Fresh Seafood in Oregon? Where is it??? (Portland, Medford: purchase, price)

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by bar20

First the seafood other than cod, crab and oysters comes from other areas. There isn't a lot of native seafood fished in Oregon. As far as beach towns I agree and may I suggest that you find a home in Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin, or Monterey Counties in Northern California as the weather is similar. Oh wait! That's right the prices for a home in those places is 4 to 5 times what it cost on the Oregon Coast. Since the property tax base is about the same, the state of California collects way more property tax. They also collect a 9.5% sales tax, Oregon has no sales tax. So the cities in CA have all this extra money from taxes to keep their towns looking top notch for all the tourists visiting. Although Oregon would like you to spend money on lodging and restaurants they collect no sales tax to add to their coffers. So I guess it comes down to spending top dollar in California or giving up a little less for the "rundown" Oregon beach towns. The choice is yours. I know which one I hope you pick.

Monterey or Marin County(or Sonoma) are very little like the Oregon Coast. The weather is much better and you're dealing with ultra-wealthy coastal areas on the edge or close to the six million people and the massive economy of the Bay Area. Monterey is a much more Mediterranean environment as well that shares it's county with the nitty gritty elements of Salinas. Unless you're independently wealthy you don't live in the Monterey Peninsula for the most part. Marin County is a wealthy suburb of nearby San Francisco for the most part. Sonoma County serves as an upscale weekend tourist destination and wine country area for the Bay. These towns transitioned from being fishing ports or inland logging/farming towns to being tourist or rich suburbs a while ago.

However, once you get north of Mendocino--places like Fort Bragg or Eureka or Crescent City aren't all that different from the Oregon Coast. And they don't like much that better or worse in terms of housing stock or streetscapes. Crescent City basically is an Oregon Coast town in some ways--though it has the element of Pelican Bay which has ruined the area according to a lot of locals. The Oregon Coast looks the way it does, because you have a lot of old logging/fishing towns and then places on the beach that have been attracting summer beach tourism but little outside of that the rest of the year until recently. The sleepy nature of the Oregon Coast outside of summer weekends is sort of what people like about it...

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by Steve97415

Pacific's primary source fisheries for all their markets -- including Oregon -- are in Alaska and Canada.

Pacseafood - Market Report- August 2013

True, but they are also the primary buyer in Oregon. Just because they fish in Alaska does not mean Oregon does not have a seafood industry, or that you can not get freash seafood here. It is all over, you just don't know where to find it.


You must have missed this part of the report .........

"The Alaskan troll season is closed and the next opportunity for Alaskan troll Kings will be in the fall. The lower 48 is still open with fishing continuing in Oregon, Washington, and California. "

"Alaska –No major Bottomfish fisheries currently coming in to Alaska with the exception of by-catch from our Halibut fleet. ... ...

Lower 48 – Strong northwest winds have hampered fishing efforts the past couple of weeks. No indication it will change until the weather starts to cool. The focuses for the boats that have been able to fish are Dover Sole and Petrale Sole, with some by-catch of Rex Sole and Arrowtooth Flounder. "

Oh, and you know that river that flows along the Oregon Border ..... " COHO: The Coho season is just starting, with strong landings expected from the end of August through September. There is a good return expected in both Alaska and the lower Columbia River. "

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Yep, they are forecasting strong returns of Fall Chinook and Coho (Silvers) on the Columbia this fall!

Bouy 10, here I come!

Hope Tillamook Bay is going to be good this year too!

Oh, and you know that river that flows along the Oregon Border .....
COHO: The Coho season is just starting, with strong landings expected from the end of August through September.
There is a good return expected in both Alaska and the lower Columbia River. "

There's a lot more to that story though.....
Gillnetting on the lower Columbia isn't as strong as it used to be.
Less and less commercial gillnetters on the lower Columbia every year.
Lots of opposition from sport fisherman, so some big changes are about to happen.
It may mean less commercial fish will be available.

Gill-net ban in lower Columbia River to phase-in by 2017 in plan approved by Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission | OregonLive.com

[Steve Pickering]

I fished the Oregon’s Ocean for several years. I would still be a commercial fisherman if my Fire Department Accident had not left me crippled and unable to take 12 hours at sea in a rocking boat. I may have sold my boat, but there are times I wish I had kept my Commercial license just a few more years to be grandfathered in.

[Hawk J]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Yep, they are forecasting strong returns of Fall Chinook and Coho (Silvers) on the Columbia this fall!

Bouy 10, here I come!

