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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MAY 11, 2017
Toxin: Domoic acid has also delayed two crab seasons
Continued from Page 1A
Ecosystem ‘shaken’
This bloom shut down
more than razor clam digs.
By mid-August, the Wash-
ington Department of Fish
and Wildlife had closed 90
miles of the state’s 157-mile-
long outer coast to commer-
cial and recreational crabbing.
Millions of dollars were lost.
Domoic acid, a toxin pro-
duced by a certain type of
phytoplankton, is known to
cause severe brain damage
and even death in sea lions
and bird species that consume
contaminated prey — and
can do the same to humans.
During the big bloom in 2015,
scientists recorded the deaths
of 30 large whales in the west-
ern Gulf of Alaska. It is sus-
pected, though not certain,
that domoic acid played a role
in these deaths.
“The whole entire system
was shaken,” Lefebvre said.
Other blooms have come
and gone since, even while
the effects of that big bloom
continue to ripple through the
ecosystem.
Besides forcing state fish-
ery managers to cancel sev-
eral recreational clam dig
openers in the past two years,
domoic acid has also delayed
the start of two commercial
Dungeness crab seasons.
Earlier this year, research-
ers with the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administra-
tion and other groups linked
the massive bloom to ocean
conditions, specifically the
higher temperatures recorded
at the time. Warm water cre-
ates a climate in which patho-
gens and diseases flour-
ish, further complicating the
picture.
Photos by Luke Whittaker/ EO Media Group
Culinary students from Ilwaco High School served up fried clam fritter on a newer version of the “world’s largest frying pan.”
Lefebvre looks at how
toxins such as domoic acid
move through the food web,
how they accumulate in spe-
cies such as razor clams and,
then, where this hits marine
mammals and human health.
As she and other researchers
continue to see high levels of
toxin persist in the water and
in marine animals, they worry
what it could mean for human
populations.
Safety precautions
Oregon and Washington’s
safety precautions are strin-
gent and a 20 parts per million
threshold established in both
states for domoic acid levels
in razor clams is conservative,
an abundance of caution, say
fishery managers.
Oregon recently regained
funding to test water and
see what phytoplankton is
present, testing that helps
fishery managers get a
vague sense of what might
be coming down the road.
Washington has had this
testing for years but Ore-
gon has only had it sporad-
ically. Both states’ fish and
wildlife departments test tis-
sue samples in razor clams
and crabs, as do the state
departments
that
deter-
mine whether or not to close
down razor clam digs: the
Department of Agriculture
in Oregon, and the Depart-
ment of Health in Washington.
Instead, Lefebvre wor-
ries about people who harvest
for themselves, and who may
have traditional spots that
don’t fall within areas moni-
tored regularly by the states.
“People need to be aware
of more risk, even with tradi-
tional harvesting practices, as
the food web is contaminated
more often,” she said. “Maybe
their practices have been safe
for many years. Things are
changing.”
High levels
Washington has had a bit
more luck than Oregon this
year, though not much.
Digs early in the season
went ahead more or less as
scheduled in Washington, but
by March and April, fishery
managers had canceled sev-
eral digs due to high levels
of domoic acid. Long Beach,
a popular destination for dig-
gers, didn’t open at all until
April 12.
Then, at the end of April,
the Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife gave
razor clam diggers a six-day
opening at several beaches,
and increased the daily limit
from 15 to 25 clams at Long
Beach.
“It really was some very
extraordinary circumstances,”
said Department of Fish and
Wildlife coastal shellfish
manager Dan Ayres about the
limit increase in Long Beach.
Because nobody had been dig-
ging clams, there was an older
population of very large clams
available and Ayres said the
department recognized that
“the community had been
deprived of the benefit of hav-
ing razor clam diggers visit.”
They couldn’t offer more
days, but they could offer
more clams.
Then, on May 4, the
Department of Fish and Wild-
life closed two beaches —
Long Beach and Twin Harbors
— for the rest of the month
when domoic acid levels shot
back up again. Another beach
closed after the state hit its
quota there. On Tuesday, the
state announced that all of
Washington’s beaches were
closed to razor clam digging
for the rest of the month, with
levels of domoic acid high up
and down the coast.
