This week, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, in collaboration with Oregon State University Extension Service, Oregon Emergency Management, and Oregon National Guard will be distributing hand sanitizer and N95 masks to food producers on May 27th and May 28th. This effort is especially targeting farmworkers, agricultural producers – which includes fishing vessel owners and crew.
See the flier for details on location and times for each county. You will be asked to provide your fishing vessel name to access these supplies.
Help spread the word about this quickly approaching opportunity to equip our fishing fleet with important PPE to be able to continue operating safely.

FishBiz webinars will be moving to a monthly format, and we will let everyone know when they settle on a date and speaker for the June session. Here is the link to the most recent session.

"All spending plans must be approved by NOAA before funds can be distributed. The CARES Act requires distribution of funds no later than Sept. 30, 2021, but ODFW hopes Oregon's spending plan and applications can be submitted to NOAA by early fall this year to begin the approval and disbursement process.

More information and the CARES Act and Oregon's spending plan process will be available on ODFW's Fish Division webpage (https://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/CARES/) once information and application materials become available."

"U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today unveiled a one-stop-shop of federal programs that can be used by rural communities, organizations and individuals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide (PDF, 349 KB) is a first-of-its-kind resource for rural leaders looking for federal funding and partnership opportunities to help address this pandemic."

"The situation around COVID-19 (novel coronavirus disease) in Oregon continues to evolve. Governor Kate Brown has a webpage capturing statewide and federal recommendations and updates." (Updated regularly; last updated 4/10)

Video of webinar on "CARES Act 101 for Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Seafood Businesses."
Copy and paste this link for an accompanying Q and A document: http://nsglc.olemiss.edu/covid19/files/qa-caresact101.pdf

"A clearinghouse of reliable information on CARES Act programs and other issues associated with COVID-19 for the fishing, aquaculture, and seafood industries. This page is updated frequently as questions are received and resources come online."

"Business Oregon collaborated with the Oregon Employment Department, the Secretary of State's Office and the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs to create a Small Business Navigator. The tool includes a hotline and a website containing comprehensive information on key programs for small businesses impacted by COVID-19."

SBA Loan summaries.

The Small Business Administration (SBA), in consultation with the Department of the Treasury, intends to provide timely additional guidance to address borrower and lender questions concerning the implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), established by section 1102 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act or the Act). This document will be updated on a regular basis. (Updated 4/14)

The 'CARES Act Tip sheet for Self Employed Individuals’ prepared by the National Sea Grant Law Center that synthesizes much of the information presented in their webinars into a quick Q&A style reference.

Meeting agenda for ODCC meeting in Astoria 9/19/19

If you were unable to attend the ODCC meeting held in Newport, OR on March 3, 2019, but are interested in some of the commission's marketing efforts over the past several months please check out the link to the PowerPoint slides from the report.

On Thursday, November 2nd, 2017, John Sackton delivered his presentation on the outlook of the Dungeness crab fishery for 2018.

This is the Market Report that was video taped and put on YouTube

Illness of a person onboard any vessel that may adversely affect the safety of a vessel or port facility is a hazardous condition per 33 CFR 160.216 and must be reported immediately to the U.S. Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP). Cases of persons who exhibit symptoms consistent with COVID-19 must be reported to the COTP.

The Coast Guard considers it a hazardous condition under 33 CFR 160.216 if anyone, regardless of where they have been or who they have interacted with, shows symptoms of COVID-19 or other flu like illness. This requires immediate notification to the nearest Coast Guard COTP.

As discussions of offshore wind development in the U.S. continue to progress, Pacific fishermen have expressed significant concern over the lack of communication and collaboration necessary to inform coexistence among ocean users. The RODA-Pacific Advisory Committee is comprised of leaders from several West Coast fisheries throughout California and Oregon. Its purpose is to improve science and policy approaches to development, while also increasing and improving communication to help strengthen ties between Pacific fishermen and fishing communities across the country.

The focus of Phase II whale entanglement management measures is to help reduce risk of whale entanglements in crab gear by reducing the number of vertical lines in the water. To prepare for Phase II recommendations to the OFWC, the ODFW is hosting four regional Dungeness crab public industry meetings to solicit targeted input.

The OSU buoy off Coos Bay/Charleston (our designation CB06, USCG designator LLNR 612) stopped reporting via cell phone and 2 separate satellite systems on Saturday night, 4/6, about 8PM. This was during a stretch of nasty weather. The USCG has done a fly-over of the deployment location and not seen the buoy. (Click link for pic)

We would appreciate hearing of any sitings and locations.The last reported location from the buoy itself Saturday night 8PM was 43 deg 17.805 min N, 124 deg 32.051 min W.

Thanks!!
Please contact Mike Kosro, Professor at kosro@coas.oregonstate.edu or call 541-737-3079.

Anchored receivers are being deployed off of Reedsport again this year. The anchored receivers will be out for about 3 weeks. They record fish that are carrying acoustic transmitters

Currently there are several vacancies on the Commercial Fishery Permit boards and ODFW is hoping that permit holders are interested in serving as a member of a Commercial Fishery Permit Board. If you know of someone that would be an ideal candidate for one of the public positions, please have them contact ODFW for an application.

Materials available from the Workshop in April

Lakeside/Reedsport Research Buoy location and notification

Megalope return study of 2019, released in April of 2020.

This memorandum is to briefly describe results from using the Oregon Dungeness crab bio-economic model to assess economic impacts from proposed measures to reduce risk of fisheries gear whale entanglements.

Report generated from the ODCC's funded research to produce a Bio-Economic model for the Oregon Dungeness crab fishery.

Original RFP for research study

By Noelle Yochum, 2014

Proposal from OSU

Megalope return study

Megalope return study

Thesis defense on Dungeness study

Dr. Alan Shanks study for the commission

ODA Dungeness testing results

Letter for processors processing crab in 2019. from ODA

Newsletter for the Oregon Dungeness crab fleet - dated October 16, 2019 (printable PDF version)

Newsletter for the Oregon Dungeness crab fleet - dated August 2, 2019 (printable PDF version)

Newsletter for the Oregon Dungeness crab fleet - dated February 25, 2019.

Newsletter for our crab fishermen, Issue four - dated November 26, 2018.

Newsletter for our crab fishermen, Issue three - dated August 24, 2018.

Newsletter for our crab fishermen. Dated April 3, 2018

Newsletter for our crab fishermen. Issue one - dated December 5, 2017.

The 2018-19 Oregon Dungeness crab season "brought in $66.7 million dollars ex-vessel value, the second highest grossing season on record! Landings totaled 18.7 million pounds, approximately 9% above the 10-year average of 17.0 million pounds."

The season "brought in a record breaking 74.2 million dollar ex-vessel value! Landings totaled 23.1 million pounds, about 31% above the 10-year average of 16 million pounds..."

"The 2016-17 Oregon Dungeness crab season brought in the highest ex-vessel value ever, totaling $62.7 million dollars! Landings totaled 20.4 million pounds, about 22% above the 10 year average of 16.0 million pounds..."