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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, JANuARy 21, 2020
Mole crabs: Local populations appear to be robust
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Familiar sight
The crabs are a familiar sight to any
beachcomber in Clatsop County. But with
many popular beaches considered “sinks”
for microplastics — surveys of beaches in
Fort Stevens State Park estimate as many
as 11,000 pieces of plastic per square meter,
compared to other Oregon Coast beaches that
sit at roughly 800 per square meter — plastic
pollution has been a part of the crabs’ envi-
ronment for a long time.
Mole crabs live for only a year or two.
With such short life spans, quick adapta-
tion may be possible. Studies of other ani-
mals have found certain fish species are
more likely to ingest plastic when in differ-
ent life stages, and some creatures seem to
be unfazed by plastic, eating it and passing it
without issues.
“We’re looking at things now, but maybe
they’ve adapted in some way and we just
missed that part,” Horn said.
And there are other issues besides plastic
pollution that could take a toll on the crabs,
the organisms they eat and the animals that,
in turn, eat them.
Along with other shelled organisms in
oceans and coastal estuaries around the
world, mole crabs face the threat of ocean
acidification, a change in ocean chemistry
tied to increased carbon dioxide levels that
makes it difficult for creatures like clams,
crabs and oysters to build or maintain shells.
Ocean temperatures and salinity — fac-
tors that affect how quickly animals like mole
crabs grow — are also in flux.
For now, local populations of mole crabs
appear to be robust.
Every year, Matt Hunter, shellfish project
leader with the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife, conducts razor clam population
assessments on Clatsop beaches ahead of the
popular digging season.
As he and his team pump the sand for
clams, they also pull up mole crabs. In 2006,
they decided to begin tracking the crab pop-
ulation as well — a kind of sidebar of data.
“In 2006, we had what we thought at the
time were huge populations,” Hunter said.
They found roughly 13 mole crabs per
square meter. However, they noted signifi-
cant decreases in following years. Thirteen
crabs per square meter became nine the next
Brenna Visser/The Astorian
Heidi Perez scoops sand through a microplastic filter during a beach cleanup event in Cannon Beach in 2018 with her Acumed co-workers Rick
Lauricella and Karen Krueger.
year and then fewer and fewer each year until
state biologists were recording as little as
several tenths of a crab per square meter.
The numbers began to climb back up
again in 2015, peaking at a high of 16.5 mole
crabs per square meter in 2016.
In 2018, the numbers were back down
to a mere four crabs per square meter. Last
year, they recorded only 1.5 crabs per square
meter.
“We’re really in the northern range for the
mole crab so it’s certainly not alarming by
any stretch of the imagination,” Hunter said
of these numbers.
What he wants to know is if these cycli-
cal ups and downs in the mole crab popu-
lation can reveal anything about razor clam
abundance. He wondered if large numbers
of crabs burrowing in an area could displace
young clams. The clams, unlike the mole
crabs, have a commercial and recreational
value.
Though, Hunter added, “ecologically,
they all have value.”
Environmental conditions
While large pulses of crab numbers do
seem to correspond with El Nino weather
patterns, there doesn’t seem to be a clear link
between the number of crabs and the num-
ber of clams.
“I’d wager, overall, environmental condi-
tions play a much, much larger role than any-
thing they might do upon each other,” Hunter
said.
If it isn’t clear what happens to mole crabs
in a plastic world, it is equally mysterious
what happens to everything else if the mole
crab population decreases or disappears.
Mole crabs are an important source of food
for seabirds, fish like surf perch and marine
mammals, Horn noted.
She says the natural world can be a bit like
the game Jenga, where players create a tower
of stacked blocks and then take turns trying
to remove as many blocks as they can with-
out causing the tower to collapse.
“Sometimes you can pull a couple of
pieces out and it seems like it’s OK,” Horn
said. “But then you pull one more and the
whole thing falls down.”
Edward Stratton/The Astorian
A family of Domino’s franchise owners
recently purchased the former Life in
the Slow Lane building, where they are
planing to turn part of the lower level into
a new branch of the pizza chain.
