Tag Archives: Oregon
Oregon Dungeness crab season sets new record for value
The Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission expects the 2021-2022 season to set a new record as the highest grossing season ever. The current record of $74.2 million was set in 2017-2018. This year, the Dungeness crab fleet has already landed $78.1 million, and the season is not yet over. The 20-year average is 17.3 million pounds. As of Tuesday, the fleet had brought 15.3 million pounds ashore, below average, but above last season’s 12.2 million pounds. Video, >click to read< 15:04
Port of Newport user fees to rise in July
With an eye on inflation and a repeated commitment to improving and maintaining port facilities, Port General Manager Paula Miranda and Director of Finance Mark Brown recommended a seven percent increase across the board, with a few exceptions noted.,, Some new fees were also found on the rate schedule. Vessels that offload squid at Port of Newport facilities will face a wharfage fee connected to the pounds of product that come across the dock. Projections indicate that transient squid boats will arrive in the area in the next month. Port Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the fee schedule. >click to read< 10:29
Cool ocean waters, abundant nutrients look good for Washington salmon
Scientific markers used to predict the health and productivity of marine species such as juvenile salmon were positive in 2021, the second most favorable since 1998, according to analysis from NOAA. Fisheries biologists are cautiously optimistic that those conditions will persist into the near future, supporting the health of juvenile, ocean-run salmon off the coasts of Washington and Oregon. The report looked at a number of oceanic health markers: atmospheric conditions, water temperature, salinity, oxygen levels, current movement, and biomass of Chinook and Coho salmon, along with food sources such as plankton and small crustaceans. >click to read< 13:55
Commercial Fishermen/Marine Corp Veteran Mark Allen Chase has passed away in Newport, Oregon
Mark Allen Chase passed away on November, 28th 2021, at his home in Newport, Oregon, after a long and courageous battle with Neuroendocrine (carcinoid) cancer. Mark was born on June, 8th 1951, in Bellflower, California to his parents Ted and Shirley Chase. At a young age, Mark joined the Marine Corps and would serve in Vietnam where he earned a purple heart. He carried his patriotism and pride as a veteran with all he accomplished. After his service, His love of the ocean brought him to his 50 year career as a commercial fisherman and his home to Newport, Oregon. He owned and operated the fishing vessel F/V Norma M out of Newport and raised his four children to be avid fishermen as well. >click to read< 16:21
Off Washington state’s coast, Dungeness crabbers get early start to season, haul in bounty
Some 60 vessels in Washington’s oceangoing crab fleet worked through a stormy December to bring in more than 4.69 million pounds of Dungeness in a strong start to the annual harvest. The ocean harvest has unfolded in a stretch of coastal waters from Klipsan Beach south to the Columbia River. Fishers also have had to endure some tough, chilly weather during the final weeks of 2021. “We’re all from Alaska so it seems pretty normal to us,” said Daniel Crome, who was raised in Petersburg, Alaska, and fishes out of Westport with a five-person crew that as the catch rates dropped off, was cut to four. Back at the docks, these Dungeness have fetched $4.75 a pound or more. >click to read< 08:23
Oregon: 2021-22 Dungeness Crab season blowing past last year’s harvest
Tim Novotny is a spokesman with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. He says it was great to have this commercial crabbing season start on schedule for the first time since 2014, but the numbers as of Tuesday (Jan. 4) are also wonderful. “We finished our first month of the season so far with 12.8 million lbs. landed, so that surpassed last year. And our ex-vessel value has come in at $63.3 million. So that surpassed all of last year. >click to read< 09:50
Lest We Forget: The USCG Lifeboat Triumph-F/V Mermaid tragedy 60 years ago
At approximately 4:15 p.m., on Thursday, Jan. 12, 1961, Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment, at the mouth of the Columbia River, received a radio call from Roy Gunnari, skipper of the fishing vessel Jana Jo. Gunnari advised that he was relaying a mayday call from the fishing vessel Mermaid, a 34-foot crab-fishing boat from Ilwaco, Wash., owned and operated by brothers Bert and Stanley Bergman. While approaching the mouth of the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean, the Mermaid lost its rudder near treacherous Peacock Spit. Photos, >click to read< 08:41
Commercial Fisherman Benjamin Eric Boyok has passed away
