What’s fresh on the Oregon coast?

Posted on May 11, 2011 by kightp

Wondering what seafood will be in season when you visit the Oregon coast? Oregon Sea Grant’s Kaety Hildenbrand has compiled a handy, one-page guide to local seafood availability for 2011, based on harvest estimates and commercial seasons set by fisheries regulators.

Right now, for instance, you should be able to find fresh, locally caught Chinook salmon, Dungeness crab and pink shrimp, as well as flounder, sole, rockfish and lingcod (generally available year-round).

June should bring the appearance of albacore tuna and, late in the month, Pacific halibut, depending on when the fish make their appearance.

Fresh, locally caught seafood is available in markets and restaurants up and down the coast, and direct from the fishermen in many coastal ports. A family trip to the docks with an ice-filled cooler can be a great way to learn more about where your dinner comes from, how it’s harvested and the people who catch it.

The guide, “What’s Fresh and When in 2011” is ready to download and print, and suitable for hanging on the refrigerator door or tucking in the glove compartment for your next trip to the coast. Download it here in .pdf format.

Hildenbrand is Sea Grant’s Extension marine fisheries educator, based in Newport, where she engages the fishing community and general public on issues ranging from fisheries management to marine energy and multiple ocean uses.

Nine new low impact development fact sheets from Oregon Sea Grant

Posted on May 10, 2011 by newberrc

The following publications are available from Oregon Sea Grant.

Low Impact Development Fact Sheets. This series of short publications, developed by Oregon Sea Grant’s watershed education and outreach team, lays out guidelines for choosing, building, maintaining and testing a variety of “green” options for handling stormwater runoff from residential, commercial and public property. (For greater detail, see also: The Oregon Rain Garden Guide from Oregon Sea Grant.

Rain Gardens
Porous Pavement
Vegetated Filter Strips
Drywells
Stormwater Planters
Swales
Green Roofs
Infiltration Testing
Soakage Trenches

New publication explores structured decision making

Posted on May 4, 2011 by kightp

A new publication from Oregon Sea Grant looks at structured ways in which groups of people can come together to understand a problem and overcome common human errors in judgment as they evaluate potential solutions.

Structured Decision Making: Using decision research to improve stakeholder participation and results is the latest title in Oregon Sea Grant’s series on the research and practice of public science communication.

Written by Robyn S. Wilson, assistant professor of Risk and Decision Science, at The Ohio State University School of Environment and Natural Resources, and Joseph L. Arvai, Svare Chair in Applied Decision Research at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business and Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment, and Economy, the 12-page publication looks at recent research on group decision-making, and offers guidelines for developing a process that’s likely to produce results.

“Stakeholders” – those who have an interest in a particular project or problem – are often invited to take part in public hearings, workshops and meetings; many times, the authors note, the results are less than satisfying for everyone involved. Too often, such meetings “give the impression that opportunities for input are simply a diversion to draw attention away from where the “real” decisions are being made.”

Better results can be achieved, the authors suggest, by using structured, research-proven processes in which participants have an opportunity to “understand the problem, express and clarify their issue-specific values and concerns, and carefully weigh the pros and cons of different actions or options.”

The new publication provides an overview of structured decision making (SDM), an outline of how it can work, and discussion of pitfalls that can get in the way of success. References to specific SDM tools are included.

Other titles in the Sea Grant series look at topics including:

Insights from behavioral research for those who communicate with the public
Common assumptions about public communication
Public outreach and behavior change
Understanding specific stakeholder communities

All five publications are available as free downloads, in printable .pdf and text-only versions, from the Oregon Sea Grant Web site.

Site off Newport chosen for wave-energy test facility

Posted on April 21, 2011 by kightp

Wave energy test site location

NEWPORT – A one-square-mile site off the coast near Newport has been selected for a new wave energy test program, the first of its kind in the United States and the closest one this side of Scotland.

The siting decision was announced Wednesday by officials from the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, a collaborative research effort of Oregon State University and the University of Washington.

The selection follows two years of discussions with the Oregon coastal community, fishermen, state agencies, wave energy developers and scientists. It is within Oregon territorial waters, near the Hatfield Marine Science Center and close to onshore roads and marine support services.

Public comments on the proposal are still being sought, officials said.

The site will be about one square mile in size, two miles northwest of Yaquina Head on the central Oregon coast, in water about 150-180 feet deep with a sandy seafloor. It is exposed to unobstructed waves that have traveled thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean. The facility is being funded by the state of Oregon and the U.S. Department of Energy.

“If all of our plans and permits are approved, we hope to have the test facility available for wave energy developers to use by this fall,” said Annette von Jouanne, an OSU professor of electrical engineering and leader with the university’s wave energy research programs.

