March 10, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 9A
Author studies why Oregonians don’t eat local seafood
By Rebecca Herren
EO Media Group
There is more to fishing
than simply choosing the
right bait and reeling in the
fish. The purest attribute of a
true fisherman is the ability to
stretch the truth, from increas-
ing the size and weight of the
fish to delivering a lengthy
monologue at the local brew-
ery about the giant fish that
got away; envisioning the pro-
tagonist of the 1954 science
fiction film “20,000 Leagues
Under the Sea.”
Telling a tall
fishing tale cer-
tainly follows a
time-honored
tradition, but
this fish tale is
of a different
Jennifer
sort. It’s the
Burns
one in pursuit
Bright
of answering
the question, “Why Orego-
nians don’t eat enough locally
caught seafood?”
This question and others
prompted a conversation with
Jennifer Burns Bright during
a Feb. 16 Oregon Humanities
Conversation Project program
at the Seaside Public Library.
Bright is an agriculture and
travel writer. After moving to
Port Orford, she wanted to do
something different. She want-
ed to write about seafood. “It’s
been an aspect of our food sys-
tem that I didn’t know much
about and so little is known
about our local seafood.”
The presentation “Fish
Tales: Traditions and Chal-
lenges of Seafood in Oregon”
brought to light the relation-
ship consumers have with the
variety of products provided
by the sea that some people
may be unaware, cultural tradi-
tions related to fishing and un-
derstanding the ocean’s bounty
and challenges.
One attendee shared her
experience on the difficulty of
buying fish directly from the
docks. Bright explained how
regulations have changed from
years past; meaning in present
day, the daily catch mostly
goes to one buyer or compa-
ny. “To sell directly, fishermen
need to have a resell license
or they can buy their fish back
from the folks who are buying
the fish off the boats and sell
that to local consumers.” Most
fishermen, she said, “don’t
want to bother because of too
much red tape.”
A slide presentation bal-
anced the conversations with
graphs and figures. According
to one, Oregonians eat about
15 pounds of seafood a year
compared to 53 pounds of
beef, 58 pounds of chicken and
175 pounds of grain. A 2014
study indicated that in Amer-
ica, people eat 15 pounds of
seafood per person: 4 pounds
of shrimp, 2.5 pounds salmon,
2.5 pounds of mostly canned
tuna, over 1.5 pounds of tila-
pia, followed by pollock, basa,
cod, catfish, crab and clams.
“Seafood consumption in
the United States totals 90 per-
cent imported,” said Bright.
“Ten percent is domestic or
both because there is no way
to classify fish that’s caught lo-
cally to the fish that’s shipped
out to Canada or China then
bought back as ready-made
cod fillets or fish sticks,” add-
ing that the percentage could
be higher and is impossible to
track.
PoetryFest 2017
coming to Manzanita
PoetryFest 2017 takes
place at the Hoffman Center
in Manzanita from March
31 to April 2, featuring Carl
Adamshick and Emily Ken-
dal Frey.
Adamshick is the author
of “Curses and Wishes,”
winner of the Walt Whit-
man award from the Acad-
emy of American Poets and
Saint Friend, published with
McSweeney’s. Both titles
received an Oregon Book
Award. He has taught at
Catlin Gabel and lectured
at Stanford University and
the American International
School in Vienna, as well
as being a writer in-resi-
dence at the William Staf-
ford Archive at Lewis and
Clark College. His work has
been published in Harvard
Review, American Poetry
Review, The Missouri Re-
view and Narrative. He is a
founder and editor at Tav-
ern Books, a nonprofit press
dedicated to poetry and the
preservation of books.
Frey is the author of sev-
eral poetry collections, in-
cluding “The Grief Perfor-
mance,” winner of the 2012
Norma Farber First Book
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Carl Adamshick
Award from the Poetry Soci-
ety of America, and “Sorrow
Arrow,” winner of the 2015
Oregon Book Award. She
teaches at the Independent
Publishing Resource Center,
Marylhurst University, Port-
land Community College
and Portland State Univer-
sity.
PoetryFest is a program
of the Hoffman Center for
the Arts and will be held at
the Hoffman Center, 594
Laneda Avenue, Manzanita.
Further information is avail-
able at hoffmanblog.org.
Speaker expounds on
ways to boost tourism
Tourism from Page 1A
Miller praised the Can-
non Beach chamber’s web-
site, which he called “out-
standing.”
“It made me want to
come to Cannon Beach,”
said Miller, who owns a
home in Gearhart. He not-
ed that the Travel Portland
website has been translated
into eight languages. Travel
Portland also focuses strong-
ly on social media; the orga-
nization has 133,000 Twitter
followers.
In addition to the names
of member businesses, the
chamber’s website “cannot
ignore businesses doing real-
ly, really interesting things.”
”Some people don’t trust
websites because they think
it’s all paid,” he said. “In-
clude businesses whether
they are paid or not.”
In addition, the cham-
ber’s websites and those of
individual businesses need
new content constantly, so
potential visitors always
have new ”stories” to in-
trigue them.
