A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
IN BRIEF
Fishing boat catches fi re in Warrenton
The U.S. Coast Guard assisted local agencies Friday
afternoon after a fi shing boat caught on fi re near the Ski-
panon River in Warrenton.
Offi cials said everyone aboard the Pacifi c Cloud aban-
doned the boat and made it to shore. No injuries were
reported.
No other information was immediately available.
County commissioners
approve right-of-way policy
Clatsop County commissioners on Wednesday adopted
a policy to restrict commercial use in rights of way.
The county placed a moratorium on permits for busi-
nesses operating within rights of way in October after a
neighborhood dispute over a fi rewood stand in Warren-
ton. Since then, the county has worked on amending the
ordinance.
The ordinance prohibits commercial activity in county
rights of way, with the exception of seasonal fl ower and
produce stands with permits.
Other permitted activities may also be allowed.
Requests will be reviewed by the county.
State discloses virus case
at Anchor Christian Academy
The state on Wednesday disclosed a coronavirus case
at Anchor Christian Academy in Hammond.
The Oregon Health Authority, in a weekly report on
outbreaks, described the case as involving a staff er. The
most recent onset was April 9.
Niki Hawkins, the school’s principal, said the staff
member is asymptomatic and has since tested negative for
the virus twice. She said the staff er is quarantining at home.
Meanwhile, a fourth student has tested positive for the
virus at Seaside High School, according to the state.
Children rescued at Hug Point
Two children were rescued from a cliff Wednesday
afternoon at Hug Point State Park.
Fire crews were called at about 1:30 p.m. to a report
that two children were stuck on top of a rock and could not
get back to shore because of the incoming tide.
The crews helped lower the children from the rock into
the water, where they were carried to shore. Both children
were reportedly uninjured, just cold.
Merkley to hold virtual town hall
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley will hold a virtual town hall for
Clatsop County on Wednesday.
The Oregon Democrat will answer questions and
update constituents about his work in Washington, D.C.,
at 4 p.m. on Zoom.
To join the meeting, visit tinyurl.com/MerkleyClatsop.
“Hearing from Oregonians across the state is critical to
doing my job,” Merkley said in a statement.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
April 14, 2021
In FIELDS,
Brief
Joyce Car-
oline, 87, of Vancouver,
Washington, formerly of
Deaths
Astoria, died in Portland.
Caldwell’s Luce-Layton
Mortuary of Astoria is in
charge of the arrangements.
April 13, 2021
KARGE, Kenneth, 82,
of Seaside, died in Seaside.
Hughes-Ransom
Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
April 12, 2021
SCOTT, Joyce Elaine,
95, of Ocean Park, Wash-
ington, died in Astoria.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
April 10, 2021
OLNEY, Theodore, 71,
of Seaside, died in Seaside.
Hughes-Ransom
Mor-
tuary is in charge of the
arrangements.
April 8, 2021
SHELLABARGER,
Joyce, 81, of Svensen, died
in Svensen. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
Strangulation
counts of assault in the
On
the Record
•
Jonathan
Mil- fourth degree, driv-
ton Wood, 33, of Ore-
gon City, was arraigned
Thursday on charges
of strangulation, two
ing under the infl uence
of intoxicants, reckless
driving and two counts
of harassment.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Knappa School District Board, 5:30 p.m., Knappa High
School Library, 41535 Old U.S. Highway 30.
Seaside Budget Committee, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m., City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
TUESDAY
Clatsop Care Health District Board, 3 p.m., strategic
planning, (electronic meeting).
Astoria Historic Landmarks Commission, 5:30 p.m., City
Hall, 1095 Duane St.
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Gearhart Small Business Committee, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Shoreline Sanitary District Board, 7 p.m., Hertig Station,
33496 Westlake Lane, Warrenton.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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New regulations aim to protect
whales from crab fi shing lines
By FEDOR ZARKHIN
The Oregonian
Rick Lilienthal and his
father were just half a mile
off shore, heading into the
ocean to pull in their crab-
bing lines, when they saw
a gray whale going “100
miles an hour” with a buoy
trailing off its left fi n.
“It was just a shock,” Lil-
ienthal said. “I’d never seen
one before.”
That was 50 years ago.
Lilienthal, a 68-year-old
commercial Dungeness crab
fi sherman, said he hasn’t
seen another entangled
whale since.
But a slew of rule changes
coming within weeks could
make such rare occurrences
even less frequent, even as
they have the potential to
wreak havoc on summer-
time crabbers’ harvests.
Starting May 1, Ore-
gon fi shermen will have to
reduce the number of crab
cages they can drop in the
ocean and won’t be allowed
to drop them lower than 40
fathoms, or 240 feet.
Gway Kirchner, an envi-
ronmental advocate who
gave input on the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife rules, acknowl-
edged that whales getting
caught in crab fi shing lines
isn’t nearly as big of a prob-
lem in Oregon as it is in
California and Washington
state. But that doesn’t mean
it’s too early to take action.
“If we don’t take the
steps that we’re taking
today, I think that it could
become a signifi cant prob-
lem for us,” Kirchner said,
citing the changes to whale
migration and feeding pat-
terns possibly driven by cli-
mate change.