Domino’s:
Store will
Pass: Takes a minimum of 100 hours to make a duck be family’s
29th location
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
After hours of work, Pass can turn two simple blocks of wood into lifelike sculpted ducks.
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Over the years, he has shared his work with
mentors and made improvements.
Pass said it took years to get over the
frustration of the learning curve.
“I don’t know if I’m completely over
it,” he said. “But working with the best in
the world and knowing I can send them an
email or call them on the phone and that
they are willing to help has been helpful.”
Pass has made 73 ducks, but he only
started counting once he felt they were
good enough to give away.
He said it takes a minimum of 100 hours
to make a duck. As difficult as it is to mas-
ter the carving, he said, painting is more
difficult.
As he became more skilled, Pass began
competing at shows across the U.S. and
Canada. The competition categories include
novice, intermediate, open and champion-
ship — which are the best in the world.
Pass competes at the open level and
hopes to eventually compete at the cham-
pionship perch.
“When I first started carving, a ribbon
was important. But now what’s important
is going and meeting with the other carv-
ers,” Pass said. “I always ask ... what would
you do differently on mine?”
Pass’ friend, Harold Brown, joins him
in his studio several times a week to work
together and prepare for competitions.
Brown, the former attorney general of
Alaska, moved to the North Coast in 2010.
He was connected to Pass by a mutual
friend after he expressed interest in want-
ing to learn how to carve duck hunting
decoys.
“Rick is a teacher, so he has patience for
(people) trying to learn,” Brown said. “The
big problem with carving is doing it alone
can be pretty lonely.”
He said it has been easier having Pass
show him how to get over the hurdles that
come with learning.
“Because he has trod the same path that
I was along before me,” Brown said.
Every year, they travel together to com-
petitions and the world championships in
Maryland.
“There’s something that keeps both of
us coming back,” Pass said. “It’s like you
get beat in the head, but you keep coming
back. So, I don’t know what it is, stupidity
or just that we love it.”
Samuelson: Claims improper action was taken against him
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Samuelson’s attorney wants to subpoena
the student’s cellphone and other cellphone
records for evidence.
A trial on the harassment charge is
scheduled for April.
Samuelson’s attorney and the woman
could not be reached for comment.
Stephen Phillips, the Jewell School
superintendent, declined to comment.
The woman resigned as the middle
school’s girls basketball coach in an email
to school officials in early January, saying
she has accepted a new job in Seaside that
conflicts with the coaching schedule.
In court filings, Samuelson claims he
and the woman used to have a close rela-
tionship and that she has touched him in a
similar manner in the past.
Samuelson claims improper action was
taken against him for engaging in a “mutu-
ally consensual relationship between
adults,” which he says took place sepa-
rately and apart from school activities.
Samuelson wants the Circuit Court to
reverse the school district’s finding that
he engaged in sexual harassment relevant
to his position as basketball coach and
allow him to be eligible to coach basketball
again.
Samuelson and his wife, Ann, both used
to serve on the Jewell School Board.
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The family is planning a 1,500-square-
foot restaurant occupying most of the
downstairs and about one-third of the
building, zoned for retail and restaurants.
The Astoria location will focus on carry-
outs and deliveries rather than dining in,
Pat Farmer said. The rest of the building
will be leased out.
The Farmers’ expansion into Asto-
ria comes as the city is exploring a pro-
hibition on additional chain restaurants,
such as Domino’s, to prevent them from
squeezing out smaller, locally based
competitors.
But Pat Farmer argued he and his fam-
ily are independent operators who have
worked their way up from pizza-makers
and drivers to managers and owners.
Jeff Farmer started the family’s collec-
tion with his first franchise in Coos Bay
in 1987 and another in Hoquiam in 1988,
according to a profile in The Daily World,
an Aberdeen newspaper. His sons helped
expand the family’s territory across much
of western Washington and into Oregon.
Astoria will be the family’s 29th location,
Pat Farmer said.
“It’s still Pat, Jeff and Chris — a dad
and two sons — trying to provide oppor-
tunities to their employees,” Pat Farmer
said.