The reason Washington
was able to open at all while
Oregon remained closed is
thanks in large part to the
Columbia River, which can
act as a sort of barrier between
the states, Hunter said.
Phytoplankton
drifts.
Clumps of it may be in one
spot and nowhere to be found
a few miles away. It may be
present and not producing
domoic acid. Even with the
barrier created by the Colum-
bia River, it all comes down to
what’s in the water.
And what’s in the water is
complicated.
LEFT: Chefs shared samples of razor clam fritter with the crowd during the Razor Clam Festival in Long Beach at the end of April. MIDDLE: Ilwaco High School Juniors Adam Ruth-
erford and Faith Headdress won the clam fritter cook-off with their mango and pineapple fritter with Caribbean sauce. RIGHT: Sales were brisk April 29 for licenses, boots, nets and
clam guns at stores and gas stations along the Long Beach Peninsula. More photos online at DailyAstorian.com
Arch Cape: ‘This council
is drumming up all kinds
of fear to get rid of us’
Continued from Page 1A
County
commission-
ers previously voted twice
to dissolve the committee,
and an appeal was filed with
the state Land Use Board of
Appeals.
The appeals board sent
the decision back to the
county, saying it did not pro-
vide public notice of a previ-
ous hearing in a newspaper
of general circulation.
Testimony
The hourlong hearing
Wednesday night included
testimony from five people
who disagreed with county
staff’s and most of the com-
missioners’
characteriza-
tions of the design review
committee.
Opponents have raised
concerns about Arch Cape
residents losing power to
review lands in their commu-
nity. But neighborhood asso-
ciations and amendments
to the county development
code could provide review in
the absence of the commit-
tee, Community Develop-
ment Director Heather Han-
sen said.
“The issue before you
tonight is not whether citi-
zen involvement is import-
ant to the Clatsop County
Board of Commissioners,”
Hansen said. “It’s about
the appropriate role for a
county-appointed commit-
tee that advises on land use
decisions.”
County counsel Chris
Cream said the county has
been liable to legal ramifi-
cations because the com-
mittee has not followed pro-
cedural or public meetings
rules. Commissioner Lianne
Thompson added she is one
of multiple Arch Cape res-
idents that has been con-
fronted by members of the
committee either in person
or over the phone regarding
various issues.
‘Insulting’
Michael Manzulli, an
attorney from Cannon Beach,
said during public testimony
that the committee is advi-
sory in nature and makes
no decisions. He called the
charge that the committee
did not follow legally man-
dated procedures “insulting.”
“This council is drum-
ming up all kinds of fear to
get rid of us,” he said. “This
is a staff-driven mission to
dismiss us, and it’s really
upsetting.”
Tevis Dooley, a contractor
from Arch Cape, presented
commissioners with a peti-
tion in favor of the commit-
tee — formed in the 1970s
— with 216 signatures and
94 comments.
County Commissioner
Kathleen Sullivan, who rep-
resented the sole vote against
the ordinance, said she
hopes the county will find a
way to keep the committee
functioning.
“This organization has
been existing a long time,
and people seem like they
want to work it out,” Sullivan
said. “I wish we could find a
way to work it out.”
Because
commission-
ers did not reach unanimous
agreement Wednesday, the
committee has staved off
elimination for another few
weeks.
“The county is at fiscal
risk,” Commission Chairman
Scott Lee said.
Moratorium: To be discussed at first June meeting
Continued from Page 1A
The council’s discussion
was wide-ranging, includ-
ing how legal homestay lodg-
ing rentals and illegal rentals
affect housing options for peo-
ple who live and work here;
what it means for neighbor-
hoods, especially since hosts
using the popular rental web-
site Airbnb sometimes rent out
entire houses, bought just for
that purpose; how these rent-
als provide money to residents
living on fixed incomes or who
are using the revenue from
renting to tourists to fund work
on their homes; whether or not
the city could even enforce the
rules it might impose; and ask-
ing what a moratorium actually
could achieve since people run-
ning illegal rentals would likely
continue to do so anyway.
