WEEKEND EDITION
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Friday November 15 2019 www.currypilot.com
Brookings, Oregon
SERVING CURRY COUNTY SINCE 1946
Search for fisherman suspended Jeremy C. Ruark Pilot Editor
T
he U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for fisherman Dan VanCleave after more than 22 hours of combined searches in the vicinity of Brookings that began late Tuesday night.
“Suspending a search is never an easy decision to make,” said 13th Coast Guard District Capt. Benjamin Berg. “We strive to save every single life. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mr. VanCleave. Chetco River Coast Guard Master Chief Dave Pierias said a family member had re-
ported that VanCleave, 59, failed to return from a fishing trip Tuesday night. The Coast Guard command center in Seattle conducted a forensics investigation, and VanCleave’s cell phone company produced the phone’s location on land in Brookings - with a 2,000-foot radius area of uncertainty that included beaches and
the ocean. At 7:10 p.m., members of Coast Guard Station Chetco River conducted a landbased search of the beach areas within the cell phone range and launched illumination flares. More Search on Page A2
Linda Pinkham Staff Writer
‘
Better late to the party than never’ was the theme of the day when Chetco River chinook salmon finally kept their date for a free ride to the hatchery. Earlier on Tuesday, Dave Kuehn of the Oregon South Coast Fishermen of Brookings admitted, “We are starting to get pretty worried,” after talking about how the fish failed to show up Oct. 29 during the group’s last attempt to capture some for the hatchery program. The water was quiet, with few signs of any fish, as the boat began to let a net out in a big loop at Social Security Bar. But the quiet didn’t last long as the net was hauled in by a dozen volunteers, plus Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) staff. State fish-seiner-in-chief Andrew Wells was both surprised and ecstatic to see more than 50 fish turn up in the first setting of the net. It took just one more set of the net to get the 80 fish needed for the ODFW hatchery program. “We use that many to diversify the mix,” said Leonard Krug, president of Oregon South Coast Fishermen of Brookings. “It’s a really well-run, conservation-minded hatchery program.” Each year, the group releases 40,000 to 50,000 fingerlings back into the Chetco River. On Tuesday, it took quite some time to corner, tail, measure and decide which of the numerous fish to keep. Volunteers spent that time wrestling the fish and running them in relay teams to the truck. The captured fish were a good mix of hatchery and native chinook, with several measuring longer than 35 inches. Three coho, a federally protected species, were released unharmed from the net. According to Krug, the fish are not widely known to be in the Chetco River, although they showed up this day.
THEY SWAM BACK,
AFTER ALL
Leonard Krug lifts a beauty from the measuring box, and prepares to slip it into a rubber boot, to be carried to a waiting fish transport truck. Photo by Linda Pinkham.
‘Green building’ goes down
Crab season now delayed
Jeremy C. Ruark Pilot Editor
W
hat’s often been called the “green building” at the Port of Brookings is now history. Allied Roofing and Construction of Brookings began demolishing the 22,000-square-foot building on Tuesday, with the teardown largely completed by Wednesday afternoon. Allied owner Shane Navarro said much of the lumber from the structure would be recycled. “I don’t want it to go to waste,” he said. The two-story building, on 2.5 acres at 16320 Lower Harbor Rd., was built in More Green on Page A6
Index
Classifieds.................B3-8 Comics......................A4 Puzzles.....................A4 Calendar...................B1-2
T
he opening of the commercial Dungeness crab season will be delayed at least until Dec. 16 along the entire Oregon coast, as testing has shown that crabs are too low in meat yield, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The target opening of the ocean commercial Dungeness crab season in Oregon is Dec. 1, but can be delayed to ensure a high-quality product to consumers and to avoid wastage of the resource. Crab quality testing in early November showed that none of the test areas met the meat yield criteria for a Dec. 1 opening. A delayed opening will allow crabs to fill with more meat, said state officials. A second round of crab quality testing will occur in late November or early December, and the results will be used to determine if the season should open Dec. 16, be further delayed, or be split into areas with dif-
Weather HIGH LOW
More Crab on Page A5
Much of the lumber from the building demolition will be recycled. Photo by Jeremy C. Ruark.
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