wildlife last
year, allowing the Corps to take
3,489 double-crested cormo-
rants and oil and destroy 5,879
nests, 105 Brandt’s cormorants
and 10 pelagic cormorants
through this January. It must
apply annually for the permit.
Wildlife Services began its
activities in May, ending the
¿UVW\HDURIFXOOLQJ2FWZLWK
1,707 birds lethally removed
and 5,089 oiled nests.
Hazing begins
Meanwhile,
harassment,
or “hazing”, of double-crested
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted
improperly when it allowed tens of thousands
of migratory aquatic birds to be shot each year
WRSURWHFWIDUPHGDQGVSRUW¿VKSRSXODWLRQVD
federal judge has ruled.
The agency said it lacked resources for a
“hard look” at either the long-range environ-
mental effects of or possible alternatives to its
decisions about double-crested cormorants,
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Letting that stand could gut the National
Environmental Protection Act, “since many
an agency would frequently so argue,” wrote
Bates, a federal judge in Washington.
He ruled in March on a pair of orders that
opponents say let people kill up to 160,000
double-crested cormorants each year to protect
VSRUW ¿VK LQ VWDWHV HDVW RI WKH 0LVVLVVLSSL
5LYHUDQGIDUPHG¿VKLQRIWKRVHVWDWHV
“The Service is reviewing and studying the
decision,” Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman
cormorants is set to begin soon
LQVHYHUDODUHDVDORQJWKH2UH-
gon Coast to improve survival
of juvenile salmon.
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native, and is particularly prev-
alent on the state’s estuaries
GXULQJ $SULO WKURXJK 2FWREHU
Research indicates cormorants
FDQ FRQVXPH VLJQL¿FDQW QXP-
bers of juvenile salmon during
this time period.
To reduce the threat to
\RXQJ¿VKWKH2UHJRQ'HSDUW-
ment of Fish and Wildlife is
ZRUNLQJZLWKVHYHUDOQRQSUR¿W
and local governmental organi-
zations to haze cormorants on
six coastal estuaries over the
next two to four months.
Hazing will involve driving
Laury Parramore said in an email Wednesday.
The advocacy group Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility sued the govern-
ment to stop the practice, which is known as
“lethal removal.”
)LVKDQG:LOGOLIHKDVDOORZHG¿VKIDUPHUV
to kill cormorants that were eating or about to
HDW¿VKLQWKHLUSRQGVVLQFH)LYH\HDUV
later, it said Indian tribes and state and federal
wildlife agents could kill those eating or about
WRHDW³SXEOLFUHVRXUFHVRI¿VK´7KRVHRUGHUV
KDYHEHHQUHQHZHGHYHU\¿YH\HDUV
7KH ¿VK IDUP RUGHU FRYHUV $ODEDPD
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Lou-
isiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Caro-
OLQD 2NODKRPD 6RXWK &DUROLQD 7HQQHVVHH
and Texas. The other one applies to those states
plus Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan,
0LVVRXUL1HZ<RUN2KLR9HUPRQW:HVW9LU-
ginia and Wisconsin.
The renewal extending their effect from
2014 to 2019 didn’t even “bother to update”
population estimates, but copied estimates
from 2009 about the likely populations in
2014, Bates wrote.
The advocacy group’s attorney, Laura
'XPDLVVDLGLQDVWDWHPHQW:HGQHVGD\³7KH
service can no longer Xerox forward stale and
unsupported practices simply because it will
not take the time to consider alternatives.”
the birds from locations where
juvenile salmon are season-
ally concentrated, toward areas
ZKHUH QRQVDOPRQ ¿VK VSH-
cies are more abundant. Work-
ers will use boats and, on some
estuaries, small pyrotechnics,
to accomplish the task.
Hazing is intended to
increase the survival of both
wild-spawned and hatch-
ery salmon juveniles as they
migrate to the ocean. Some of
these spring migrants represent
species that are at risk, including
coho salmon, which is federally
WKUHDWHQHGLQ2UHJRQXQGHUWKH
Endangered Species Act.
Hazing workers are being
provided by the Clatsop
County Fisheries Project, Port
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Seafood: Processors jockey for pier space
Continued from Page 1A
2QH RI WKH FRPSDQ\¶V ELJ-
gest opponents over the years
KDVEHHQFRPPHUFLDO¿VKHUPDQ
and Port Commissioner Bill
Hunsinger, who vowed Tues-
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recent expansion plans.
“We’re not telling any-
body this space is available,”
Hunsinger said, arguing the
Port should open bidding on the
United Coast space to the pub-
lic instead of allowing Born-
VWHLQ DQG 'D <DQJ WR PRQRS-
olize the local seafood market.