In this, Astoria joins hun-
dreds of cities around the coun-
try that are worried about the
effects of Airbnb and similar
companies and tourist rental
practices on their communities.
A complication
For some city council-
ors, the fact that Community
Development Director Kevin
Cronin and his family oper-
ate a homestay rental out of
their house complicates the
discussion, and any possible
solutions.
City Councilor Zetty Nem-
lowill said she didn’t want to
embarrass anyone, but asked against allowing homestay
to be reminded why “our com- rentals in Astoria. Councilor
munity development director Cindy Price says she likely
isn’t here and why our planner falls “somewhere between
yes and no,” but echoed Nem-
(Nancy Ferber) is here.”
Cronin, on the advice of lowill’s concerns about the
City Attorney Blair Hennings- city’s, specifically the Com-
gaard and the Oregon Gov- munity Development Depart-
ernment Ethics Commis- ment’s, ability to enforce its
sion, cannot participate in any own rules. The other council-
part of the homestay lodging ors leaned more toward allow-
project, including any code ing homestay rentals, but advo-
enforcement, review of per- cated restricting what those
mits or preparing new code rentals look like, enforcing city
code and, as suggested
language requested by
by Councilor Bruce
the council since he
Jones, imposing steep
could potentially ben-
fines on those who
efit from the outcome.
break the rules.
City Planner Nancy
Ferber, with City
Manager Brett Estes,
Owner present
led the work session
The city’s homestay
instead.
lodging provision only
Kevin
“There’s no secret
allows people to tem-
Cronin
there,” Estes said of
porarily rent up to
Cronin’s absence.
two bedrooms of their house
Nemlowill said she would to tourists, a house they must
like to see illegal rentals also own and live in. While a
brought into compliance and guest is staying in one of these
would be willing to allow rooms, the owner must also
homestays as currently out- be present. The city requires
lined in city code, but that an owner to obtain a business
she worried about the Com- license and pay lodging taxes
munity Development Depart- to the city. But in 2015, with an
ment’s ability to do this work estimated 40 active hosts each
and enforce its code “with one earning around $6,500 a year
of its major players out of the through their rental activities,
process.”
the city only received $1,417
“This is only a very small in taxes. By some estimates, it
portion of her job,” she said, should have collected approxi-
indicating Ferber. “A very mately $22,000. Of the approx-
small portion of her job.”
imately 44 rentals that the city
Currently, Nemlowill is knows about now — those
staff and Price could find listed
through websites like Airbnb
and VRBO or those who have
applied through the city — staff
estimates more than a dozen
are out of compliance.
“Really the question is to
prohibit or not to prohibit,” Fer-
ber had told the council at the
start of the meeting.
Either answer will require
changes to city code and then
a way to consistently enforce
these changes. Currently,
and across departments, code
enforcement is based on com-
plaints, and in the case of
homestay lodging, complaints
are sometimes not enough. It
can be hard for staff to obtain
and verify the information they
need to determine if someone is
breaking the rules.
Estes confirmed that the
Finance Department, like the
Community
Development
Department, “does not have the
capacity to go and hunt down
each individual.”
Going forward with what-
ever the council decides, the
city might have to look at addi-
tional resources such as con-
tracting work out, said Estes,
adding this is common across
departments. Each department
maintains a professional ser-
vices budget.
The council expects to dis-
cuss the possibility of a mora-
torium with City Attorney Hen-
ningsgaard at its first meeting
in June.
Whale: 26,000 gray whales migrate off the West Coast
Continued from Page 1A
Cascadia Research. Authorities
are on the lookout for another
gray whale first spotted off Cal-
ifornia that has its head stuck in
a metal framework.
These incidents have
prompted increased efforts
to identify solutions as
well as help disentangle
whales when encountered
still alive, the scientists
said. Another threat to whales
was highlighted by a boat
strike on a well-known adult
gray whale in Puget Sound,
caught on video in April. For-
tunately, that whale survived,
though the full extent of its
injuries are not yet known,
researchers said.
There are an estimated
26,000 gray whales that migrate
off the West Coast, according
to the World Wildlife Fund,
which calls their recovery “a
great conservation success
story.”
Gray whales were removed
from the Endangered Species
List in 1994.