SHARPSHOOTING SEASIDE DOWNS ASTORIA SPORTS • 10A
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JANUARY 22, 2018
145TH YEAR, NO. 145
ONE DOLLAR
Observation plan yields new fish data
Some unhappy
gillnetters ticketed
MORE INSIDE
Crab season finally opens.
Page 3A
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Gillnet fishermen bristled at a
requirement to carry state observers
last fall, but what felt like a burden to
the fleet may have turned out to be a
blessing.
Preliminary data collected on the
trips show that the number of steel-
head fishermen kill while trying to
catch other fish may actually be much
lower than the historic rate. It’s good
news for a fishery that has been under
fire for using gear opponents say
harms fish runs — and even better
timing. Last year’s steelhead run was
one of the worst returns in decades.
Historic rates for steelhead mortal-
ity are around 49 percent. Essentially,
states expect that half of the fish that
fishermen snag in their nets will be
dead. Data collected during test fish-
ing and observed trips in the 1980s
and 1990s set these standards. More
recent observations are beginning to
change the picture.
“What we’ve seen in 2009, 2012
and now 2017 ranged between 8 and
24 percent mortality,” said Tucker
Jones, ocean salmon Columbia River
program manager for the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Beyond the forced move away
from the main stem, gillnetting has
changed little over the years. The big-
gest changes are how the fishery uses
sized mesh and shorter, evening fish-
ing times to target certain salmon runs.
“Pending some independent
review, our analysis looks like we
might have well overestimated the
mortality,” said Bill Tweit, spe-
cial assistant to the director for the
Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
The two men plan to present the
information to their commissions in
the coming months as planning gets
underway for fishing seasons on the
Columbia River. They don’t plan to
ask for a repeat of observer coverage.
See FISHING, Page 7A
Astoria
Warehousing
set to close
Company
declines
comment
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
OPERATION IVY
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Volunteers with the North Coast Land Conservancy make their way down into a wooded area near Ocean View Ceme-
tery to remove an invasive ivy species from trees.
Volunteers
clear property
of invasive vines
The Daily Astorian
W
ARRENTON — Nearly a
dozen volunteers powered
through a brief rain shower
Saturday to free Sitka spruce trees from
invasive ivy vines.
They were working in the Sand Creek
Wetlands Habitat Reserve owned by
the North Coast Land Conservancy and
located near the Ocean View Cemetery in
Warrenton. The ivy pull marked the first
volunteer stewardship day of the year for
the organization.
An important stop for migratory
birds, the Sand Creek properties stretch
for just over 70 acres and are part of a
large system of wetlands in the Warren-
ton and Hammond region.
The organization schedules stew-
ardship days throughout the year. The
next one will occur in February at
Circle Creek Conservation Center in
Seaside.
Volunteers can help sort, identify and
spruce up or repair tools. A steward-
ship day in March will give volunteers
a chance to plant willows at the Thomp-
son Creek and Stanley Marsh Habitat
Reserve.
Astoria Warehousing Inc.,
a salmon-canning company
occupying several acres along
the central waterfront near the
Astoria Bridge, will close in
the near future, according to
multiple sources.
The company employs
around 20 to 25 people and
was formed in 1983 at the site
of the former Elmore Can-
nery. Astoria Warehousing’s
parent companies include
Bellevue, Washington-based
Peter Pan Seafoods and Seat-
tle-based Icicle Seafoods,
recently acquired by Cana-
dian seafood giant Cooke
Aquaculture.
Company
officials
declined comment.
Astoria
Warehousing’s
campus includes several acres
of land zoned general com-
mercial on the waterfront just
east of the Astoria Bridge.
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Astoria Warehousing is
closing.
The company also owns a
large portion of two tax lots
extending over the river in
an aquatic development zone
focused on redevelopment.
The real market value of the
land and improvements is
more than $5 million, accord-
ing to county records.
Astoria
Warehousing
is just west of the recently
closed Stephanie’s Cabin
and The Ship Inn restaurants.
Both were purchased by hotel
developer Mark Hollander
from Bellingham, Wash-
ington. Hollander has been
researching places to poten-
tially site a Marriott Hotel
franchise.
MEASURE 101
ABOVE: Brooke Stanley with the North Coast Watershed Association removes
ivy from trees. BELOW: Volunteers with the North Coast Land Conservancy
grab tools to remove ivy from trees near Ocean View Cemetery.
Ballots due Tuesday
The Daily Astorian
Measure 101 ballots are
due by 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The measure asks Oregon
voters to affirm or overturn
more than $300 million in
new, temporary taxes on hos-
pitals and other health care
providers over the next two
years that were approved by
the state Legislature.
Proponents have argued
the money is needed to avoid
up to 350,000 low-income
residents potentially los-
ing health care. Opponents
claim the additional revenue
is an unnecessary and unfair
tax that could be funneled to
things besides Medicaid.
Ballot drop sites include
the Clatsop County Clerk’s
Office at 820 Exchange St.,
Cannon Beach City Hall at
163 E. Gower Ave., Gearhart
City Hall at 698 Pacific Way,
Seaside City Hall at 989
Broadway, Warrenton City
Hall at 225 S. Main Ave.,
and Knappa High School at
41535 Old Highway 30.
Ceramicist finds community in Astoria
Long part of
Astoria Makers
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
udrey Long moved here in
time for winter — the kind
of winter that makes people
who moved here in the sum-
mer regret their life choices.
But a year and a half later,
Long is still here.
Her wife has family in
Cannon Beach and Long,
who had previously lived in
Miami, liked being in Asto-
ria, a smaller city. In bigger
A
cities, she said, “You’re just a
number there. You never get to
know people.”
In Miami, Long once held a
door open for someone and the
person sneered at her, “You’re
not from here, are you?”
Long is part of Astoria
Makers, a group of artisans
and craftspeople who plan
to open a communal space
to accommodate everything
from woodworking to weld-
ing and screen printing. Long
will head up the organization’s
ceramics studio, where she
plans to teach, organize work-
shops, help with events and
maintain her own work.
Long has worked in ceram-
ics since middle school. She
took other art classes and con-
templated going into graphic
design so she could “make a
living” but still do art. But she
realized how important the
tactile aspect of ceramics was
to her. Her favorite things to
make are jars and cups, items
that are useful and beautiful
but that also touch us.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See LONG, Page 5A
Audrey Long works on a new piece in her ceramics studio.