Benjamin Eric Boyok set sail for the last time on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021, in Cloverdale. Benjamin was born July 7, 1978, to Philip (Otis) Boyok and Paula (Parmelee) Boyok. He attended East High School in Sioux City. He then moved to Oregon and worked as a commercial fisherman in the Bering Sea for over 20 years where he was well respected by his peers. He was the loving and devoted father of his son George and daughter Otilja. >click to read< 19: 47
Dungeness crab catch ‘amazing’, but shortage of crew on boats, plant workers an issue
“About 80% of our whole seasons gets landed in the first 8 weeks,” said Tim Novotny with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. “So we had about 4 million in the first week and about double that in the next week.” By the pound, crabbers are getting a good bang for their buck due to the quality of the crabs. “We could use more workers, both on the boats and in the processing sector,” >click to read< 09:01
Coast Guard help Oregon State Police measure illegally small Dungeness crab; skipper cited
State troopers cited the skipper of a crab boat for taking undersized Dungeness crabs after a biologist noticed a large number of small crabs at a seafood processing plant on Oregon’s northwest coast. Oregon State Police said the investigation started December 6. That’s when an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist sampling commercially caught Dungeness crab at a seafood processing plant in Warrenton noticed numerous undersized crabs from one boat. >click to read< 06:12
Numerous safety escorts, vessel tows during first week of Dungeness crab season
Coast Guard crews across the Pacific Northwest have towed 10 disabled or distressed commercial fishing vessels back to port in the first week of the Dungeness crab season which began Dec. 1. These tow operations, along with numerous safety escorts, have ensured the safe passage of several fishing crews and more than 100,000 pounds of crab, (Thank You CG!) through hazardous bar conditions. Coast Guard crews stationed in Grays Harbor, Cape Disappointment, Coos Bay, and Chetco River, have contributed to the total of 10 tows. Other vessels have also been escorted across the bar. These safety escorts are conducted when dictated by hazardous conditions. The start of the Dungeness crab season has coincided with several bar restrictions as a result of rough conditions encountered at the bar. photos, video,>click to read< 14:10
Images of Oregon Coast Crabbers Aglow from Outerspace!
As commercial crabbing on the Oregon coast opens on time for the first time in several years, the state’s crabbing fleet makes an impression in outer space. A satellite from the National Weather Service (NWS) managed to capture an enormous pattern of glowing dots skirting the edge of the state’s shoreline, turning out to be a spectacular shot of Oregon crabbing boats from several miles up just beyond our atmosphere. The NWS sent out the photo this week after checking its satellite feed, finding not just the usual, unmistakable glow of city lights in the valley towns, but a bundle of dots just offshore. >click to read< 11:31
Oregon: Dungeness Crab season begins
Newport crabbers were treated to great weather, a rare on-time start and a high opening price as they kicked off what will likely be a historic Dungeness crab season this week. The season opened Dec. 1, the first on-time start in six years, with a starting price of $4.75 per pound at the Newport docks. Good weather also let many of the smaller fishing vessels set out at the same time as the large ones, allowing many to bring in their first hauls late Wednesday night and Thursday morning. >click to read< 07:44
Fishing vessel operator cited for negligence on Columbia River, OR, navigation channel
The Coast Guard issued a Notice of Violation to the owner and master aboard a 48-foot commercial fishing vessel for negligence while operating in conditions of restricted visibility and a failure to maintain a proper lookout Monday in the vicinity of Buoy No. 8 of the Columbia River navigation channel. The commercial fishing vessel was operating outbound on the Oregon side of the Columbia River navigation channel as the 587-foot motor vessel Grand Race, a Ro-Ro cargo ship, was transiting inbound, also in the vicinity of Buoy No. 8. The commercial fishing vessel, without providing notice or sound signal to the inbound Grand Race, adjusted course to move to the Washington side of the channel; and, in doing so, cut across the bow of the Grand Race, creating serious risk of collision. >click to read< 21:35
Oregon: Crab season to begin December 1st without delay for first time in six years
