A5
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2021
Whales and turtles could be protected from Coos Bay port
entanglement under new conservation plan to construct new
container terminal
By SOPHIA PRINCE
Jeff erson Public Radio
A new conservation plan
to protect whales and tur-
tles from entanglement has
been released by the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
Getting entangled in fi sh-
ing gear is often deadly for
these animals. When whales
get caught in the vertical
fi shing lines that attach the
buoys to the crab pot, their
fi ns and fl ukes get wrapped
up in the ropes. It can take
them up to six months until
their injuries from these
lines ultimately kill them.
The rope can cause sev-
ered appendages or lead the
whale to starvation because
they are not able to dive to
catch their prey.
T he Department of Fish
and Wildlife has released a
draft of a conservation plan.
Ben Enticknap, a senior sci-
entist with environmental
group Oceana, explained the
basics of the plan.
“Every s pring, deeper
waters off the Oregon Coast
will be closed to dunge-
ness crab g ear to prevent
entanglements with hump-
back whales,” Enticknap
said. “And it also includes
a reduction in the amount of
fi shing eff orts that can occur,
so there’s a 20% reduction in
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
A whale entangled in fi shing gear.
pots that can be set, starting
on May 1 each year.”
One innovative solution
that’s being suggested are
pop-up crab pots that use
buoys on the ocean fl oor
instead of ropes in the water
column. Pop-up crab pots
use acoustic release technol-
ogy that releases the buoy on
the ocean fl oor when a but-
ton is pushed. One problem
though, according to Entick-
nap, is that the conservation
plan does not include any
fi nancial incentives to crab
fi sherman for using pop-up
technology.
The plan has been
released for public comment
ending on Sept. 16.
Judge orders immediate actions at
Willamette basin dams to help salmon
By BRADLEY W. PARKS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
A federal judge has
ordered the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers to take imme-
diate action to improve fi sh
passage at dams in the Willa-
mette River b asin.
In a fi nal opinion and
order issued last week, U.S.
District Judge Marco Her-
nandez said the Army Corps
had for years failed to pro-
vide adequate passage for
threatened C hinook salmon
and winter steelhead trout at
dams it operates in the basin.
“As evinced by the listed
species’ continuing decline,
the Corps’ failure to provide
adequate fi sh passage and
mitigate water quality issues
is causing substantial, irrep-
arable harm to the salmo-
nids,” Hernandez wrote in
the opinion.
The order comes a little
over a year after the court
decided in favor of three
environmental organizations
that sued the Army Corps and
the National Marine Fish-
eries Service, arguing the
agencies weren’t doing their
part to protect the species.
Laurie Rule is a senior
attorney at Advocates for the
West, a nonprofi t environ-
mental law fi rm that repre-
sented the plaintiff s. She said
the dismal state of salmon
and steelhead runs this year
underscore the importance of
the judge’s order.
“It’s important because
these fi sh are in really bad
shape,” Rule said.
Chinook salmon and
steelhead in the Upper Willa-
mette River system are both
listed as threatened under
the Endangered Species Act.
Dams on the Willamette and
its tributaries have blocked
access to spawning grounds
for the fi sh, contributing to
population declines.
In a 2008 biological opin-
ion, the National Marine
Fisheries Service found
that “lack of passage is one
of the single most signifi -
cant adverse eff ects on both
the fi sh and their habitat.”
The service outlined a num-
ber of steps the Army Corps
could take to prevent the
species from going extinct.
The judge’s opinion says the
Army Corps has been drag-
ging its feet.
“The status of the spe-
cies has continued to decline
since the 2008 BiOp was
issued,” Hernandez wrote,
“and the Corps’ operation
of the ( Willamette Valley
Project) is a cause of that
decline.”
The Army Corps argued
in court that it hadn’t done
irreparable harm to the spe-
cies because they hadn’t been
downgraded from threatened
to endangered. The judge
rejected their arguments.
