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The month of October has
flown by, with high winds, torrential rains, and some really beautiful sunny days.
Local fishers started the crab season on October 1, and with many crab caught,
(over a million pounds) it was ended abruptly on October 11 for non-Indian fishers.
There were a lot of large crab this year, some over eight inches across,
adding to the excitement of the catch. There was a quota given for the all-citizen
fishery (non-Indian), which has since proven to be too small, as the Treaty Indian
fishers continue to catch good amounts of crab. As a result, the Washington Department
of Fisheries has re-opened the commercial crab fishery as of November 1 for all
fishers, with a few new rules, including only 50 pots per license for non-Indian
fishers instead of the 100 which were previously allowed. Chum salmon fishing
has been going on during the month of October, in lower Puget Sound, and as far
north as Bellingham. There have been several local seiners as well as gillnetters
going out for this fishery, which has been two or three days a week.
The draggers have been fishing a few days a week for English sole, which is very
abundant here in our area. The offshore draggers have not been having good fishing
this month, with bad weather keeping them close to shore.
Some of the
dragger crews have been crabbing or salmon fishing this month, keeping them busy
with alternate fisheries. The stories I’ve heard this month included the
crab fisher who was gong out past Point Roberts, no other boats in sight, when
he spotted someone swimming! It developed that a Point Roberts man had gone out
in a small boat, which sank, and he was trying to get back to shore. It was certainly
lucky for him that the crab boat came by, picked him up and got help for him.
It would have been a very long, cold swim otherwise. One crabber cut off several
fingers while on the fishing grounds (probably caught his hand in the crab block),
and had to go by ambulance from Blaine Harbor to St. Joseph’s hospital.
The seiner/crabber Delta Dawn burned while at the dock last week. It took
fire crews over an hour to get the flames doused, almost sinking the boat to get
the fire out, and then mop-up crews of firemen, Foss tug, Blaine harbor crew,
and Coast Guard spent many hours pumping out the boat to get it back up, and then
cleaning the oil spill form the harbor waters.
There are still oil booms
around the boat. This beautiful fiberglass Delta boat has always been one of the
nicest fishing boats in the harbor. It will be missed if it is totaled. I am not
sure of the reason for the fire, I have heard it was probably electrical, but
it is a sad thing to happen and I wish Holy and Donna Hanson all the best as they
decide what to do.
There have been hundreds to even thousands of ducks
at the Marine Park. Right now, on the high tides, you can see huge flocks of mallards
where Cain Creek comes into the bay. This is a major stop on the flyway for migratory
seabirds, and we are so lucky to be able to see them so easily here in Blaine.
The Blaine Park and Cemetery Board has been working for months on plans for
the Marine Park, which include both enhancement for the wildlife areas of the
park, and expanding the beach access for public use. They were awarded a small
grant to help with the planning stage of this work, and have spent many long hours
with experts on beach erosion, wildlife conservation, and public park planners
to make our park better than ever. Look for more to come as they map out what
they believe will be the best uses for all our citizens to use this facility.
Later, there will be meetings with the public for their input into the plans.
This park is a real jewel in our city’s crown, and we hope that it will
continue to meet the needs of both the public and the wildlife that use this area
so much. We have visitors from all over the county, who come to photograph and
watch the birds, as well as those who come to enjoy the scenery, walk the paths,
and exercise their dogs (and kids!). I hope that you have time to come down here
this fall to see what we have here, and think about what you might like to see
happen as this park progresses. Back
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