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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 2018)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2018 A culture of safety in a dangerous fishing industry Hard and risky way to earn a living on water By KRISTIAN FODEN-VENCIL Oregon Public Broadcasting Life in Oregon’s fishing and crabbing industries is hard and risky; crabbing, in particu- lar, is among the most danger- ous jobs in the nation. So the Coast Guard is working with skippers like Kelly Barnett to increase safety and awareness. Barnett captains the “Good Intentions,” which is docked in Garibaldi. He’s spent his whole life in the fishing indus- try, mainly buying and selling fish on the shore. But last year, he decided he wanted to catch his own prod- uct. So he bought a boat and decided he ought to attend the Coast Guard’s survival training. “I want to be safer on the line,” he said. “I want to know everything I can.” The Coast Guard tells com- mercial captains to run drills once a month to make sure their crews are well-versed in how to abandon ship, fight onboard fires and quickly don bright red survival suits. As part of the class, instruc- tors taught Barnett what to do if he hit another fishing vessel in the fog. Then they made him respond to a mock accident: You’ve just collided with another boat. Respond. “There’s a man in the water! Somebody get an eye on him! Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” he barked on the radio. Barnett was standing at the controls of his boat as Coast Guard Auxiliary Officer Ron Hilburger, pretending to be on Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting Fixing a hole in a boat isn’t easy. Students are taught to get a kit or use bits of wood and rubber they may have lying around. the other end of the radio, pep- pered him with questions. “What’s the status of your vessel?” “We have sustained dam- age ourselves. We are prob- ably taking on water. I say, ‘We’re taking on water,’” Bar- nett shouted. “We’ve had a collision. We’re at the entrance to the Tillamook Bay Bar. We have him on board; we need medical attention.” At the back of the boat, deckhands simulated the acci- dent by dragging Coast Guard instructor Dan Cary off the dock and onto the boat. Once the drill ends, Cary asked how they think it went. “So, how was that pulling me over the side? Harder than ‘I grew up at a time when I didn’t wear a bicycle helmet. The seat belt in the car was my mom’s hand keeping me from hitting the windshield.’ Coast Guard Officer Mike Rudolph you thought, right?” he said. “Imagine trying to reach down into the water?” The Coast Guard requires commercial fishing boats to run drills for 10 different sub- jects once a month. By taking a Coast Guard class, fisher- men such as Barnett can fulfill requirements for four different subjects, including what to do when someone falls overboard and how to use an onboard dis- tress signal. The importance of such drills is stressed over the Permit filed to demolish the never-used Wapato Jail in Portland Schnitzer bought the property By ERICKA CRUZ GUEVARRA Oregon Public Broadcasting The Wapato Jail won’t become a homeless shelter after all. In fact, Wapato Jail won’t even be the Wapato Jail for much longer. A demolition permit is in place for the never-opened Multnomah County jail, which was sold to private developer Jordan Schnitzer in April. A demolition building per- mit application through the city of Portland’s Bureau of Development Services was signed by the property owner on Nov. 1, according to documents. A final permit for a com- mercial inspection, in addi- tion to an erosion and site con- trol inspection is underway as of Nov. 2. Documents show applicants valued the cost of all equipment, materials, labor overhead and profit for the work at $1 million. The permitting process to demolish the building — which has been referred to as an albatross that has strained county resources since it was completed in 2004 — began less than a week before Port- land voters would decide Clatsop Post 12 Baked Potato Bar Friday Nov. 9 th 4 pm until gone $ 6. 