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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.
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