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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
At 21, FisherPoets comes of age
‘The family owned fishing boat
is gonna become a past tense
unless the quality of regulation
starts making sense.’
— Rob Seitz
From his poem “Priorities”
J
on Broderick likes to share credit
whenever he can, but there’s no
question the retired Seaside school
teacher should be front and center for
applause when writing the history of the
FisherPoets Gathering.
This weekend’s event will be the 21st
annual, a remarkable achievement for an
event that, like most fish stories, grows
in size with each telling.
Broderick reeled in about three dozen
fishers for that first humble gathering
at Astoria’s Wet Dog Cafe in 1998; the
event has morphed into an annual fes-
tival that attracts participants, visitors
and media attention from around the
world. It didn’t set out to compete with
the well-established National Cowboy
Poetry event in Elko, Nevada, but it has
certainly become an unusual but memo-
rable event on the nation’s calendar.
One hundred and 10 people will
recite their poetry at the seven main
venues around Astoria, plus three other
locales that will host workshops for
traditional crafts and fishery issues.
The Liberty Theatre will feature the
Gathering’s first juried poetry slam
called “Poetry at the Line.” Of the poets
strutting their stuff, 18 will be mak-
ing their debut. Not all are grizzled vet-
erans — some are bright newcomers
eager to learn the old ways but bringing
fresh ideas to the dangerous and uncer-
tain industry.
All the details will appear Thursday
in Coast Weekend, including profiles
highlighting two poets who have made
a particular impact on the fishing com-
munity — Elma Burnham, who has
founded a movement, The Strength of
the Tides Is Hers Also, that supports and
empowers women working in the mar-
itime industries, and Rob Seitz, a North
Coast fisherman just returned from
California who is restoring one of the
Corey Arnold
‘Homecoming’ by Corey Arnold is on view at Imogen Gallery in Astoria.
ON THE WEB
For more information on FisherPoets
Gathering 2018, go to fisherpoets.org
former Flavel properties in Astoria into
a fish market.
The event serves as an opportunity
for fishermen and women to share their
seafaring tales with fellow devotees they
may not have seen in person since last
year. Landlubbers are welcome, though
they may not catch all the nuanced ref-
erences to salmon roe, net reels or mar-
lin spikes. Inevitably laced with heavy
doses of humor and irony, these cre-
ative works entertain audiences while
hitting home with additional poignancy
to those who have dropped crab pots,
mended nets or lost friends to the unfor-
giving river and ocean.
The poems reflect tales of survi-
vors with a rugged authenticity. A
cynic might suggest that it’s remark-
able that there are any fishers remain-
ing afloat in a constantly diminishing
commercial fleet hard hit by buyouts,
ever-changing regulations, cyclical spe-
cies declines and an overall downturn in
the resources.
Broderick earned his credentials
during commercial fishing summers in
Alaska, and delights in the interplay
of poets, young and old. He reflects on
the manner in which the poetry perfor-
mances and accompanying competi-
tions parallel the perilous industry that’s
put his kids through college. “We are
friendly and competitive, but with an
appreciation for what everybody has
done,” he said. Fishers compete for the
biggest weight slip, yet will pull in their
nets and race to the rescue if they hear a
“mayday” over the radio.
“We are there to help each other
out when needed and that shows in the
FisherPoets Gathering.” he said. “People
who are strangers can connect because
we have in common the work we do.”
With crab selling for less than $3 a
pound off the boat — though way, way
higher in the stores — it’s no wonder
that fishers who do survive have to be
smarter and wiser than those forced to
pull out their boats and retrain for land
careers.
They deserve our admiration and
our appreciation — and perhaps the
Gathering helps us remember that, even
if it is only one weekend a year.
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
The go-to guy for elk answers
F
or North Coast officials seeking
answers to health, safety and
property concerns caused by elk,
wildlife biologist Herman Biederbeck
of the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife is the first point of contact.
This year, Gearhart officials and
residents again seek to find solutions to
a growing herd and what they say is a
health, safety and property damage issue
for visitors and residents.
♦ ♦ ♦
Q: What can the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife do to manage
elk in Gearhart?
