-.
SBElUlSB INVESTlCATlOHS
PROGRESS REPORT ltO. 36
April 1, 1964 - March 31, 1965
Fish Commi sion of Oregon
Research Division
Auaust 1966
C~TENTS
TABLE OF
Pye No.
INftODUCTIOII. • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
1
PEISCI01EL CBAIICES
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
1
IEPORrS PIIPAUD. •
BAY CLAMS • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
1
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
2
Bay Clam Survey. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
2
Clam Mortality • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
E!perimental Clam Bed. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
General. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
IAZCR CLAMS •
•
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0
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3
3
4
•
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s
Sport Fiah•!f• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Commercial Fishery • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • •
Research Acti¥itiea. • • • • • • • • 0 • • • • • • • • 0 • 0 •
~1ft
~
Bottle Study • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
5
7
1.
lujuzoy Stucly. It • • • • • - • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Beach Survey a • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • o • • • • • • •
7
7
9
• • • • • • • • •
10
Taaai!a Proar•· • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
10
10
•
•
0
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Shed Carapace. o • • •
Pre-aeaaoa Cruise. • •
Conclltion S•11Da • •
Federal Fund Proposals
Caaerclal Procluction.
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• • • • • • • o • • • •
• o • • • • • o • • • •
10
11
11
11
ABALOHE
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11
OYSTERS
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• • • •
• • • •
• • • •
13
13
14.
•
14
Necanleta Uver Study. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
o
Lease Application. • • • • • • • • • •
o
•
•
European Plat Qyatera.
R.A.D. Proposal ••• o
'IRTDTIDAL ANlHALS. • •
•
•
Ecoloaical Studies • • • •
T~~O!!' o
Pe~ta. o
HlSCBLLAMEOUS
•
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LIST OF FIGURES
~ye
Pisure No.
No.
1. Age compoaitioa of peraoaal-uae razor clams from Clataop
2.
Count.J beach.. , 1964••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
6
Age ccapoaltiou of c~"ial raaor cl_. frca Clataop
County beach•• durtDa 1964••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
8
Lift OP TABLES
Table No.
Pye No.
1o Shellfish PeraODne1 ud Peraoanel Chaqea, April 1964Harch 1965•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••
1
l.eports Sulaitted by the Shellfish Staff, April 1, 1964March 31 1 196So••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••
2
Sport Barveat .o f lasor Claas bJ Area frca Clataop Beacbea,
April-September 1964••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• •••
5
Rasor Claa Beach Survey, 1964•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
9
2.
3.
4.
INTRODUCTION
The budget reduction necessitated in 1964 sharply curtailed the number
of student trainees available in 1965. Conaequently, activities of the
shellfiSh staff were limited to routine collection of
info~tlon
on land-
ina statlatlca, sempliaa the catch of baJ act ruol" claa cligera, and monitorlng crab landiqa.
Oa.ly one bay cl• auney vaa . .de compared to the
normal six to twelve.
PE.RSONNEL CHANGES
Shellfish personnel and changes during the report period appear in
Table 1. The
1101t
noteworthy chanaea occurred in June 1964 when Nelson E.
Stewart reslaned to accept a position with Oregon State UniversitJ to work
toward his PhD dearee and John
a.
Neilsen vaa hired to fill his position.
UPOitTS PUPAUD
Reports completed and distributed appear in Table 2.
Table 1.
Shellfish Personnel and Personnel Changes,
Apr;ll 1964-Hat:Cb 1965.
Date
Name
Employed
Charles D. Snow
7-18-55
Darrell Demory
6-14-61
Waldemar DeBen
10-28-63
John
llo
Neilsen
Date Terminated
or Transferred
6-10-64
Nelson E. Stewart
6- 8-62
6-30-64
James E. McNeeley
6- 8-64
9· 8-64
Daniel C. Kroger
6- 1-64
8-31-64
2.
