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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2019
To help salmon, fi sh advocates want to kill some gulls
By COURTNEY FLATT
Northwest Public
Broadcasting
There are a lot of preda-
tors known to eat imperiled
salmon, from sea lions to
double-crested cormorants.
For a long time, biologists
thought gulls weren’t a big
part of the problem.
Now, they say that was a
miscalculation.
“When some analy-
sis was done, the impact
of gulls — just in the sec-
tion from McNary (Dam)
to Bonneville (Dam) —
nearly 20 percent of the fi sh
taken were taken by gulls,”
said Blaine Parker, an avian
predation coordinator with
the Columbia River Inter-
Tribal Fish Commission.
At
fi rst,
biologists
searched for pit tags —
which are used to track
salmon — near where gulls
nested on a series of rocks
near the confl uence of the
Deschutes and Columbia
rivers. In the spring, when
fi sh are migrating out to sea,
gulls are commonly seen
fl ying from the rocks to The
Dalles or John Day dams,
Ronald Woan
Biologists think gulls are eating more juvenile salmon on the Columbia River than they
realized. To help salmon, some fi sh advocates are proposing to shoot problem gulls during
salmon migration.
Parker said.
But biologists never
found any whole pit tags,
just broken ones. Then they
realized gulls have a sort of
crushing gizzard, like chick-
ens. That organ was break-
ing all the pit tags. Gulls
were eating more juvenile
salmon, which meant fewer
would make it to the ocean.
“So at that point, the
sit Center, 900 Marine Drive.
Cannon Beach Tourism and
Arts Commission, 1 p.m.,
City Hall, 163 E Gower St.
WEDNESDAY
Sunset Empire Transporta-
tion District Board, 9 a.m.,
special meeting, Astoria Tran-
The Daily Astorian
FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TONIGHT
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY
53
35
34
Overcast
ALMANAC
Mostly cloudy with a
passing shower
First
Cloudy
Salem
30/52
Newport
40/55
Coos Bay
43/57
Last
Feb 19
Feb 26
John Day
27/50
La Grande
24/43
Baker
17/41
Ontario
21/43
Bend
27/52
Burns
18/41
Klamath Falls
24/49
Lakeview
21/48
Ashland
39/58
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
TOMORROW'S TIDES
Astoria / Port Docks
Time
2:38 a.m.
4:09 p.m.
Low
3.3 ft.
0.7 ft.
Hi
41
43
56
50
53
53
58
53
56
57
Today
Lo
17
27
44
30
37
24
34
31
40
41
W
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
Hi
41
52
59
51
52
49
56
53
55
57
Wed.
Lo
23
30
43
33
40
26
38
33
40
41
W
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
City
Olympia
Pendleton
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Seaside
Spokane
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Yakima
Hi
49
38
51
53
53
54
33
52
51
44
Today
Lo
27
26
33
38
30
35
20
33
30
23
tion in lieu of the surcharge.
Surcharges help fund
marine mammal research
and education at the institute.
Vanity and amateur radio
operator versions will be
available on the gray whale
plate. DMV cannot reserve
specifi c number-letter con-
fi gurations and does not
sell sample versions of the
plates.
Apply for the gray whale
plates by mail, at DMV fi eld
offi ces, online or through
licensed vehicle dealers
when purchasing a car. Cus-
tomers cannot apply online
if they are submitting a
prepaid voucher and can-
not replace vehicle plates
through state Department
of Environmental Quality
emissions testing stations.
W
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Hi
48
40
52
52
52
53
33
54
52
40
Wed.
Lo
31
29
33
38
32
38
23
35
32
25
W
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DUII
• A t 12:44 a.m. Monday,
Olavi Elijas August Nauha,
24, of Astoria, was arrested
by Astoria police for driving
under the infl uence of intoxi-
cants after reports of a vehi-
cle recklessly driving over
70 mph and crossing the
centerline near McDonald’s
on Marine Drive. His blood
alcohol content was 0.09
percent. He was also charged
with reckless driving. A pas-
senger was cited for minor in
possession by consumption.
• At 11:57 p.m. on Sun-
day, Christofer Hauer, 23,
of Knappa, was arrested by
Warrenton police near the
intersection of Ensign Lane
and U.S. Highway 101 and
cited for DUII .
• At 7:29 p.m. on Sun-
day, Courtney Lisa Smith,
39, of Astoria, was arrested
by Astoria police near 59 W.
Marine Drive for DUII. Her
blood alcohol content was
0.15 percent.
• At 7:29 p.m. on Sun-
day, Jason Wesley Ficken,
39, of Astoria was arrested
by the Clatsop County Sher-
iff’s Offi ce on 35000 block
of Fourth Lane and charged
with DUII .
• At 9:45 p.m. on Satur-
day, Richard Gale, 62, of
Warrenton, was arrested
near the Mini Mart on E.
Harbor Drive by Warrenton
p olice for DUII .
Assault
• At 5:24 p.m. on Satur-
day, Joseph Gruhlkey, 31, of
Astoria was arrested by War-
renton p olice at the Walmart
in Warrenton and charged
with assault in the fourth
degree. Gruhlkey allegedly
pushed an employee after he
was instructed to not open
merchandise in the store.
TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Lo
24
32
-24
13
-21
-10
36
6
70
-8
-7
48
51
22
52
19
34
23
20
26
-6
21
51
34
24
REGIONAL CITIES
City
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Eugene
Ilwaco
Klamath Falls
Medford
Newberg
Newport
North Bend
The Department of
Motor Vehicles is offering
gray whale license plates to
support Oregon State Uni-
versity’s Marine Mammal
Institute.