The site will not only allow testing of new wave energy technologies, but will also be used to help study any potential environmental impacts on sediments, invertebrates and fish. In order to simplify and expedite ocean testing, the facility will not initially be connected to the land-based electrical grid.

Testing will be done using a chartered vessel or stand-alone buoy along with the wave energy devices, and most of the technology being tested will produce its energy through the up-and-down motion of the waves. Some devices may be very large, up to 100 feet tall and with a diameter of up to 50 feet, but mostly below the water line.

“The site will not necessarily be off limits to other ocean users,” said Oregon Sea Grant’s Kaety Hildenbrand, who leads Sea Grant’s wave energy public engagement efforts on the central coast. “As part of our continuing outreach to the coastal community, we plan to have a series of dialogues with safety experts and ocean users to discuss allowable uses.”

Removing invading plants can harm native ecology

Posted on April 15, 2011 by kightp

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The removal of invasive beach grasses on the Oregon coast to improve nesting habitat for the western snowy plover, a threatened shorebird, can harm non-target, native plant species and dune ecosystems, an Oregon Sea Grant-supported study shows.

The findings, published by researchers from Oregon State University in Ecosphere, a professional journal, suggest that restoration projects to aid a threatened species should also consider the broader ecosystem in which it lives.

“By just targeting one species, you’re not reestablishing the ecosystem function and allowing the other native species that are also in decline to recover,” said Sally Hacker, an OSU associate professor of zoology. “We looked at the whole process to see if there were ways to help restore things to benefit the plover as well as other species.”

The western snowy plover, a small, open-ground nesting shorebird that prefers bare or sparsely-vegetated, low, sandy dunes, was listed as a threatened species in the early 1990s after populations in Oregon declined to only about 28 surviving individuals.

The listing triggered protection and monitoring, including restoration sites on public land along the Pacific coast. Bulldozers and other mechanical and hand methods were used to remove two invasive beach grass species, Ammophila arenaria and Ammophila breviligulata. These grasses make it difficult for the plover to nest, see predators, and access the open beaches to feed.

The non-native grasses had been introduced in Oregon in the late 1800s and early 1900s to stabilize beach sand that was inundating coastal roadways and homes, and create foredunes to protect properties from winter storm surges.

But the introduced grasses transformed vast stretches of what was once dynamic beach dunes populated by low-growing native plants into dense, static monocultures of the bristly beach grass. The invasive grasses shade out low-growing native plants and have caused continuous foredunes to form at heights of as much as 45 feet.

With support from Oregon Sea Grant, Hacker and Eric Seabloom, a former OSU professor, and doctoral candidate Phoebe Zarnetske, studied 10 of the plover restoration sites.

Study suggests education, manufacturing changes could reduce sea lion entanglements

Posted on April 14, 2011 by kightp

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A new study by researchers at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute suggests most entanglements of Steller sea lions in human-made marine debris along the Pacific coast could be prevented through education and changes to manufacturing and packaging processes when the entangling materials are produced.

In the first study of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, Kim Raum-Suryan, an OSU faculty research assistant, studied Steller sea lions between 2005 and 2009 at two of Oregon’s most iconic locations, the Sea Lion Caves and Cascade Head. Steller sea lions use these as “haul-outs,” places where the mammals rest on land between feeding forays.

Over the past 30 years, the Steller sea lion population has declined by more than 80 percent, resulting in its threatened status in the eastern portion of its range (central California to southeast Alaska) and endangered status in the western portion (western Alaska).

During the study, which was completed with funding from Oregon Sea Grant, Raum-Suryan witnessed 72 animals entangled in debris including: black rubber bands used on crab pots; hard plastic packing bands used around cardboard bait boxes (and other cardboard shipping boxes); and hooks and other fishing gear.

Wave energy impractical? OSU researcher says “not at all.”

Posted on April 8, 2011 by kightp

Check out this National Science Foundation video of Oregon State University researcher Annette Von Jouanne explaining how the power of the ocean waves could be harnessed to provide clean electricity.

Wave energy is a hot topic on the Oregon coast, where several companies have proposed pilot projects to determine whether the technology is practical, as well as possible. Coastal communities, meanwhile, want some say in where and how wave energy “farms” are located, fearing disruption of fishing, whale migration and other ocean uses. Oregon Sea Grant’s coastal Extension faculty are helping to bridge those divergent views through community meetings and education programs.

Sea Grant provided early grant support for Von Jouanne and her lab as they investigated the engineering solutions for harnessing the power of the waves. Read more here.

More on wave energy from the NSF’s Science Nation.

New Sea Grant fellows to help implement west coast ocean agreement

Posted on April 4, 2011 by kightp

Sea Grant programs in Oregon, California and Washington have teamed to place four highly qualified young professionals in a new West Coast Sea Grant Fellowship to support regional research and information needs and advance elements of the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health (WCGA).

