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SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2016
Whale lovers can show support with new license plate
The money will go toward
whale research, graduate stu-
dent education and public out-
reach.
The license plate depicts the
cow-calf pair on a two-tone
blue background that emulates
sea and sky. In the upper left
corner is a lighthouse, and
across the bottom it reads
“Coastal Playground.”
Renowned wildlife illustra-
tor Pieter Folkens created the
lifelike whale images, original-
ly for a poster for the Marine
Mammal Institute, which is
part of OSU’s College of
Agricultural Sciences.
“They’re
extremely
detailed,” Mate said. “You can
see every barnacle.”
The institute paid an applica-
tion fee of $5,000 to ODOT to
begin the license plate process,
Mate said, and will pay another
$80,000 to cover production
costs.
In addition, it needs to turn in
an “expression of interest”
from at least 3,000 vehicle
owners stating they plan to buy
the plate.
To help with that, 30,000 fly-
ers will be distributed along the
coast by Oregon State Parks
and Recreation Department
volunteers helping out during
the annual weeklong “Whale
Watching Spoken Here” cele-
bration that runs between
Christmas and New Year’s.
Each flyer contains an
expression-of-interest form.
There will be volunteers at
all Oregon coastal headlands to
help visitors see southward-
migrating gray whales.
Between 10,000 and 25,000
whale watchers interact with
the volunteers each year during
the week between Dec. 27 and
Jan. 1, Mate said.
Those interested can also be
registered at www.mmi.oregon-
state. edu/whaleplate.
No financial commitment is
required, but it’s asked that
only those serious about buying
a Coastal Playground plate reg-
ister.
“It’s a great plate and pro-
motes coastal tourism and just a
healthy image for Oregon,”
Mate said. “I expect a lot of
people will like it, and it’s a
way for people to inexpensive-
ly support marine mammals.”
It’s not necessary to wait for
a vehicle’s registration to need
renewal, or buy a new car, to
purchase
the
Coastal
Playground plate, Mate noted.
from 1B
spinners tipped with a night-
crawler has been really effec-
tive.
SILETZ RIVER: Steelhead,
UMPQUA RIVER, SOUTH:
The ocean remains closed
for Dungeness crabbing due to
high toxin levels.
Recreational harvest of
razor clams is closed on the
entire Oregon coast due to ele-
vated levels of domoic acid.
Harvest of mussels is open on
the entire Oregon Coast.
Before any shellfish harvest
trip, make sure to check the
Oregon Department of
Agriculture website for any
updates.
Recreational ocean salmon
fishing from Cape Falcon to
Humbug Mt. is closed for
salmon fishing, except the Elk
River Chinook Terminal
Season is closed.
Both the All Depth and the
Nearshore Halibut seasons are
now closed.
Fishing for bottom fish
opened back up to all-depths.
Fishing for black rockfish
has been good from Coos Bay
south to Bandon. Fishing for
ling cod has been decent.
The marine fish daily bag
limit is seven fish and a sepa-
rate daily limit for lingcod (2).
Anglers can only keep 3 blue
rockfish and 1 canary rockfish
as part of their daily limit and
there will be no harvest of
China, quillback, or copper
rockfish. Anglers may harvest
1 cabezon per day.
few who did venture out, there
was some success with lingcod
and rockfish.
The recreational groundfish
fishery is open at all depths
through March.
ODFW encourages anglers
to release all prohibited rock-
fish by using a descending
device to safely return fish to a
depth of 60 feet or more. Even
fish that are severely bloated
can survive after being
released at depth.
For more information and
videos, please see the rockfish
recompression webpage.
There’s a new rockfish in
town: the Deacon rockfish.
Deacon rockfish is a newly
identified species that was for-
merly referred to as the solid
version of blue rockfish. What
does that mean for anglers?
Nothing in 2016.
Every rule that refers to blue
rockfish (like the daily bag
limit of 3 now applies to blue
rockfish and deacon rockfish
combined.
Fishing
Chinook
The Siletz River and bay is
open for Chinook salmon.
Fishing is slow.
Fish are throughout the bay
and river. Trolling herring in
the lower bay is an effective
technique. Eggs and bobber or
drifting eggs can be productive
in the upper bay and river as
the season progresses.
Consult the regulations for
changes in deadline locations
through the season.
Steelhead fishing is slow.
Casting spinners, drifting bait
or using a bobber and jig can
be effective. For cutthroat
trout, casting small spinners,
spoons or fly fishing streamers
or dry flies can be very effec-
tive.
WILSON RIVER: Chinook
Fall Chinook fishing is fair
on the Wilson River. The
Wilson has fished well for fall
Chinook this season, and
although things will probably
start to slow down toward the
end of the month, there are
still some good fish coming in.