Tourism creates jobs,
Miller noted, and if more
emphasis can be placed on
winter travel, more residents
could count on winter in-
come as well.
“Create a lot of connec-
tions,” he added. “You’ve
got everything you could
possibly need.”
Following Miller’s pre-
sentation, Court Carrier, di-
rector of the Cannon Beach
chamber, said the chamber is
putting many of his sugges-
tions into place, including
reaching out to businesses
that aren’t chamber mem-
bers.
“Our goal is to reach out
and make sure everyone is
represented,” Carrier said.
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Clockwise, from top left: Buddie Anderson Deni, of the Cannon Beach Library, accepts the award for Volunteer of the
Year; Sheri Russell, Columbia Bank branch manager, accepts the Excellence in Leadership award; Brian Olson (from left),
Barbara Cool-Olson and Sally Wies accept the Member of the Year award for Beachcomber Vacation Homes; John Nelson
accepts the Supporter of the Year award for Coaster Construction.
Chamber boasts ‘huge growth in business’
Chamber from Page 1A
Tourism growth
Carrier shared a report on
the state of the tourism indus-
try. Lodging tax collections
have been “on a constant
climb,” he said.
While the summer quar-
ter in 2016 was only about 8
percent higher than the same
quarter of 2015, the 2016 fall,
winter and spring quarters
were up 17 percent, 25 per-
cent and 23 percent, respec-
tively.
“That is a huge growth in
business,” Carrier said. Speak-
ing to the chamber members,
he added, “You guys put that
together. It’s everyone in town
that made that happen, and it
made the success of what
Cannon Beach is today. So
thank you all for the great job
you have been doing. We have
grown dramatically as a result
of all of your efforts.”
Last year, the tourism
industry in Cannon Beach
brought in more than $3.8
million in total lodging taxes.
The estimated direct econom-
ic impact of the industry was
2017 Winners:
MEMBER OF THE YEAR: Beachcomber Vacation Homes
VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR: Buddie Anderson Deni
SUPPORTER OF THE YEAR: Coaster Construction
EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE: Maggie & Henry
almost $123 million. Using
“a conservative multiplier,”
Carrier said, the estimated in-
direct impact was about $368
million.
What’s happening
at the chamber?
Board member Kevin
Ridgway, the chairman of the
marketing committee, shared
an update on the chamber’s
goal to increase tourism, par-
ticularly during the winter,
fall and spring.
“That’s the need times
in Cannon Beach when we
want to fill more of our emp-
ty rooms, generate more hotel
taxes so the city can do more
work for us as residents,” he
said, adding, “that’s the focus
of what we’re looking at.”
The marketing commit-
tee’s strategies for achieving
that goal include expanding
media awareness in the Port-
land and Seattle markets,
making social media channels
more robust and expanding
digital marketing, to name a
few.
In addition to bringing
visitors to town, the chamber
also aims to highlight the best
of what Cannon Beach has to
offer. One way it does so is
through the annual Sandcastle
Contest.
Debbie Nelson, who heads
a committee of more than a
dozen members and staff, said
it is important for her “to car-
ry on this hometown tradition
that is very near and dear to
my heart.”
On average, the contest
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Cannon Beach Book Company
Cannon Beach Beach Store
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Cannon Beach City Hall
Cannon Beach Conference Center
Cannon Beach Family Market
Cannon Beach Historical Center
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Cannon Beach Liquor Store
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Cascade Sotheby’s Realty
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Hallmark Inns & Resorts
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Martin Hospitality
Mo’s Restaurant
Picnic Basket
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Purple Moon/Morris’ Fireside Restaurant
RE/MAX Coastal Advantage
Sea Ranch RV Park
Sea Sprite at Haystack RockSea Sprite on the Estuary
Surfcrest Market
Sweet Basil’s Cafe & The Wine Bar
The Land’s End Motel
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US Bank/La Luna Loca
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SEASIDE
Providence Seaside Hospital
Rite Aid
Safeway
Seaside Outlet Center
Seaside Signal/Cannon Beach Gazette Office
GEARHART
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4,000 COPIES DISTRIBUTED EACH MONTH
brings about 30,000 visitors
to Cannon Beach, requiring a
large force of volunteers and
sponsors.
“It’s great for advertising,
maybe not just for that week-
end, but for all year long, be-
cause a lot of people connect
Cannon Beach with the Sand-
castle Contest,” Nelson said.
‘I’m really glad we’re still do-
ing Sandcastle all of these 53
years later.
Nelson unveiled the post-
er for this year’s competition
and announced the date, June
17, although a parade will be
held the day before and a 5K
fun run and walk the day after.
Other important chamber
events include the Stormy
Weather Arts Festival in No-
vember and Haystack Hol-
idays from mid-November
through most of December.
Although January and
February have been slow
— “Mother Nature has not
blessed us with the last two
months,” Carrier said —
chamber staff is optimistic
about the potential of 2017.
“I saw the sun today and it
was marvelous, and I’m really
excited,” Carrier added.
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