Hope Tillamook Bay is going to be good this year too!



There's a lot more to that story though.....
Gillnetting on the lower Columbia isn't as strong as it used to be.
Less and less commercial gillnetters on the lower Columbia every year.
Lots of opposition from sport fisherman, so some big changes are about to happen.
It may mean less commercial fish will be available.

Gill-net ban in lower Columbia River to phase-in by 2017 in plan approved by Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission | OregonLive.com

Sea Lion eat many salmon & steelhead, etc also. ODFW California Sea Lion Management

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I don't think people realize how strongly analyzed, regulated, allocated, and controlled the Columbia River fishery actually is.
A lot of fingers in the pie, from commercial and sport fisherman, the tribes, all the tributaries way upriver that support wild salmon, and of course those nasty Sea Lions.
It's not just the lower Columbia that counts. It's the whole river and all it's draianges and tributaries (like the Willamette and Snake for example), and Oregon and Washington both have a say in what goes on.

Just because a good return is forecasted doesn't mean that there will be fish for everyone.
It's just a prediction at this point.
We'll see what happens.

BTW, ask yourself this.
When was the last time you went to a store (not bought from the tribes at a roadside stand) and actually bought fish that was advertised as genuine Columbia River Steelhead or Salmon?

The only folks that I know that are eating Columbia and Willamette fish are people that have caught it themselves.
Last year I went to an Oregon City fish market and asked if I could buy Willamette Spring Chinook there.
I was offered ocean troll caught Spring Chinook at $18.99/lb.
Probably a Willamette fish that was caught outside the Columbia mouth.
The fish they had were in the 8 to 12 lb range, and sold whole.
You really need to love to eat your Salmon to spend close to 200 bucks for one fish.

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

The only folks that I know that are eating Columbia and Willamette fish are people that have caught it themselves.

That was the only way we managed to score fresh local seafood when we lived in Brookings -- by being friends with recreational, not commercial, fishermen.

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

I don't think people realize how strongly analyzed, regulated, allocated, and controlled the Columbia River fishery actually is.
A lot of fingers in the pie, from commercial and sport fisherman, the tribes, all the tributaries way upriver that support wild salmon, and of course those nasty Sea Lions.
It's not just the lower Columbia that counts. It's the whole river and all it's draianges and tributaries (like the Willamette and Snake for example), and Oregon and Washington both have a say in what goes on.

Just because a good return is forecasted doesn't mean that there will be fish for everyone.
It's just a prediction at this point.
We'll see what happens.

BTW, ask yourself this.
When was the last time you went to a store (not bought from the tribes at a roadside stand) and actually bought fish that was advertised as genuine Columbia River Steelhead or Salmon?

The only folks that I know that are eating Columbia and Willamette fish are people that have caught it themselves.

Last year I went to an Oregon City fish market and asked if I could buy Willamette Spring Chinook there.
I was offered ocean troll caught Spring Chinook at $18.99/lb.
Probably a Willamette fish that was caught outside the Columbia mouth.
The fish they had were in the 8 to 12 lb range, and sold whole.
You really need to love to eat your Salmon to spend close to 200 bucks for one fish.

You just listed two sources of river caught salmon. They are not always marked, but if you buy much salmon in Oregon,you are likely to get some from the river. Just because you do not know anybody, doesn't mean Oregon does not supply a lot of freash local salmon and other seafoods. As you said you could not afford what was offered, but that does not mean it isn't available.

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by Steve97415

That was the only way we managed to score fresh local seafood when we lived in Brookings -- by being friends with recreational, not commercial, fishermen.

I can name three docks where you can walk up to a commercial fisherman right now and buy salmon right off the boat.

Also your friends can give you fish, but if they get caught selling recreational fish, they won't be fishing in Oregon anymore.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

As you said you could not afford what was offered, but that does not mean it isn't available.

You can not buy any Salmon caught in the Willamette as it has no commercial fishery for Salmon.
You have to buy ocean caught, which may or not be headed to the Willamette, but it's still a Spring Chinook, the most desirable Salmon out there...
If you want a Willamette fish, you have to catch it yourself (as I have been doing for over 50 years) or have it given to you, as Steve mentioned.


If you want to buy true fresh Columbia river fish with no guesswork or having to figure out the fishes' "pedigree" at a place like Safeway (since not everybody has the luxury of a local commercial boat dock), this is an option:

Buying Salmon Columbia River Basin | Buy wild salmon


PS: I never said I could not afford it, but who in their right mind would pay that price?