BAY CLAMS
Bay clem work primarily involved initiating
aeve~al
pilot studies on
clam aarking teclmiquea, monitorina the peraonal-u•• flahery ta Yaqulna Bay.
and lnveatlaattos two aerloua cla mortalitiu.
Tabla 2.
lAporta Sa~tted by tbe Shellfiah Staff,
April 1, 1964-Kuch 31, 1965.
Information Reports
Dem.oJ:y,
Darrell
April 1964. Results of the 1964 Drift Bottle Pilot Study.
April 1964. Interviews Relative to Rasor ct.. aeaulationa.
Hay
1964. Ut:lllaation and B.egulatlon of Clataop Beach Iazor Clam Stocks.
Snow, Charles D.
Damage to Cl• Beds in Yaquina BaJ by Tidal Wave on
April
1964.
July
Auauat
1964.
1964. Pacific Berrtoa (Clupea pallasii) Fisher, in Yaqu:laa Bay.
1964. Oreaoa Crab Conditloa Studies Durin& the 1960-61, 1961-62,
March 27.
1962-63, and 1963-64 Seaa011s.
November 1964o Information for Cl'ab Burlna 011 Nov.aber 24.
Jauary 1965. Till111100k County O,ater Landa.
Stewart, NelaOD E. and Wald. .r DeBell
April 1964. Damage to Clam Beds in Stu•law Bay by the Tidal Wave on
March 27, 1964.
lleeorta for Publication
Snow, Char lea
D.
and Faery J. Wagner
Taaatns of Dungeoeas Crabs (Cancer !!lister Dana) with Spaghetti and Dart
Taaa, Yaqulna Bay,
Oreaon~
Bay Clam Suney
Due to the reduction in seasonal personnel necessitated by general
fund reductions only one bay vas surveyed for clam abundance o
3.
The Siusl w survey again, as in the past four surveys, indic te
d cline in abundance.
a
Softshell clams per square foot h ve dropped fro
in 1960 to 0 021 in 1964.
However, it should be noted that thi
0.15
surv y w s
made in August following what appeared to have been a se son of intense digging.
The 1965 survey will be made early in the season for comparison.
Clam Mortality
Two major clam mortalities occurred during the p riod of this r port.
Th
fir t occurred on March 27, 1964 following the Alas
ultant tidal wave.
n earthqu ke nd re-
Many gaper clams in Yaquina B y and softshells in Siu 1 w
Bay were displaced by wave action and fell prey to predators.
Detail
of tbi
pp ar in informational reports.
The second major mortality involved cockl s in Yaquina and Till
ook
bays following the floods in December 1964 and January 196So
Counts of d
and dying cockles in Yaquina Bay indicated that approximately
11~
est~ted
following the flood indicated
Cursory surveys in Tillamook Bay
mortality similar to that in Yaquin
Bay.
shellfish staff plans to conduct intensive surveys of clam beds
nd catch-per-unit of effort during the summer tides of 1965 to
effect
of the
population of this antmal succumbed from 14 days of depress d sa-
linities ranging as low as 0.7 0/00.
Th
d
stimate th
of this mortality on the overall harvest of clams.
The 7-acr
are
in Yaquina Bay set a ide for
w s utiliz d for initi tion of several studi
littl neck cl
s (Prototh c
rking techniques.
P ter en disc ta
on with
dete~ine
Marking methods
rine r sin; (2) c
ntal clam ork
Cockle
taminca) and bentno
rked by thr e different methods to
various
•
exper~
nuttallii ,
(Macoma n suta) clams were
growth rat s
loyed
ere:
nd f
ibility of
(1) c
entin
ting P tersen di c tags on
0
h f r r ul e c ement · an d (3
h'
c
numb 4!.l'S on
in in
p
d
h
h
tl
cl
r
in
ti ·n
tb
e ia
c
n
an
'' n
l.r
b;>
of t his
1 he. l'es.ult
0
hg and
J
t raps W4!.re. er .t ed
or s t
1
0
p w
A
f
t.