For the first time in six years, Oregon’s commercial crab season is set to begin without delay following low domoic acid and high meat yield indicated by tests conducted by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife earlier in the month. Commercial crab vessels and their crews can begin setting their gear as soon as this Sunday, Nov. 28, for the pre-soak period, after which they’ll be able to pull in their first hauls of the season on Dec. 1, assuming weather holds clear and a price arrangement between the fishing fleet and Oregon seafood processors is reached. >click to read< 10:05
Commercial Crab Season: Boats out, baskets ready
For the first time since the 2014-15 season, the ocean commercial Dungeness crab fishery opens as scheduled Dec. 1 along the Oregon Coast. Commercial crab vessels were able to set gear Nov. 28. the pre soak period, in anticipation of the first pull of ocean crab pots on Dec. 1. In partnership with the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission and the commercial Dungeness crab industry, ODFW tests crabs out of Oregon’s six major crabbing ports beginning in early November. This year, crab tested from Oregon’s crab harvest areas have high meat yield and are well below domoic acid alert levels. >click to read<12:16
Newport, Oregon: Motor Lifeboat Victory’s last voyage
At about 2 a.m. Wednesday, the 52-foot motor lifeboat Victory left the boathouse at U.S. Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay for the final time — nearly 65 years to the day of when she first arrived in Newport. The storied vessel did not leave under her own power but was towed behind a 47-foot motor lifeboat.,, For decades after arriving in Newport at the end of 1956, she was the station’s workhorse, capable of towing more than 750 tons and holding 40 survivors. She is self-righting and self-bailing and could motor through towering seas in hurricane-force winds, and countless local fisherman and other mariners owe their lives to her crews over the past seven decades. >Video, photos, click to read< 12:11
Oregon: Dungeness crab season starts Dec.1!
It’s the first time in seven years that the season has not been delayed by low meat yields, high levels of domoic acid, or both.,, But the scheduled opening has been delayed in recent years. In some years, parts of the coast have remained closed into late January. This year, commercial crab vessels can set gear Nov. 28, and begin pulling pots on Dec. 1. >click to read< 07:37
Coast Guard retrieve 5 fishermen from life raft after fishing vessel sinks off Oregon coast
The U.S. Coast Guard rescued five people from a life raft late Monday after a fishing boat sank approximately 20 miles offshore from the mouth of the Umpqua River. The captain aboard the 67-foot fishing vessel F/V Desire, homeported in Neah Bay, Washington, used a VHF-FM marine-band radio to hail Coast Guard Sector North Bend watchstanders at about 9 p.m. Monday and report their vessel was taking on water. He also reported the five people aboard were preparing to abandon ship into a life raft. >click to read< 16:28
Oregon: Crab still tops state’s commercial fishing, but squid is gaining
Oregon’s crabbing industry is known as the state’s most lucrative in the fishing market, but another food from the sea is thriving off the coast: squid. In 2014, about 1,000 pounds of squid were caught by Oregon-based commercial fishers. Last year saw a huge jump, the haul was more than 10 million pounds. Josh Whaley, who has been fishing for squid since 2019,,, More market squid means more fishing opportunity and prompted Whaley to upgrade equipment to adjust to Seine fishing, a method of net fishing used to capture species close to the surface of the ocean, like sardines and squid. >click to read< 09:33
Oregon: State regulators rushing to catch up on market squid fishery
If Joe Mulkey could fish for market squid year-round, he would. The emerging Oregon fishery ticks a lot of boxes for the commercial fisherman from Reedsport: the use of seine gear and electronics, and, of course, the recent profitability. In the past five years, the market squid fishery has moved from almost nonexistent to booming. Now boats that would normally fish for squid in California’s Monterey Bay have headed north and Oregon fishermen are seeing new opportunities in local waters, hunting the small, short-lived animals. >click to read< 18:55
Reaching Out
I am Kimberly Jo Scott and I am looking for my cousin Wayne Willet. 6 years ago we lost contact. He has lived and worked in Newport for the last 30 years. Mostly on boats. There has been a family emergency and so I need to get ahold of him. Please let me know if you have a contact for him or pass my contact information onto him. Thank you so much, I greatly appreciate any information. My number is 541)321-1029
Oregon F&W Commission adopts 1st Dungeness Crab FMP to be developed on the West Coast
