Board changes urchin regulations

The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted changes to state regulations for Oregon sea urchins at a virtual meeting Friday.

The commission heard testimony from staff to consider a set of changes to accommodate public interest in three activities: recreational harvest of purple sea urchins for personal use; commercial harvest of purple sea urchins for the retail seafood market; and culling of sea urchins to assist with the conservation of seaweeds and kelp.

The commission voted unanimously to revise the Oregon sport fishing regulations for the Marine Zone to allow a daily catch limit of 35 purple sea urchins per person per day. Regarding a proposal to establish 24 new commercial take permits, the commission voted to maintain the status quo and did not establish a new commercial purple sea urchin permit system.

The commission voted to revise regulations to allow the department to issue a letter of authorization for controlled culling of red and purple sea urchins within three priority sites.

“I’m very pleased with the action taken by the Fish and Wildlife Commission today,” said Steve Rumrill, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shellfish program leader. “The particular actions they took today will help ensure conservation of bull kelp.”

— The Astorian

Oregon job vacancies tumble sharply

Oregon’s labor market is showing more signs of softening.

The state had just under 50,000 job vacancies last fall, according to new data from the Oregon Employment Department. That’s the lowest number of open positions since the summer of 2020, when hiring ground to a halt as COVID-19 set in.

Overall, Oregon’s labor market remains relatively strong. The state added nearly 20,000 jobs in 2024 and the unemployment rate finished the year at 4.1%. Unemployment has been near or below that level for more than four years.

But economists have seen growing cause for concern.

Companies increasingly leave positions open when workers quit or retire. And the rate of unemployed workers exhausting their 26 weeks of benefits before finding a new job has been climbing.

Most alarmingly, mass layoffs returned to Oregon last year.

Bird flu claims two more cats

Multnomah County recorded its first bird flu infections in cats this past week after two cats in different households contracted the disease and had to be euthanized, the state agriculture department announced.

This means four cats in Oregon have now been infected by avian influenza in the past two months, including two others in Washington County. The disease is more common among chickens and other poultry, but can spread to other animals through direct contact with infected birds or by consuming raw meat or milk.

Both of the infected cats had consumed raw food produced by Wild Coast Raw, an Olympia, Washington-based company that sources its products from West Coast farms.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture has issued a public health alert notifying people of the risk related to Wild Coast Raw’s Boneless Free Range Chicken Formula.

Bird flu can lead to severe and fatal symptoms. Typical signs of bird flu are fever, difficulty breathing, loss of appetite and eye or nasal discharge. Dogs can also contract the disease but are less susceptible, according to the state agency.

— The Oregonian