“Unfortunately, the Corps
has not been doing its job
for a very long time,” said
Jen Pelz, the wild rivers pro-
gram director for WildEarth
Guardians, one of the plain-
tiff s. “We welcome this
immediate action.”
The Army Corps said
in a written statement that
the agency will review the
judge’s order to ensure
compliance.
“We take our Endangered
Species Act obligations seri-
ously and are committed to
taking actions that will ben-
efi t ESA-listed salmon and
steelhead while continuing
to work on fi nding solutions
that balance our authorized
purposes,” the statement
said .
COOS BAY — Oregon
International Port of Coos
Bay, on the state’s southern
coast, has announced it will
construct a multimodal con-
tainer facility to relieve con-
gestion and broaden trade
opportunities, including for
agricultural goods.
For the project, the Port of
Coos Bay has partnered with
NorthPoint Development, a
Missouri-based development
fi rm. The port and North-
Point have entered into a
memorandum of understand-
ing. The parties intend to
fi nalize negotiations and sign
a contract by the end of 2021.
The new facility will sit
on the North Spit, a fi nger of
land separating the bay from
the Pacifi c Ocean. Once con-
structed, the facility will
move more than one million
40-foot containers annually
in and outbound through the
port.
The new terminal, port
offi cials say, could have a
signifi cant impact on ship-
ment of farm goods.
“Development of a con-
tainer terminal here in Coos
Bay will truly be transfor-
mational for Coos Bay, as
well as for shippers looking
to get their goods and com-
modities to market in an effi -
cient manner,” said Margaret
Barber, the port’s director of
external aff airs and business
development.
Most of Oregon’s export
agricultural
commodi-
ties, Barber said, are being
shipped to ports in Seattle,
Tacoma and the San Fran-
cisco Bay Area. Those ports,
she said, are “experienc-
ing all-time levels of con-
gestion,” adding “crippling
delays,” costs and emissions.
The coronavirus pan-
demic has further exacer-
bated bottlenecks. In late
August, the ports of Los
Angeles and Long Beach
had 47 vessels anchored off -
shore waiting to berth in the
harbor.
A new terminal in Coos
Bay, port leaders say, could
help relieve congestion on
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REGIONAL FORECAST
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Seattle
71 52
Increasing
cloudiness
68 54
65 50
Partly sunny
Some sun with
a shower
67 51
65 50
64 49
65 51
A chance for
Partial sunshine Mostly sunny
showers
Partly sunny
Aberdeen
Olympia
78/54
77/57
Wenatchee
Tacoma
Moses
Lake
ALMANAC
UNDER THE SKY
TODAY'S TIDES
Astoria through Sunday
Tonight’s Sky: Ursa Major is low
above northern horizon before
midnight.
Astoria / Port Docks
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Time
High (ft.) Time Low (ft.)
1:45 a.m.
2:38 p.m.
7.9 8:30 a.m. -1.0
7.4 8:42 p.m. 0.6
Cape Disappointment
1:21 a.m.
2:13 p.m.
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
Hammond
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today .................. 6:44 a.m.
Sunset tonight ............... 7:42 p.m.
Moonrise today .............. 7:16 a.m.
Moonset today .............. 8:30 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
1:32 a.m.
2:26 p.m.
Warrenton
1:40 a.m.
2:33 p.m.
Knappa
2:22 a.m.
3:15 p.m.
Depoe Bay
Sep 6 Sep 13 Sep 20 Sep 28
8.0 7:38 a.m. -0.9
7.3 7:48 p.m. 0.8
8.3 7:57 a.m. -1.1
7.7 8:10 p.m. 0.7
8.3 8:14 a.m. -0.9
7.8 8:26 p.m. 0.7
8.2 9:31 a.m. -0.8
7.7 9:43 p.m. 0.6
12:32 a.m. 8.5 7:05 a.m. -0.9
1:26 p.m. 7.8 7:16 p.m. 1.1
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Honolulu
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
New York City
Phoenix
San Francisco
Wash., DC
Wed.