00 6PM “Karaoke Dave” ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION Clatsop Post 12 1132 Exchange Street 325-5771 Kayo Lackey/Oregon Public Broadcasting Wapato Jail, which Multnomah County just sold, has nev- er been used for incarceration. between two city councilors who disagreed vehemently on what to do with the jail. Voters ultimately chose Jo Ann Hardesty, who has been critical of calls for the jail to be converted into a homeless shelter. “I thought this was a city of compassionate people, empathetic people, people who believed we can do bet- ter than jail cells for people who are houseless,” Hardesty said in a speech at her election night party soon after her win Tuesday. On the campaign trail, Hardesty’s opponent, Mult- nomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith, said she wanted to turn the jail into a triage center for residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation, mental health support and job training programs. Schnitzer, who backed Smith in her campaign for City Council, told Willamette Week in September that he’d demol- ish the building if funding to use the jail as a homeless shel- ter didn’t materialize by Oct. 1. The money never came. Schnitzer faced mount- ing pressure from leaders, including Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and state Rep. Knute Buehler, to consider more pitches on what to do with the jail. Schnitzer pays $50,000 a month to maintain the empty jail — a price he told The Ore- gonian he wasn’t keen on pay- ing forever. 18-hour course. Students also learn how to repair a hole in the boat with bits of wood and rubber that are lying around most vessels. They’re taught to have a safe space on board for flammable materials. Barnett has been in the fish- ing industry since he was a child tagging along behind his father. He says he’s still learn- ing things about safety. For example: “To get into the survival suit, you have to do something with your shoes. Your footwear does not slide in very easily, you either have to take them off or put plas- tic bags over them, or you’re going to struggle a lot to get into that survival suit,” he said. Coast Guard Officer Mike Rudolph was the one who explained that putting plas- tic bags over shoes will help people slide into their survival suits in less than a minute. That can be life-saving infor- mation because a boat can sink in just two minutes. Rudolph’s regular job involves examining fishing vessels for the Coast Guard to make sure they’re seawor- thy. He says that 15 years ago, safety training was lacking along the Pacific coast. Fisher- men had to drive up to Seattle to take Coast Guard classes. But Rudolph says the culture along the coast is changing. “I grew up at a time when I didn’t wear a bicycle helmet. The seat belt in the car was my mom’s hand keeping me from hitting the windshield,” he said. “ … I see it in a lot of the younger crew members com- ing on board. These are guys who grew up wearing bicycle helmets.” A mile away, the notorious Tillamook Bay Bar rumbles. In 2003, 11 people died when the chartered fishing boat Taki- Tooo rolled over on the way out. Most fishermen have their own story to tell about the dan- gers of working the waters off Oregon. Barnett remembers a storm that appeared suddenly when he was tuna fishing with his father. “We were taking water over the top of the boat. And as I’m laying in the bunk, the boat rolls over to the side, there’s no air between the window, the water and me,” he said. He survived, but the mem- ory makes him very aware of the need to stay trained on basic safety. The Coast Guard is offering another four survival classes between now and the first week of December — in Coos Bay, Newport and Astoria. Group calls for halt to orca boat tours By PHUONG LE Associated Press SEATTLE — A Washing- ton state task force on critically endangered Northwest orcas wants to temporarily suspend whale-watching boat tours focused on those whales, one of three dozen recommenda- tions to save a population that is at its lowest in over 30 years. The group advising Gov. Jay Inslee voted Tuesday to recommend a three- to five- year moratorium on viewing southern resident killer whales by all boats in Puget Sound. Disturbances and noise from boats can interfere with the whale’s ability to find food or communicate, and supporters said it would pro- tect the whales. Critics said it doesn’t address the larger issue of dwindling food sup- ply and it would be devastat- ing for the industry. The proposed moratorium would not apply to boats view- ing other whales in the region, including gray or transient whales. The endangered orcas struggle from pollution, boat noise and lack of Chinook salmon, which have been declining because of dams, habitat loss and overfishing. The task force plans to for- ward its recommendations to the governor next week. He’ll consider the ideas as he pro- poses a budget and potential legislation that will also go before the Legislature. Among the more conten- tious ideas, the task force is recommending that the state set up a stakeholder process to address issues related to the possible breaching or removal of the four Snake River dams in eastern Washington. 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ASTORIA AMERICAN LEGION Clatsop Post 12 1132 Exchange Street • 503-325-5771