DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2017
144TH YEAR, NO. 254
ONE DOLLAR
Money for gillnetters has never been tapped
Glitch may mean
that $500,000
might go dark
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A fund that was sup-
posed to provide commercial fi sh-
ermen $1.5 million to adjust to new
regulations curtailing gillnetting in
the Columbia River has never been
tapped.
The Columbia River Fisheries
Transition Fund, a 2013 creation of
the Legislature, was supposed to set
aside $500,000 every two years to pro-
vide fi nancial assistance to gillnetters
through 2019.
The money was intended to help
fi shermen buy replacement gear
and offset economic harm due to
the expected phasing out of gillnet-
ting in the lower main stem of the
Columbia.
The money has not been used yet,
and after some of it was reverted back
to the general fund due to an account-
ing error at the state Department of
Fish and Wildlife, the Legislature is
now poised to do away with the last
$500,000 installment.
That leaves $500,000, a third
of the amount initially intended, and
it’s not immediately apparent whether
gillnetters will end up applying for or
receiving the money.
Point of contention
Gillnets are hung vertically and
catch fi sh by the gills. Their use is
a source of a longstanding dispute
between commercial fi shermen and
sports anglers.
But the issue has come to a head
in recent years. These days, sports-
fi shers have rights to most — 70 to 80
percent — of the catches in the main
stem of the Columbia, depending on
the season. That’s a fact most gillnet-
ters resent.
See GILLNETTERS, Page 7A
THE BOMBARDMENT OF FORT STEVENS 75 YEARS LATER
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Historian David Lindstrom looks over the site where one of the guns at Battery
Russell once sat. Find more photos of Fort Stevens online at DailyAstorian.com
FIRING LINE
Japanese attack on Fort Stevens
is a footnote in military history
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
T
oday marks the 75th anniversary of the only foreign attack on a mainland United States
military installation in the p ast 200 years, and it took place in Clatsop County.
Inside this frame, the 20 to 30 minute shelling of Fort Stevens from a Japanese
submarine during World War II seems like a monumental moment in county and national
history. But the attack did not cause any casualties or damage — save a baseball fi eld backstop
and some telephone cables. No strategic decisions were altered during the war because of it.
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
See FORT STEVENS, Page 7A
A shell crater resulting from Japanese shelling on Fort Stevens in 1942.
Oregon Promise helps Cormorants abandon
graduate take next step East Sand Island home
Student’s college
fund drained for
parents’ health costs
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Katherine Karna’s parents had
created a college fund to help
pay for their daughter’s dream of
becoming a fi lmmaker. But Kar-
na’s plans changed when her father
broke his neck and needed multi-
ple surgeries, and her mother needed
chemotherapy after being diagnosed
with cancer.
“I’m fi ne with it,” she said, add-
ing her parents are both doing bet-
ter. “It was obviously the best i dea.
It was bit stressful, to all of a sudden
have no money for college.”
Instead of heading directly for
Portland State University after grad-
uating from Astoria High School last
year, Karna attended Clatsop Com-
munity College, where last week she
became one of the fi rst fi ve students
locally using the Oregon Prom-
ise fi nancial aid program to earn a
degree or certifi cate.
See GRADUATE, Page 5A
Some believe
eagles to blame
for bird exodus
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Two dead birds and 14 cracked eggs
are the only recent evidence that dou-
ble-crested cormorants have tried to
return to nesting grounds on East Sand
Island since abandoning their nests there
in May.
This is the second time in two years
that the birds have abandoned the island
in the middle of their nesting season,
disrupting plans by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers to kill the birds to
protect young salmon in the Columbia
River.
See CORMORANTS, Page 5A
A month-old
double-crested
cormorant at
the North Coast
Wildlife Center.
The Daily Astorian
File Photo