KNAPPA ROLLS OVER WARRENTON;
ASTORIA FALLS SHORT AGAINST NORTH BEND SPORTS • 10A
145TH YEAR, NO. 46
ONE DOLLAR
DailyAstorian.com //
Epoxy, tag, crab, repeat
RESEARCHERS LOOK AT THE IMPACT OF DREDGING ON CRABS
Warning
signs for
salmon
Low levels of young
fi sh off the coast
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
The numbers of young salmon caught
off the Oregon and Washington state coasts
during an annual federal survey cruise this
June were among the lowest recorded in the
p ast 20 years.
In fact, numbers were low across nearly
all the species researchers regularly catch
or observe — from birds like the common
murre to forage fi sh like anchovies and smelt.
Months ahead of schedule, as a kind of
heads up, West Coast researchers, project
managers and program directors decided to
send out a memo in mid-August detailing
their initial fi ndings — data that would usu-
ally be combined with other information and
put out on a webpage at the end of the year.
See SALMON, Page 7A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Curtis Roegner, left, a fisheries research biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, tosses a
Dungeness crab back into the waters of the Columbia River during a recent study of the species.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
I
t takes six hands to tag a Dungeness
crab.
One pair of hands preps and tests
small cylindrical, acoustic tags. A second
pair lifts a crab from a bucket and gen-
tly dries a spot on top of its shell. A third
has been busy mixing up epoxy in paper
cups and now dabs a bit along a conve-
nient groove at the top of the shell. The
second pair of hands pushes the tag gen-
tly down onto this puddle of epoxy.
The crab looks a bit like a coal miner
afterwards, head lamp in place, ready to
plunge back into the darkness.
For the p ast three years, Curtis Roeg-
ner, a fi sheries research biologist with
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, has been tagging crabs
in and around the Columbia River e stu-
ary, tracking their movements and trying
to get a better understanding of how these
animals respond to a variety of events and
conditions, especially how they weather
dredge operations near the river’s mouth.
As the dredges maintain the depth
and width of important shipping chan-
nels, they dump sediment at various spots
out in the ocean and near to shore. Sedi-
ABOVE: Dungeness crab wait for the
glue holding radio tags on their backs
to dry before they will be returned
to the Columbia River. BELOW: A
Dungeness crab before being fitted
with a radio tag that will allow scien-
tists to better study the species.
ment dumps close to shore are intended
to increase the amount of sand on beaches
and alleviate erosion, but researchers
weren’t sure what the process meant for
Dungeness crabs, a multi million-dollar
fi shery for Oregon and Washington state.
“So far we’re fi nding there don’t seem
to be any negative effects,” Roegner
said. But, he added, their research is still
preliminary.
For as much as they have discovered,
many questions remain. Roegner says the
unanswered questions become even more
important as researchers chart changes in
the crabs’ marine habitats — from low
levels of dissolved oxygen in the water
to ocean acidifi cation and the widening
sweep of climate change.
Questions
Dungeness crabs can use both the
estuary and the ocean. Those that make it
into the estuary appear to benefi t from the
experience, growing faster and, as a big-
ger crab, encountering fewer predators.
But they can’t reproduce here and must
return to the ocean eventually.
“When they do that, where they go out
there, we don’t know,” Roegner said.
See CRABS, Page 7A
Rich Landers/Spokesman Review
A federal survey in June found low num-
bers of young salmon off the coasts of
Oregon and Washinton state.
BACK TO SCHOOL
Watch out for school
buses and students
as Clatsop County’s
five school districts
head back to class
starting Tuesday.
Astoria middle and
high schools start
Tuesday, along with
Warrenton schools.
John Jacob Astor and
Lewis and Clark elementary schools will hold
conferences Tuesday, with the first full day of
school Wednesday.
Classes begin Tuesday for first- through
sixth-graders in Seaside, along with
ninth-graders. The rest of Broadway Middle
and Seaside High schools begin Wednesday.
Kindergarten classes begin Thursday.
For Hesse, tobacco prevention is addicting
The county’s
public face
against tobacco
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
ulia Hesse has an ironic
sense of humor about her
role as a tobacco coordinator.
“I can’t get away from it,”
she said. “It’s addicting.”
Hesse, 65, moved to Asto-
ria from Colorado earlier this
year and became the Clatsop
County Tobacco Coordinator
in March. Her arrival fi lled a
seven-year vacancy. Health
J
Promotion Specialist Steven
Blakesley had assumed the
position’s duties in the mean-
time. Hesse started before
Gov. Kate Brown signed a
law in August that, effec-
tive in 2018, will ban sales of
tobacco products to consumers
under 21 years old. A part-time
employee with the county,
Hesse will be the public face
of potential tobacco preven-
tion policies .
“The tobacco industry is
a ruthless, predatory drug
pusher. Countering their infl u-
ence is really important to
me,” Hesse said. “We have
shifted from being health edu-
cators to advocating for strong
policy.”
Hesse admits, though, that
it won’t be easy.
Tobacco consumption is
linked to 21 percent of all deaths
in Clatsop County, and the total
economic cost to the county is
more than $27 million. More
than 20 percent of 11th graders,
pregnant women and adults in
general smoke tobacco.
Submitted Photo
See HESSE, Page 7A
Julia Hesse is the county’s new tobacco prevention co-
ordinator.