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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2017
Salmon: It’s been a spotty season on the Columbia River for fishermen
Continued from Page 1A
The summer season typi-
cally peaks early, not long after
that June 16 date, said Chris
Kern, Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s deputy
administrator of marine and
Columbia River.
“We should have early indi-
cations of whether that run size
is also smaller or not,” he said.
In the last seven days, 45
shad have passed Bonneville
Dam. Shad, a migratory fish
that moves between ocean and
river just like the spring Chi-
nook, first arrived on the West
Coast by train in 1871. A par-
ticularly rough migration if
you’re a fish. They adapted
quickly, mapped new ways in
new waters and are now found
from Mexico to Alaska. For
decades now, they’ve arrived
in the Columbia River in late
May and they cross over Bon-
neville Dam by the thousands,
even the millions.
So 45 is an interesting
number.
“At 45 for the year, the shad
are having problems,” said
Roler. “I think everything is
having problems in this flow.”
Tucker
Jones,
Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s ocean salmon and
Columbia River program man-
ager, is also optimistic that
spring Chinook numbers could
pick up at Bonneville. But, he
said, if those numbers remain
low, and steelhead numbers —
forecast to come in at 131,000
fish total — remain low, “you
start to get this body of evi-
dence … it starts to seem like,
OK maybe our (original) fore-
cast is a little bit optimistic.”
For now, he said, “We man-
age with this forecast until fur-
ther notice.”
“You only have the expe-
riences that you have,” he
added. Biologists and fishery
managers look at the historical
records and assume “whatever
we’re seeing this year is proba-
bly somewhere in the realm of
what we’ve seen in the past.”
And in the past, he said, “(a
run) has never been this late
and big.”
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Martin Rice prepares for another salmon season in Youngs Bay in April. Low salmon runs in the Columbia River have put that fishery in doubt.
Spotty season
For commercial and rec-
reational fishermen alike it’s
been a spotty season on the
Columbia River.
In April, Washington
extended the sport fishing sea-
son on the Lower Columbia
River to give anglers another
chance at the salmon. Poor
river conditions seemed to
be keeping fish from biting,
managers said. Meanwhile,
anglers above Bonneville
haven’t even had a shot at
spring Chinook yet and steel-
head fishing is closed entirely
until further notice.
Until there is proof that
more spring Chinook are out
there waiting to pass Bonne-
ville, any steelhead fishing
could inadvertently impact
protected fish, fishery man-
agers say. Steelhead fishing
itself could be restricted this
summer if the run comes in
as low as fishery managers
predict. Already the depart-
ment is considering a plan
that would close steelhead
retention at dams east of
Bonneville.
A commercial Oregon tan-
gle net fishery on the river’s
main stem was waiting for
the run update in May before
it was going to be allowed
to open — a green light that
likely won’t flash given the
downgraded forecast for
returning spring Chinook.
Commercial
gillnet-
ters, restricted to select fish-
ing areas off the Colum-
bia River main stem, said
the season was a disappoint-
ment, though landing num-
bers reveal a season on par
with previous years. Fisher-
men landed a total of 7,015
Chinook, according to pre-
liminary numbers released by
Oregon. This is only slightly
lower than last year, when
fishermen landed 7,276, but
well behind 2015 when fish-
ermen were one fish shy of
11,000.
For those commercial fish-
ermen who were lucky in their
landings, the prices remained
fairly high. Steve Fick, owner
of Astoria-based processor
Fishhawk Fisheries, paid fish-
ermen as high as $20 and $15
a pound early in the season.
The first fish he bought this
spring was 33 pounds, Fick
said: A $660 fish.
The price per pound
later dropped to around
$8.25 a pound as the season
progressed.
“It’s been OK as far as
having some fish for those
who are participating,” Fick
said. “It’s been viable.”
But viable is not the same
thing as lucrative, he added.
Agreeing on fish
Since 2012, Oregon and
Washington have been united
in phasing gillnet fishing off
the main stem of the Colum-
bia River, a process that was
supposed to be complete this
year. But the plan hit a speed
bump when Oregon’s Fish
and Wildlife Commission
backpedaled on some of the
reform measures and consid-
ered allowing limited gillnet
fishing on the main stem. Fol-
lowing criticism from Gov.
Kate Brown, the commission
changed its decision again.
The back and forth between
Oregon and Washington —
the two states jointly man-
age fisheries on the Columbia
River — was stressful to both
fishermen and fishery man-
agers, who weren’t sure what
to expect in the summer and
fall if the states couldn’t agree
on who could fish, how much
they could catch and what
gear they could use,
“We’re in agreement now,”
said Kern. “As of the last
meeting, we have the same
allocations and gear types for
summer.”
Warrenton: Whoever is
selected will fill a term
that expires in 2020
Continued from Page 1A
Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian
Cars are parked where the city plans to implement timed parking on Hemlock Street between Second and Third streets.
Parking: Business owners have mixed reactions
Continued from Page 1A
Enforcement
City Manager Brant Kucera
said the first few weeks will be
all about educating business
owners and visitors about the
rule change.