Hi/Lo/W
83/71/t
79/64/s
85/60/t
95/71/pc
86/57/s
87/75/pc
94/70/pc
85/65/s
90/76/t
78/69/s
105/85/s
74/59/s
86/71/s
83/68/t
82/69/pc
76/58/s
95/69/s
90/60/s
87/74/s
93/72/pc
86/68/s
90/78/t
83/69/sh
106/85/s
77/59/s
88/69/pc
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy,
c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms,
r-rain, sf-snow fl urries, sn-snow, i-ice.
88/57
Kennewick Walla Walla
91/64 Lewiston
93/59
94/61
Hermiston
The Dalles 93/57
Enterprise
Pendleton 91/57
91/62
96/64
La Grande
93/55
92/58
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Hi/Lo/W
Pullman
88/59
85/54
Salem
86/58
Yakima 91/57
Longview
71/52 Portland
91/61
Spokane
87/65
80/53
81/51
Astoria
Temperatures
High/low ................................ 67/58
Normal high/low .................. 69/52
Record high .................. 87 in 2014
Record low .................... 43 in 1969
Precipitation
Sunday ..................................... 0.04”
Month to date ........................ 0.04”
Normal month to date ......... 0.32”
Year to date .......................... 38.02”
Normal year to date ........... 39.44”
the West Coast.
Chad Meyer, the pres-
ident and founding part-
ner of NorthPoint, said the
new facility should improve
logistics, expedite turn time
and eliminate anchoring for
ships.
“This project will create a
new gateway that will off er
quick turnaround because
we don’t have the same lev-
els of congestion here,” Bar-
ber said.
Barber said she believes
the terminal will also create
benefi ts for inland U.S. pro-
ducers who rely too heav-
ily on the Mississippi River
for barge and ship transpor-
tation. The new terminal,
she said, will allow Midwest
producers to ship products
westward.
John Burns, the port’s
CEO, said he anticipates the
new facility will also boost
the regional economy.
“This project has the
potential to diversify the
region’s economy and create
employment opportunities
both for the existing work-
force and for future genera-
tions,” Burns said.
Some critics, however,
say turning Coos Bay into
a major West Coast port is
a pipe dream because Coos
Bay is surrounded by nar-
row, winding roads, has lim-
ited access to trade corridors
and must rely on its rail line.
Recent Coos Bay Rail
Line improvements have
cost taxpayers millions of
dollars, according to legis-
lative records. Some Ore-
gonians say the investment
is worth the payoff ; others
disagree.
Jeff Reimer, an Oregon
State University professor
of international trade and
agricultural economics, said
railroad developments have
spawned a “huge amount of
controversy.”
“Is it a good use of tax-
payer money? Some say it is,
some think it isn’t,” Reimer
told the Capital Press.
The port is also mov-
ing forward with its c han-
nel m odifi cation p roject,
intended to deepen and
widen the channel so larger
ships can pass through.
By SIERRA DAWN
McCLAIN
Capital Press
Corvallis
92/53
Albany
92/54
John Day
Eugene
Bend
93/55
94/56
96/56
Ontario
97/57
Caldwell
Burns
94/47
94/51
Medford
99/63
Klamath Falls
92/47
City
Baker City
Brookings
Ilwaco
Newberg
Newport
Today
Hi/Lo/W
93/45/pc
64/54/c
66/54/c
91/54/pc
63/49/pc
Wed.
Hi/Lo/W
91/49/s
69/53/pc
64/53/pc
85/53/s
61/50/pc
City
North Bend
Roseburg
Seaside
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Today
Hi/Lo/W
65/53/pc
95/57/pc
71/52/c
93/54/pc
90/58/pc
Wed.
Hi/Lo/W
68/52/pc
88/56/pc
68/53/pc
87/54/pc
84/56/s