“Sea Grant has a successful record of supporting exceptional master’s and doctoral graduates for marine research and policy fellowships, and the four California, Oregon, and Washington Sea Grant Programs are thrilled to be teaming up for our first-ever regional fellowship,” said Stephen Brandt, Oregon Sea Grant Director.

Beginning this month, the four will spent two-year assignments in federal and state agency offices in California, Oregon and Washington. The fellows will work on a variety of WCGA initiatives, from developing a framework for coastal and marine spatial planning to advancing regional ocean and coastal research priorities.

Their work will support the 2008 WCGA Action Plan, which describes seven key priorities facing the West Coast:

clean coastal waters and beaches
healthy ocean and coastal habitats
effective ecosystem-based management
reduced impacts of offshore development
increased ocean awareness and literacy among the region’s citizens
expanded ocean and coastal scientific information, research, and monitoring
sustainable economic development of coastal communities.

“We’re very excited to have this opportunity to benefit from the academic expertise, experience and enthusiasm of our four new fellows,” said Brian Baird, California’s Assistant Secretary for Ocean and Coastal Policy. “In these difficult economic times, working collaboratively to advance important ocean and coastal initiatives on the West Coast is critically important.”

Todd Hallenbeck will be based in the office of Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, where he will play a key role in coastal-marine spatial planning, a science-based process for analyzing and planning for ocean and coastal use. He will assist the WCGA in developing a framework for the process, including data management, decision support tools, stakeholder engagement and policy aspects. His work will help inform region-wide marine spatial planning as he interacts with the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, Pacific Fishery Management Council and various federal agencies with responsibilities for ocean and coastal activities, as well as state leadership from the three West Coast states.

Hallenbeck received his undergraduate degree in Marine Science from the Univeristy of California, Santa Cruz, and recently completed a master’s degree in Coastal Watershed Science and Policy from California State University, Monterey Bay.

Suzanna Stoike is assigned to the Washington Department of Ecology. Her work will focus on sustainable coastal communities by assisting in carrying out the soon-to-be-released implementation plan of the WCGA’s Sustainable Communities action coordination team. Suzanna will also help connect the West Coast Ecosystem-Based Network, a partnership of six community-based initiatives focused on the successful implementation of ecosystem-based management along the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, and the NOAA/WCGA Integrated Ecosystem Assessments team.

Stoike is a recent graduate of Oregon State University’s Marine Resource Management master’s degree program, with an undergraduate degree from Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. While at OSU, she worked with Sea Grant-funded researcher Selina Heppell on a project enlisting fishermen in Port Orford to determine whether different methods of releasing pregnant female fish can help sustain potentially overharvested species.

In addition to Stoike and Hallenbeck, the new fellowship program is placing graduates Alison Haupt with California Natural Resources Agency, and Alan Lovewell with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration office in Seattle.

Launched in September 2006 by the governors of California, Oregon and Washington, the WCGA advances regional ocean governance and underscores the importance of managing activities that affect our oceans on an ecosystem basis. The governors chose the state Sea Grant programs to conduct a three-year public engagement process that gathered comments from all kinds of ocean and coastal stakeholders, public and private, and resulted in a detailed report of their issues and concerns.

From that, the WCGA team developed a 116-page action plan and eight work plans for dealing with issues as far-reaching as sea level rise, renewable energy and marine science literacy. Those plans are all available for download from the WCGA website.

Pacific Tsunami Reminds Oregon to be Prepared

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Stevon Roberts

Tsunami alerts were triggered up and down the Oregon Coast this morning, following a deadly 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan. Reverse 911 calls and emergency sirens alerted Oregon coastal residents to potentially dangerous tsunami waves created by the distant quake, and the National Weather Service has issued a tsunami advisory. Oregon Sea Grant features a short film on tsunami preparedness: “Reaching Higher Ground: The 3 Things You Need to Know” (3:09).

To learn more about what causes a tsunami, check out our longer film, “Reaching Higher Ground” (14:02).

Oregon’s wave expertise attracts energy startup

Posted on March 10, 2011 by kightp

A Texas company with a novel approach to generating electricity from ocean waves is testing its devices at OSU’s Hinsdale Wave Research Lab, with an eye toward full-scale ocean testing in the future.

Texas-based Neptune Wave Energy was drawn to Oregon by the expertise and scientific resources of the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center, a joint effort of OSU and Washington State University.

Oregon Sea Grant, which helped fund early proof-of-concept research on wave-generated energy and is currently looking at the human dimensions of wave energy, is among the local partners in the Center, which is working on establishing an off-shore testing site near Newport that could be used by Neptune and other companies.

Read the whole story from Sustainable Business Oregon.

Learn more about Oregon Sea Grant’s efforts in wave energy.

Video report from KGW TV:

Breaking Waves

Oregon Sea Grant: Coastal science serving Oregon

Category Archives: Oregon Sea Grant