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has adopted regulations for implementing the Oregon Dungeness Crab Fishery Management Plan. The FMP describes the status of Dungeness crab and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife management of two commercial crab fisheries, bay and ocean, and the recreational crab fishery in the bays and ocean. While the majority of regulations are already in place for the management described in the FMP,,, >click to read< 10:01
A Celebration of Life: Commercial Dory Fisherman Craig Edward Wenrick has passed away
Craig Edward Wenrick was born Oct. 22, 1954 to Clyde and Corinne Wenrick in Oregon City, Ore. He married his wife Susie on September 19, 1986 and went on to have 4 children. The small towns of Pacific City and Woods were his homes away from home his whole childhood and where he decided to raise his family and start his fish company, Sea Q Fish. As a commercial fisherman for more than 20 years, and an official for the Doryman’s Association, Craig was well-known and loved by all of the TCSO Marine Deputies, Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Troopers and Oregon State Park Beach Rangers that had the pleasure of interacting with Craig while working the beach at Cape Kiwanda. >Photos, click to read< 20:58
Brown requests federal disaster relief for Oregon’s commercial salmon industry
The governor submitted the formal aid request Monday to the U.S. Department of Commerce. In her letter Brown said the economic return from commercial salmon fishing along most of the coast since 2018 has been less than one-third of what it was in prior years. This continuing trend, she said in the letter, is having severe effects on already distressed rural communities and businesses that depend on salmon. >click to read< 08:58
Museum to host book signing in Gold Beach
“With Barely Two Nickels to Rub Together” is a straight forward American story, both interesting and instructive, it is neither simple nor complex. The reader will recognize people in their own lives who have persevered through personal struggles, using quantity and quality of effort., creativity and common sense to strive for goals. The story begins with Ed Freeman’s birthright family trials and tribulations that began in 1833,, In 1939, on a freezing cold night young Ed Freeman escaped a forced family arrangement,,, Thirty years later, Ed Freeman and his son Dugie embarked on an adventure that would build the largest aluminum commercial fishing boats constructed in the United States at that time. >click to read< 14:47
Calamitous West Coast commercial albacore tuna season nears end
With only weeks remaining in the commercial season, some fishermen have already declared it one of the worst in decades. It’s simply been a ‘bad’ tuna season, according to Western Fishboat Owners Association Executive Director Wayne Heikkila, who monitors the tuna fishing season coastwide from California to Washington as part of the nonprofit group representing 400 albacore fishermen on the West Coast.,, “Effort was down this season as most fish were farther offshore. There are still some larger vessels 200 miles out catching some,,, >click to read< 10:02
Sara Skamser remembered as trailblazer, innovator in the commercial fishing industry
As news of Sara Skamser’s death spread across the community last week, people were mourning her passing but also celebrating the life of the woman who made such a huge impact in the fishing industry and on everyone who knew her.,, Commenting on a social media post from the Fishermen’s Wives about Skamser’s death, dozens of people shared their sadness and condolences. She was called “gutsy,” “a great teacher,” “a bright light in everything she did,” and “a tough cookie.” One commenter said Skamser was the “trawl goddess of the West Coast and one of the smartest, funniest, concerned, compassionate and generous people you would have ever met.” >click to read< 08:56
EPIRB Alert triggers rescue of 3 and a dog adrift in a life raft from a sunken fishing vessel
The Coast Guard rescued 2 men, a woman and a dog found adrift in a life raft after their fishing vessel sank Sunday afternoon approximately 45 miles off Lincoln City. At 2 p.m., watchstanders at Sector North Bend received a distress signal from an electronic position indicating radio beacon [EPIRB]. The beacon was registered to the 44-foot gray and blue commercial fishing vessel F/V Royal.’ Video, >click to read< 08:06
Accused of poaching crabs in a marine reserve area on Oregon coast
Two men are accused of poaching crab in the protected Cape Falcon Marine Reserve south of Cannon Beach using gear stolen from other crabbers. Scott Giles, most recently of Ilwaco, Wash., and deckhand Travis Westerlund, of Astoria, face criminal charges including theft, criminal mischief, unlawful take and fishing in a prohibited area, following an indictment in August. Given the alleged amount of stolen gear found in his possession, Giles, captain of the commercial fishing vessel The Baranof, faces felony theft charges. >click to read< 10:22
