The daily Astorian., June 28, 2022, Page 3, Image 3

A3
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2022
Lighthouse: ‘We want to see
these things taken care of’
Fish skin: Initial
results of the study
are promising
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
Davis agreed to meet with
the group this month to dis-
cuss the lighthouse and what
options might exist to get it
on the path of being restored.
There are four lighthouses
that Davis’ unit is responsi-
ble for overseeing, including
the North Head Lighthouse
— which is owned by Wash-
ington State Parks — and the
Cape Disappointment Light-
house. The unit is in charge
of servicing the lights in both
and upkeep of the Cape D
structure.
One of Davis’ fi rst vis-
its as the offi cer in charge
was to the Cape Disappoint-
ment Lighthouse, and he said
he was “shocked” to fi nd the
condition that it was in.
“I can’t speak to why and
how it got to the point that
it is right now, but I know
the reason that I can’t touch
it right now, unfortunately,
to do a lot of the rehabilita-
tion that I want to is because
I have no documentation of
any asbestos, any lead abate-
ment that’s been done, or any-
thing,” Davis said. “Because
of OSHA regulations and
because of our own regula-
tions about being able to dis-
turb paint and repaint and
anything like that, unfortu-
nately our hands are tied right
now getting it rehabilitated.”
Prior
to
Gebhardt’s
inquiry, Davis reached out to
the Coast Guard’s civil engi-
neering unit for the region ,
which is ultimately in charge
of the structure of federally
owned lighthouses. That unit
operates on roughly a fi ve-
year cycle of assessing struc-
tures, and Davis was told that
Cape Disappointment’s last
cycle was at the height of
the pandemic shutdowns in
2020, which prevented the
unit from coming to look at
the lighthouse.
That unit was fi nally able
to come to Cape D last month,
and Davis plans on follow-
ing up with the unit later this
month on whether any of the
safety tests have been com-
pleted, which would allow
some rehabilitative work to
begin.
One potential develop-
ment that Davis mentioned,
which received the most
attention and surprise from
the group, is the possibility
of getting ownership of the
Cape Disappointment Light-
house transferred from the
Coast Guard to Washington
State Parks, which is what
happened with North Head
Lighthouse in 2012.
to the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife.
Pacifi c Seafood, the
Clackamas-based seafood
company, which has a pro-
cessing plant in Warrenton,
funded the Oregon State
study .
Despite the abundance
of Pacifi c whiting , consum-
ers in the United States typ-
ically favor salmon and tila-
pia , Kwon said. Consumers
are also heavily dependent
on imported fi sh .
“By focusing on this
local, wild-harvest fi sh
stock, we can draw some
consumers’ interests toward
this currently not-very-pop-
ular local fi sh so that way
we can really help the
growth of the local fi sher-
ies,” she said.
Consuming a variety of
fi sh is more sustainable and
can alleviate the pressure
on more popular species,
Kwon said.
The research fi ndings
were published in a paper in
Marine Drugs, a journal that
focuses on biologically and
therapeutically active com-
pounds from the sea. Kwon
authored the paper with
Elaine Ballinger, of Oregon
State, and Seok Hee Han
and Se-Young Choung, of
Kyung Hee University in
South Korea.
The initial results of
the study are promis-
ing but based on a cellu-
lar level. The next step is
to use animal models to
see if the same outcome
can be achieved through
consumption.
If the animal models
prove successful, Kwon
hopes consumers will think
twice about discarding
Pacifi c whiting fi sh skin.
“It can be quite tasty, as
well,” she said. “If you ever
tried fi sh skin, and espe-
cially for Pacifi c whiting, it
has a really mild fl avor and
softer texture. So it’s a mat-
ter of changing your point
of view about that.”
Pressly: ‘I think (older
dogs) are forgotten a lot,
thrown away, kind of’
Continued from Page A1
Damian Mulinix/Chinook Observer
The Cape Disappointment Lighthouse is in need of repair work.
‘BECAUSE OF OSHA REGULATIONS AND BECAUSE
OF OUR OWN REGULATIONS ABOUT BEING ABLE
TO DISTURB PAINT AND REPAINT AND ANYTHING
LIKE THAT, UNFORTUNATELY OUR HANDS ARE
TIED RIGHT NOW GETTING IT REHABILITATED.’
Jake Davis | offi cer in charge of the U.S. Coast Guard Aids to Navigation team that is based out of Astoria
It’s something that the
Coast Guard is in favor
of doing whenever possi-
ble, Davis said, although he
stressed that he was not guar-
anteeing anything and that he
was not speaking in his offi cial
capacity with the Coast Guard.
“It’s basically a funding
issue,” Davis said, noting that
there’s only so much money
that the civil engineering unit
is allotted in any given year for
performing serious structural
work and that it is a competi-
tive process. “If we can get ( the
lighthouses) over to a parks
department, or something of
that nature that is comfortable
with taking ownership and has
the ability to upkeep it more
than we do … We want to see
these things taken care of.”
If that’s something the
group is interested in pursu-
ing, Davis said he would help
connect them with the rele-
vant Coast Guard unit that
handles such matters. In cases
where lighthouses are trans-
ferred to private or non-Coast
Guard ownership, he said it
is his understanding that part
of the transfer of ownership
must allow the Coast Guard to
maintain access to the naviga-
tion light and continue to ser-
vice it.
“As a general rule, from
what I’ve seen, we are very
much in favor of trying to put
lighthouses and structures in
the hands of people who are
going to take care of them,”
Davis said.
At her place, which she
refers to as a “gated com-
munity,” she has six dogs
up for adoption and four of
her own.
“It can be chaotic, espe-
cially around feeding time
… for the most part, every-
one gets along really good,”
she said. “They’re mellow,
they’re great.”
While the coronavi-
rus pandemic aff ected vol-
unteer turnout, Pressly is
grateful for any help she
can get with cleaning the
sanctuary or spending one-
on-one time with the dogs.
On t he fi rst Saturday of
every month, Pressly brings
a senior dog to Petco in
Warrenton in hopes of get-
ting them adopted or fos-
tered. She doesn’t push
people to adopt older dogs
if they aren’t interested, but
she sees several advantages
to owning one if the fi t is
right.
“Usually, they’re house
trained except for some-
times when they get incon-
tinent,” she said with a
laugh. “They’re not as play-
ful so they don’t chew up
things. They’re laid back
more so you don’t usually
have to walk them as far.”
Pressly often gets older
dogs when owners can no
longer take care of them,
but sometimes she sees
older dogs that are left
behind as medical bills
grow or families seek out a
puppy instead.
“I think (older dogs)
are forgotten a lot, thrown
away, kind of … It’s heart-
breaking, but at least we
can give them some kind of
peace and some kind of love
and we’re with them when
they pass over,” she said.
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