Keep an eye on the weather
and River conditions. All of
the usual techniques, such as
bobber fishing, divers and bait,
and back bouncing should be
effective.
Although it’s still a little
early, Thanksgiving is time to
start thinking about winter
steelhead on the lower Wilson.
This basin has some early
returning hatchery fish and
they should start trickling in
towards the end of the month.
YAQUINA RIVER: Chinook
The Yaquina River and bay
is open for Chinook salmon.
Fishing is slow. Trolling her-
ring in the lower bay is an
effective technique.
Eggs and bobber can be pro-
ductive in the upper bay and
river as the season progresses.
CLOSED
The South Umpqua is now
open.
WINCHESTER BAY:
Bottomfish, perch
Fishing for bottom fish in
the Triangle and South jetty
has been successful.
TENMILE BASIN: Trout,
bass, yellow perch, coho
Trout fishing in the streams
of the Tenmile Basin are now
closed until May 22, 2017.
Trout fishing in Tenmile
Lakes is open all year.
There is no wild coho fish-
ery in Tenmile Lakes this fall.
Largemouth bass fishing has
been decent over the past cou-
ple weeks. Anglers are catch-
ing bass near structure or on
the deep end of the weed lines
using spinner baits, jigs, or
rubber worms.
Fishing for yellow perch has
picked up in Tenmile Lakes.
Anglers have been catching a
few yellow perch measuring
14 to 15-inches long.
Worms fished near the lake
bottom work very well for
catching yellow perch. Anglers
should fish in water depths of
15 feet or deeper to consistent-
ly find the bigger yellow
perch.
PACIFIC OCEAN and
BEACHES: Bottomfish, surf
perch, salmon
B OTTOM F ISHING :
Fishing for bottomfish was
limited last week due to
weather conditions. For those
COOS COUNTY LAKES
AND PONDS: Trout
Rainbow trout were stocked
in Upper Empire, Bradley,
Saunders, Powers and
Butterfield lakes last month.
Anglers have been catching
lots of trout on Powerbait,
flies, or by trolling spinners.
This was the last stocking of
these lakes until the spring.
Trout anglers are also catch-
ing trout in Eel and Tenmile
lakes. Trolling wedding ring
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For $40, a new plate can be
ordered at any time without
affecting the vehicle’s registra-
tion cycle.
“This plate is a joyful cele-
bration,” Mate said. “Gray
whales were on the Endangered
Species List because of
exploitation, and now they’re
the only whale species to have
been removed from the list
because they’ve recovered.
“And they’re Oregon’s flag-
ship large whale. Ninety-five
percent of the whales you see
from shore are gray whales.”
Visible from the coastline
year-round,
gray
whales
migrate past Oregon in both
directions on their annual jour-
ney between Alaska and Baja
California.
From late April to mid June,
northward-migrating females
P ACIFIC H ALIBUT :
Recreational halibut fishing
in all Oregon subareas are now
closed for the remainder of
2016. This year, anglers were
able to catch approximately 95
percent of the Oregon recre-
ational quota of just over
220,000 pounds.
The 2017 quota will be
determined in early January
2017.
M USSELS
NOTICE: Mussels harvesting
is closed along the entire
Oregon coast due to elevated
levels of biotoxins.
and their calves stay close to
shore to avoid predation from
killer whales — so close, Mate
says, “you could practically
skip a stone out to them.”
During the first week in
January, the peak time for the
southern migration, gray
whales pass by Oregon viewing
points at an average rate of 35
whales per hour.
Mate said he is banking on
the enduring mystique of
whales to help the Coastal
Playground plate pay off for the
Marine Mammal Institute.
“Whales are huge, they’re
warm-blooded, they live in an
environment we wouldn’t do
well in,” Mate said. “They’re
really easy to emote with.”
Razor Clams:
NOTICE: Razor clam har-
vesting is closed along the
entire Oregon coast due to ele-
vated levels of domoic acid.
This includes all beaches
and bays.
B AY C LAMS :
Bay clamming is open along
the entire Oregon Coast from
the Columbia River to the
California border. Check the
ODFW Shellfish website for
where and when to harvest
your favorite bivalves.
Updated maps on where to
clam.
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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
CORVALLIS — A new
license plate featuring a gray
whale and her calf likely will
be available to Oregon drivers
by summer 2017.
This project is sponsored by
the Oregon State University
Marine Mammal Institute and
enthusiasm for it is running
high, said Bruce Mate, director
of the institute.
Thousands of flyers will be
passed out on the Oregon coast
in the coming week to help res-
idents learn more about what
they can do to support the ini-
tiative.
“Everybody I’ve shown the
plate design to has loved it,”
said Mate, whose institute will
receive $35 from the Oregon
Department of Transportation
every time a vehicle owner
spends $40 to buy the plate.