Biederbeck: We’re looking at all the
options before us to deal with elk dam-
age issues on the golf
courses. As you can
imagine, with pub-
lic opinion on the elk
divided and somewhat
polarized, it makes it
very difficult to come
up with a cohesive uni-
R.J. MARX versal strategy that
everyone will support.
We’re trying to work with individuals
that have problems with the elk in light of
that. We’re working with the golf course
interests. They have some very specific
thoughts on how to deal with the elk issue.
We want a more comprehensive approach,
so we’re at a little bit of a standstill there.
Q: What would a “more comprehen-
sive approach” entail?
Biederbeck: We came up with a sug-
gested list of different options that could
perhaps help deal with this issue. They
tend to emphasize precluding access by
the elk to the golf courses, because we
believe the golf courses present a large
attraction for the elk. It’s one of the rea-
sons they’re hanging around there. The
golf courses are considered by the elk as
large forage areas.
If we could get the golf courses pro-
tected so that the elk aren’t going in there
any more, we believe there’s a reasonably
good chance the elk will leave, because
there isn’t the forage base to support them.
Q: What do you consider to be a
property owner’s best option?
Biederbeck: We’re not saying it’s the
most viable, but we’re putting fences out
as an option for consideration.
Q: Could you fence off the greens?
Biederbeck: The city has a 6-foot fence
ordinance. We’ve talked of a double fence.
The concept is to use horizontal distance
instead of vertical height to preclude the
elk out of the golf course areas.
Q: Wouldn’t the elk get stuck
between the fences?
Biederbeck: The thought is to have the
fences the right distance apart so the elk
couldn’t negotiate both fences with a sin-
gle leap. Elk have the ability to look at a
fence situation to determine if they can
clear it or get over it.
Q: How has the fence suggestion
been received?
Biederbeck: The golf course interests
lean to trapping and relocating, which has
a number of challenges. If we start looking
at things that affect the public in Gearhart,
like removing the elk, we have to involve
the public in any process like that.
They have to make a decision on how
they feel about a larger public process to
even consider something like trapping and
relocation, which, again, I cannot stress
enough, has major challenges.
Q: How did the herd grow so fast?
Biederbeck: Five or seven years ago, it
seemed like another 50 or so elk showed
up from somewhere. My guess is from the
north where more development has been
occurring.
While we have no way to prove that —
we didn’t have elk radio-collared or deer
tagged — we have noticed the number of
elk complaints from further north dropped
about the same time the elk showed up in
the Gearhart/Seaside area.
Q: Could we see a shift?
Biederbeck: A lot of it depends on
what kind of land use goes on there.
There could be something that changes,
that draws the elk away from Seaside and
Gearhart and reduces the number of elk
there. A lot of it depends on what kind of
land uses occur in and around that area.
Q: How do you track the elk?
Biederbeck: We did an experimental
drone project with Oregon State Univer-
sity last winter in the Youngs River area to
look at the efficacy of using drones to sur-
vey elk. For some surveys, what you buy
off the shelf works pretty well. For other
types of survey work, you need something
with better optics. It turned out to be pretty
much of a mixed bag. This was our first
investigation here in western Oregon to
use drones to survey elk. We didn’t have
any notion that this project would answer
all our questions. As usual with an issue
like this, some additional questions and
Neal Maine
Elk with netting in Gearhart.
follow-up are required.
Q: Do you have numbers on the elk
herd?
Biederbeck: Our wildlife manage-
ment unit manages our elk herds. Clatsop
County, Columbia County and part of Til-
lamook County are in the Saddle Moun-
tain unit. Our management goal is 7,800
elk in that area. We’re a little below that.
We have had some excessive antler-less
elk issues that have just been addressed,
so the expectations that the elk population
will recover and be closer to that 7,800
figure.
Q: Is it likely that wolves or other
predators will return?
Biederbeck: That’s a good question.
Wolves have shown themselves to be
pretty adaptable. They do get into trouble,
especially with livestock operations, but
it’s hard to say. They may end up inhabit-
ing the North Coast. They just have to get
through some barriers, like the Willamette
Valley and I-5 to do that.
We have no confirmed sightings of
wolves anywhere near the North Coast
yet.
R.J. Marx is The Daily Astorian’s South
County reporter and editor of the Seaside
Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.