147TH YEAR, NO. 10
DailyAstorian.com // TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2019
$1.50
UNTANGLING WHALES
New regulations
on the horizon
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
regon fi shery managers are
changing how the state’s lucra-
tive Dungeness crab fi shery will
be managed to avoid tangling whales in
commercial fi shing gear.
Though the changes happening this
season are relatively minor for commer-
cial fi shermen, diffi cult discussions are
on the horizon.
The number of whales entangled so
far this year off Oregon, Washington state
and California appears to be down com-
pared to prior years, according to prelimi-
nary reports. B ut Oregon wants to avoid a
lawsuit like the one brought against Cali-
fornia by the Center for Biological Diver-
sity. That lawsuit, over impacts to whales
from commercial fi shing activities, set-
tled in March.
For now, fi shery managers will elim-
inate a two-week post season clean up
period in the commercial Dungeness
fi shery — a grace period for fi shermen
to clear gear out of the water. Instead, all
commercial gear must be out of the water
by the last day of the season on Aug. 14.
The measure, along with others, includ-
ing the introduction of new buoy tags to
help better identify gear, were among
a list of recommendations proposed by
the Oregon Whale Entanglement Work-
ing Group. The stakeholder group, which
includes fi shermen and industry represen-
tatives as well as researchers and fi shery
managers, began meeting in 2017 follow-
ing several years of record-high incidents
of whale entanglement.
Oregon, Washington state and Cal-
ifornia manage Dungeness crab fi sher-
ies under a tri-state agreement and have
been working separately and collabora-
tively on measures to reduce interactions
between recreational and commercial
crab fi shing and whales.
O
NOAA Fisheries
A whale tangled in fi shing gear near Crescent City, Calif., surfaces for air in 2017.
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Astorian
LEFT: Workers from Bell Buoy Crab Co. offl oad at the Port of Chinook. Gear from Washington state boats has been found tangled
around whales. RIGHT: Amos Johnson ties crab pots down to a trailer before they are taken to a fi shing vessel at the start of crab
season at the Warrenton Marina.
See Whales, Page A6
Underground mall fi lls up
Changes at the
Sanborn Building
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Astorian
The Sanborn Building ,
with an underground mall
remade in the image of old
Astoria by the late local arti-
san Michael Foster, looked
like a ghost town after the
wine shop The Cellar closed
earlier this year.
But the old-fashioned,
wood-paneled halls at 10th
Street and Marine Drive
have fi lled up recently with a
new collection of businesses
collectively marketed as
the Astoria Underground
Shops.
Kirsten Norgaard, who
started Kit’s Apothecary in
the upstairs of the Cope-
land Building on Commer-
cial Street, recently took
over the former wine shop
Katie Frankowicz/The Astorian
‘Tug’ was reunited with his owner after he ran off during a fi reworks display
in Astoria on July 4.
Photos by Edward Stratton/The Astorian
Building owner Elizabeth Konez is planning a coff ee lounge in
the downstairs of the Sanborn Building, an underground mall.
After scare, a lost dog is found
space, including a subter-
ranean showroom and a
spiral staircase leading
up to a showroom on 10th
Street.
The space was a dream for
Norgaard, who remembers
Foster as a librarian when
she attended Astoria High
‘Tug’ bolted on
the Fourth of July
School. Foster remodeled
the downstairs of the San-
born Building in the early
2000s into a re-creation of
historic downtown , complete
with street lights, murals and
a jail cell for selfi es.
See Sanborn, Page A6
The Sanborn Building at 10th
Street and Marine Drive has nine
suites, including an underground
mall fashioned after old Astoria.
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Dan Stephens’ wife woke him
early in the morning the day after
the Fourth of July: There was a
dog outside, sitting on their porch,
barking.
The dog, a 60-some pound
chocolate L ab and border collie
mix, was friendly and clearly still
young with loose, puppy skin. He
wore a collar and a leash.
Stephens lives near a road that
loops through the forest below the
Astoria Column. It’s a popular spot
for dog walkers and he assumed
this dog had probably gotten away
from someone out for an early
morning stroll.
But he didn’t see anyone when
he ventured up the road to look
around. So he called the police to
see if anyone was looking for him
and settled down on his porch to
wait with the dog.
In fact, the dog — an 11-month-
old shelter rescue named “Tug” —
had landed on Stephens’ porch by
way of the Astoria Riverwalk and a
frantic scramble up 15th Street the
night before. A small group of peo-
ple, including his owner and one
passing triathlete who booked up
the hill in pursuit, had spent hours
trying to track him down.
Every Fourth of July, the Clat-
sop County Animal Shelter sees
stray animals who break out of
fences and houses or who fl ed in a
panic while out on walks with their
owners because of celebratory
explosions. The weeks just before
and after the holiday are among the
shelter’s busiest.
See Tug, Page A6