The state will begin tak-
ing applications on Friday
for the plates, which fea-
ture a gray while swimming
beneath a lighthouse.
In addition to regular
fees, the gray whale plate
has a $40 surcharge at fi rst
order and at each registra-
tion renewal. Customers
who purchased one of the
Marine Mammal Institute’s
vouchers in advance may
submit it with their applica-
ON THE RECORD
Roseburg
38/52
Brookings
44/59
Tonight's Sky: Mercury at superior solar conjunc-
tion.
Hi
44
35
3
33
3
14
55
26
80
15
25
66
72
37
69
34
49
41
46
41
25
38
62
53
42
Prineville
26/53
Lebanon
31/54
Medford
34/56
UNDER THE SKY
High
8.9 ft.
6.9 ft.
Pendleton
26/40
The Dalles
30/45
Portland
33/52
Eugene
30/51
Full
Feb 12
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Nashville
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
Cloudy with a touch
of rain
Tillamook
36/55
Sunset tonight ........................... 5:16 p.m.
Sunrise Wednesday .................... 7:41 a.m.
Moonrise today ........................... 2:36 a.m.
Moonset today ......................... 12:35 p.m.
Time
8:52 a.m.
10:27 p.m.
50
36
Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs.
ASTORIA
34/53
SUN AND MOON
Feb 4
SATURDAY
51
40
REGIONAL WEATHER
Precipitation
Monday ............................................ 0.00"
Month to date ................................... 4.93"
Normal month to date ....................... 9.31"
Year to date ...................................... 4.93"
Normal year to date .......................... 9.31"
New
FRIDAY
53
44
Cloudy
Astoria through Monday.
Temperatures
High/low ....................................... 54°/40°
Normal high/low ........................... 51°/38°
Record high ............................ 64° in 1940
Record low ............................. 11° in 1969
bird must then replace its
catch.
At the same time, Parker
said some gulls can actually
help salmon out. They’re
opportunistic
eaters.
Besides scavenging trash
and French fries lost on the
ground, gulls will eat other
birds’ eggs. They’ve helped
keep the number of caspian
terns at the troubled East
Sand Island in check, Parker
said. ( G overnment offi cials
have killed double-crested
cormorants on the island
to increase the survival of
juvenile salmon .)
Any killing of gulls —
referred to as “lethal man-
agement” or “lethal con-
trol” by the government
— is a tactic the Audubon
Society of Portland vehe-
mently opposes.
“It’s a continuation of
a very unfortunate pattern
of killing wildlife to pro-
tect other wildlife,” said
Bob Sallinger, conservation
director at the society.
It’s not the wildlife that’s
the problem, Sallinger
said, it’s the dams. Kill-
ing gulls, he said, is “pure
scapegoating.”
DMV selling gray whale license plates
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Astoria Planning Commis-
sion, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, 1095
Duane St.
lights came on, and people
thought, ‘Wow, we have a
problem here,’” Parker said.
But, with all the other
predators snapping up
salmon, there hasn’t been
much attention paid to
gulls, Parker said. He said
gulls are also believed to be
eating juvenile steelhead.
The area Parker is con-
cerned about, Miller Island,
has up to 6,000 gulls nest-
ing on it during spring
salmon runs.
“It’s almost like an
express line going up the
river,” Parker said.
The solution he pro-
poses? Lethal control of
specifi c problem gulls,
along
with
non lethal
harassment.
The dams already have
bird wire and occasional
pyrotechnics to scare away
avian predators, but it’s not
doing enough, Parker said.
“Not all gulls are ‘guilty’
of eating salmon, but some
of them are,” Parker said.
“And the ones that are rou-
tinely up in the (dam) tail-
race eating salmon proba-
bly need better management
… But just those gulls
specifi cally.”
Gulls also steal fi sh from
other birds, like caspian
terns, Parker said. That dou-
bles the amount of salmon
eaten because the victim
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Wed.
Hi Lo
45 25
35 7
-13 -24
45 23
-7 -19
-2 -15
62 43
15 -13
80 72
-1 -6
6 3
65 47
69 53
31 22
72 60
26 16
52 42
28 5
44 28
30 7
8 5
38 24
62 53
51 37
36 12
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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BIRTHS
Jan. 16, 2019
FRANK, Chelsey and Greg, of Warren-
ton, a girl, Briar Jo Frank, born at Columbia
Memorial Hospital in Astoria. Older sibling is
Jett Frank. Grandparents are Don and Renee
Gustafson and Cindy Junes, all of Astoria,
and Tim and Karen Malinen, of Warrenton.
Great-grandparents are Donna Gustafson, of
Astoria, and Joanne Seelig, of Warrenton.
Jan. 6, 2019
NOVAK, Catherine, and REIS, Michael,
of Astoria, a boy, Cormac Lir Novak-Reis,
born at home. Grandparents are Mary and
Richard Novak, of Surprise, Arizona, and
Nina Romero and Chris Skatell, of Gig
Harbor, Washington.
DEATH
Jan. 26, 2019
KENYON, Karen, 80, of Astoria, died in Warrenton. A memorial will be held at a later
time. Hughes-Ransom Mortuary is in charge of the arrangements.
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy,
sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries,
sn-snow, i-ice.
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Monday’s Match 4: 08-09-
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