Oregon fisheries continue to face challenging environmental and economic conditions, and support from the federal government to help both the natural resources and the industries that depend upon them is less certain than in years past.

Three weeks ago, our governor submitted a request for federal aid, and our Congressional delegates just last week also petitioned the Secretary of Commerce to declare what would be Oregon’s seventh economic disaster since 2016, this one for a poor coastal Chinook salmon season last fall.

Federal entities that monitor and regulate our local fishing industry, as well as the environmental conditions that support a vibrant ecosystem, are now themselves under siege by chaos that stems from Washington, D.C., and federal grants that support local research here in Oregon to better understand and help us adapt to disruptions in the marine food web are similarly threatened with sharp cuts, or worse.

We’re going to see these impacts move through our local supply chain and Clatsop County’s economy with inconsistent harvests, reduced work at our seafood processors, rising prices for fresh seafood where profits are eaten away by rising costs for our commercial fishermen, and less access to a key source of healthy protein that is locally sourced, and culturally significant to who we are as Pacific Northwest residents.

THOMAS JENKINS
Astoria