“You’ve advertised it, Bill,”
responded
Commissioner
James Campbell, intimating
Hunsinger had told his friends
LQWKH¿VKLQJLQGXVWU\DERXWWKH
space.
The Port’s attorney, Tim
Ramis, said the agency has
the choice, but no obligation,
to go out for public bid on the
space. He said the Port should
also consider the legal impli-
cations of abandoning negotia-
WLRQVZLWK'D<DQJWKLVIDULQWR
the process.
The Port was sued recently
by the Param Hotel Group after
negotiations with the company
on the Astoria Riverwalk Inn
broke down. The Port Commis-
sion ultimately decided to open
the future operation of the Riv-
erwalk Inn to public bidding.
Knight said Hunsinger
raised a good point about when
the Port should go out to pub-
lic bid, but added the Port
VKRXOGQ¶WWU\WR¿JXUHWKDWLVVXH
out in the eleventh hour of
QHJRWLDWLRQVZLWK'D<DQJ
of Nehalem, Port of Bandon,
North Coast Salmon and Steel-
head Enhancement Fund, and
Alsea Sportsmen’s Associa-
WLRQ2'):ZLOOSURYLGHDSRU-
tion of the funding and program
oversight, and will conduct
some hazing operations itself to
protect hatchery releases on the
Lower Columbia River.
Hazing was to start last week
and continue through May 31
on the Nehalem, Nestucca, and
Coquille river estuaries, and on
Tillamook and Alsea bays. The
program will continue through
at least July 31 on the Lower
Columbia River, where hazing
will occur at a variety of loca-
tions, including Youngs Bay,
Blind Slough, and Tongue Point.
www.eomediagroup.com
3rd Annual
RUN
ON THE
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Along the beautiful Columbia River on the Astoria Riverwalk Trail
HALF MARATHON • 10K • 5K
SUNDAY, MAY 22, 2016
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria is negotiating a deal with Da Yang that would have the company take over
space in the Pier 2 processing warehouse leased by the defunct United Coast Seafoods.
exchange for helping to pay
for the new dock, the company
wanted the opportunity to build
a 40,000-square-foot cold stor-
age and freight depot, which
Wang estimated would add 20
to 30 local jobs.
Growing pains
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times to expand its footprint on <DQJZDVRQ¿OHZLWKWKH3RUW
Pier 2, most recently in com- for at least eight months, but
petition with Bornstein for a never signed by the Port Com-
vacant space in the warehouse mission. The commission had
left by Marine Spill Response discussed saving the dock for
DQ DV\HW XQVSHFL¿HG FDUJR
Corp.
'D<DQJ¶VORFDOSODQWPDQ- operation, with Hunsinger lead-
ager, Chang Lee, said the com- LQJWKHRSSRVLWLRQWR'D<DQJ¶V
pany wanted to invest $5 mil- expansion. The unsigned lease
lion to $6 million to build cold was cited as a main reason
storage. Bornstein’s proposal former Port Commissioners
to store packaging in the site Ric Gerttula and Jack Bland
resigned in May 2014.
eventually won out.
/DVW\HDU'D<DQJWULHGWR
pay for part of a new dock on
Merry-go-round
the east side of Pier 2, where
of owners
the Port received a $1 million
Knight said United Coast
JUDQW IURP WKH VWDWH 'HSDUW- Seafoods still has product
ment of Transportation. In in the freezers on Pier 2, but
Bornstein Seafoods recent-
ly acquired more cold stor-
age and processing space
after taking over the lease
of Astoria Pacific Seafoods
in the middle of the Port of
Astoria’s Pier 2 warehouse.
File Photo
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2016
SEASON TRYOUTS
hasn’t processed seafood in
the warehouse since late sum-
mer or early fall of last year.
,Q 2FWREHU VHDIRRG QHZV RXW-
let Undercurrent News reported
WKDW 8QLWHG &RDVW ¿QDQFLDOO\
backed by private equity group
CounterPoint Capital Partners,
was liquidating its assets amid a
weak market for sardines, squid
and other near-shore species in
California because of warm El
Niño water conditions.
Nearly three years ago, the
Port transferred space at the
south end of the warehouse
from longtime tenant West Bay
Marketing Inc. to West Bay
Marketing LLC, a subsidiary
of the larger California-based
processing company Tomich
Bros., which had been acquired
in 2011 by CounterPoint as the
equity group acquired several
other West Coast seafood pro-
cessors, according to Undercur-
rent News.
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