“We are interested in edu-
cating business owners and
moving into this gradually.
We’ve never had timed park-
ing, and when we put up signs,
behavior isn’t going to change
overnight,” Kucera said.
Police Chief Jason Scher-
merhorn is also adding two new
public information officers to
help enforce the new time limit
between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., as
well as the ordinance passed in
April that says a driver moving
a car within the same block or
parking lot does not count as
starting over with a new time
limit.
Each officer will be full time
and paid around $14 an hour.
After the summer trial period,
the city will decide whether or
not to retain the two new addi-
tions or cut back in the next fis-
cal year.
“We’ve been needing to add
positions anyway because of an
increase in tourists,” Schermer-
horn said.
Schermerhorn said he
expects the added enforcement
duties will mean an uptick in
paperwork to process, but is
approaching the pilot as “by
trial and error.”
“A lot will depend on how
traffic is coming and going,
but it will be effective to relo-
cate parking from employees so
they aren’t taking it away from
customers,” he said.
Business concerns
Timed parking has received
mixed reaction from some
downtown business owners.
Some see having downtown
parking available for employ-
ees as a necessity, and others as
a luxury.
Jeff Ter Har, the owner of
Ter Har’s clothing store on
Hemlock Street, wrote a let-
ter to the Cannon Beach
Gazette that asserted the city
did not involve business own-
ers enough in a public process
when making this decision.
“Love government that
thinks it knows better about
what to do than the businesses
that rely on that parking for
their survival,” wrote Ter Har,
a photographer who contributes
to The Daily Astorian.
Jean Gogueu, who co-owns
Josephine’s on Hemlock,
said the issue isn’t so much
about timed parking as it is
about appropriate parking for
employees. He takes issue with
employees’ use of street park-
ing instead of public lots on
Spruce because those could be
used for customers, he said.
“Timed parking would help
turnover, but in the long run
people need direction on where
to go,” he said. “When time’s
up, where is (the driver) to go?
It will be musical cars.”
Gogueu also said most of his
business comes from foot traf-
fic, so shortening the amount of
time one can park there won’t
necessarily increase business.
Melisa Colvin is the gal-
lery manager at Bronze Coast
Gallery on Hemlock, and she
also expressed that high turn-
over wouldn’t necessarily bring
in more customers because
most business is driven by foot
traffic.
Nevertheless, she believes
timed parking is worth a try.
“I would like to see how
it goes. I don’t know if it will
solve the problem, but maybe it
could be seasonal,” Colvin said.
“It would break the tendency of
people who work down here to
park and leave their car all day.”
The consultant hired by the
city will monitor the situation
throughout the summer and
present his findings to the City
Council in the fall.
candidates and ask questions.
The commission plans to
select a candidate at a meet-
ing in June.
Whoever is selected
will fill a term that expires
in 2020. The seat became
vacant when Balensifer, with
vocal support from residents,
was appointed in May by
commissioners to take over
as mayor. Kujala had stepped
down in March to spend
more time with his family
and focus on his business,
Skipanon Brand Seafood.
At the meet-and-greet
Tuesday night, the three can-
didates met with anyone who
stopped by, answering ques-
tions and talking with com-
missioners. All three men say
they were motivated to apply
out of a desire to give back to
their community.
The candidates
Baldwin, who grew up
in Warrenton and was part
of the push to make the
mayoral office an elected
position, said residents asked
him to apply. Baldwin lost to
Kujala in the 2014 mayoral
election.
“If there’s something I
can help with, I’m here,” he
told the commissioners. “I
just feel like I owe the city of
Warrenton.”
“I thought it was a great
opportunity to take what I’ve
learned and continue to grow
our city,” said Mitchell. He
believes Warrenton should
not be “just a place you drive
through, but a place you
drive to.”
LeChurch said he wants
to help people have a better
sense of what is going on at
the city.
“I want to help people get
what they need,” he said.
If
appointed,
this
would mark LeChurch’s
first time holding political
office.
Seaside: Protections for
eagles sought at meeting
Continued from Page 1A
Eagles
At April’s City Coun-
cil public hearing, neighbor
Dawn Miller sought protec-
tions for eagles on nearby
Stanley Lake, a concern sec-
onded by City Councilor
Tom Horning.
Folk said neighbors are
“trying to make it something
it’s not.”
“Whenever you have
trees there might be bird,”
Folk said last week. “If the
trees are in the wetlands
and are part of the build-
able property, they are never
going to be touched. To me,
it’s off-limits to everybody.”
Monday he repeated that
commitment.
“We couldn’t touch them
(the wetlands) if we wanted,
and we don’t want to,” Folk
said.
Plans are still in the pre-
liminary stages, Folk said
after Monday’s vote, and
could include 10 duplexes.
“I’ll do whatever I can
do make sure it’s a beauti-
ful project, affordable and
people will be proud to live
there,” he added. “Now that
we are where we are, we
have to get to the grindstone.
I’m excited to get started and
have some great houses for
people to live in.”
An ordinance annexing
the property into the city also
passed unanimously.