Humpback and gray
whale populations have
rebounded in recent decades
after being hunted to near
extinction. That rebound,
in combination with recent
changes in the ocean eco-
system, has driven some
whales into crabber terri-
tory and crabbers into whale
territory.
Increasing
humpback
whale populations have
forced the animals to com-
pete for food, even as their
primary source of nourish-
ment — krill — has become
Oregon’s new rules will limit how many pots commercial crabbers can drop into the ocean and
how deep.
‘IF WE DON’T TAKE THE STEPS
THAT WE’RE TAKING TODAY, I
THINK THAT IT COULD BECOME A
SIGNIFICANT PROBLEM FOR US.’
Gway Kirchner | an environmental advocate who gave input on the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife rules
less available due to ocean
conditions. As a result,
the whales are going after
anchovies, which are gen-
erally found closer to shore.
Crabs, meanwhile, have
been migrating ever deeper
into the ocean in recent
years, drawing crabbers
with them.
“Increased overlap is,
theoretically, drawing more
entanglements,” said Caren
Braby, the state’s top marine
resources offi cial. “It’s a
common-sense conclusion.”
There have been nine
known cases of whales get-
ting caught in Oregon crab
lines in the p ast nine years,
compared to four in the nine
years before that, accord-
ing to Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife data. Of
the seven humpback whale
cases since 2003, fi ve were
in the last seven years.
By forbidding particu-
larly deep crab pots during
the summer months, state
offi cials hope to reduce the
risk to humpback whales
passing off the Oregon
C oast on their way north.
The whales are usually
found 330 feet or deeper,
the state says, meaning they
will be better protected if
crab cages stay at shallower
depths.
One alternative to the
ban on deep crab fi shing is
banning summer crabbing
altogether, said Braby, the
fi sh and wildlife agency’s
marine resources manager.
While an extreme option, it
could still be on the table,
depending on how success-
ful the new rules are.
But Lilienthal said the
measures are overkill and
have the potential to cause
serious fi nancial troubles
for smaller fi shing opera-
tions. The restrictions will
take thousands of dollars
out of their pockets, he said,
because crab pots must be
dropped ever deeper to fi nd
them in abundance.
“It hurts everybody,” Lil-
ienthal said. “That’s money
that’s not going in your
savings account to make it
through the winter.”
Braby acknowledged the
virtually inevitable hardship
to come for crabbers and,
she said, their concerns are
understandable.
“They’re about to expe-
rience something they’ve
never experienced before,”
Braby said.
Indeed, fi nancial impact
will be one of the factors the
agency will consider when
evaluating the rules over
the next few seasons, Braby
said.
The state’s measures are
only in eff ect in the second
half of the commercial crab-
bing season — from May 1
to Aug. 14. That means they
are likely to aff ect smaller
fi shing operations more than
larger ones because bigger
businesses turn their atten-
tion to other ocean species
that time of year, former
Oregon Dungeness Crab
Commission member John
Corbin said.
Corbin, whose operations
are based on the Columbia
River, said he started seeing
a change in the whale pop-
ulations — and the conver-
sations about them — in the
last few years. The indus-
try has become far more
aware of the whales and has
been trying to accommodate
them.
“It’s kind of like, ‘Wow,
what’s going on here?’”
Corbin said of growing
whale incursions into areas
where fi shermen drop crab
lines. “Because this is diff er-
ent than how it used to be.”
Testing: ‘I think it’s the right thing to do’
Continued from Page A1
The school board, how-
ever, is more concerned that
students get as much class
time as possible now that
they are back in classrooms.
Astoria began the school
year remotely last Septem-
ber and only started bringing
the majority of students back
to buildings in February.
“Our students have missed
a large amount of in-person
instruction due to COVID-
19,” said Grace Laman, the
school board chairwoman,
in a statement. “Students
should be reconnecting with
peers and school staff and
not have to worry about a
statewide assessment.”
She echoed Colt Gill,
director of the Oregon
Department of Education,
who had said in the state’s
waiver request that, “This is
not the time to subject fam-
ilies and educators to addi-
tional stressors that would be
required for remote admin-
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Student testing has been disrupted for a second year by the
coronavirus pandemic.
istration of summative
assessments.”
Instead, s chool d istrict
staff will use assessment
data coming from the class-
rooms and schools them-
selves to work with students.
State testing did not hap-
pen last year, either. It was
interrupted by the start of
the pandemic and the emer-
gency closure of schools last
spring.
In a normal year, the
school board supports the
use of statewide standard-
ized testing “in order to drive
state and district goals,”
stated a resolution school
board members approved at
a meeting Wednesday night.
But, they also noted,
“state-mandated
testing
will require sacrifi cing sev-
eral hours of badly-needed
instruction time for most
students” and the statewide
assessments “do not provide
data or information that indi-
vidual teachers can use to
inform their instruction or
identify areas for remedia-
tion among their students.”
Superintendent
Craig
Hoppes told the school board
he expects to see many other
school districts make a simi-
lar decision.
“I think it’s the right
thing to do,” he said, add-
ing, “I think it will send a
really strong message to our
community.”
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