v
0
b
h
<;
b
d
r
n
r
t
0
wi th pl
to
0
1
u
A
sta " d
c: 11
ze
0
sta ion
ot
en
t
0
th
th s
o.
t
ond
t
a
ex
t rm
0
.1 60 a t v
din
t
58 ma
othe
on -ha . i nch o Th
six year
t
•
In t h
v
e
rmlra
s
tb
C>
u
0
v
0
a
r cl
th
uing
Durin t b
sp c !
e
of s
d
8
fo
big m
from
i
·0
ryi n
:1.& s and
pr o
am was
ha ben
t d
digg
per iod
0 0
bad
and
eatimat d to
e 8 p
a of
4
estimat d a e
wa
out and
r
d 'c
rval one c
ar in
s1 ...
nd
0
h
0
e
n
n a ·ner
n
tb
e it was bel1
h t
he
th
paat w
t udy o
OC Utt
th
d
u
0
,a
d
eoekl s
at ff ma k d 150
fail d to
r ed o
£1
6
:1.
ou
p
pla~
w
ac:.e
:1.1
J
nd
b l fl
t rm nat d
reeo
b
0
.u
o
At each
i nch s and
aa
udy
in
n t
In
kso
11 juv
b d
4
w
h 0
c l m.
w
1
obj
th
ry
e ll
a d
kl
=ag
l am
1l
lant
e 11 and
0 b~
wa
2 y
3ao l 5
h and th
f ve
n
r
o
n
rs
f a e
s.
from growth rings, however this is the first evidence we have obtained that
partially substantiates these esttmateso
lAZOR CLAMS
The personal-use raaor cla. fishery was sampled from April to September
as in the past for number of clams per diBSar and age ecapoaition. Ccaaercially
dug clama were also a.-pled for
aae
composition and nuaber of eta.. per pound.
Other aetlntles included continuation of a drift bottle study, a claa injury
study, and a surv., of aoutbera beaches for
raao~
clams.
Sport Fish!JOY
The calculated aport harvest for 1964 vas 1,097,000 claaa , the ftrat
m1111on-plua year aiace 1958 (Table 3).
54,000
dl~&era
Dtgioa pressure alao iacrasecl from
in 1963 to 70,000 dtaaera t a 1964. Availability of cl.. beds
with an apparat tncr aae in cl• stocks reaultecl ia a successful
However, 635,000 cl... were tD their ftrat
J•~
aeaaOD.
of life (O•a) (Piaure 1). 1D
past years, a heavy take of O•a was foll01red the next year by a lara• take of
1+ e18118 1 but a cany over of lal'ge cl_. was 110re erideat in the past than thta
year.
Table 3o
Sport Haneat of Ruor Clams by Area fr• Clatsop Beaches,
Aprtl-Sept.-ber 1964.
Hiles
of
Beach
Mu.ber
of
Digera
Avuaae
Rmabera of
Humber
of Clams
ClaulDlgu:
Dus
la.tv!l
16
43,410
15 7
682,397
114.643
~I
-
2
27.193
14.9
415,197
151,132
18
70,603
15.5
1,097,594
265,775
Area
Total
i'-'
Necan:l.ct.a River to CoJ..-bia River (North Beach) o
Ti~lamook Head to Recan~ca IJ.ver (Seaside).
Humber
of Clams
Wasted
60
,..
~
so
1-
•
40
~
lt
l
I
1-
j
30
I
1-
I
t-
20
~
~
10 ,....
1-
I
0
0+
1+
2+
I
3+
0.2
<O.l
4+
5+
Figure 1. Age composition of persooal•uae razor cl... fraa Clatsop
County beaehe , 1964.
7.
Wastage in 1964 was a problem and increased 3.7
to 265,000 clams or
24~
of the total sport harvest.
t~es
over that of 1963
Further details of the
1964 fishezy are included in an infoEm&tional report.
Ca..erctal P1ahe!f
Prelbd.DUJ flaur a shaw that nea&-ly 33 ,000 pounda or 147,000 cl... vue
taken by
C~I'Cial
dia&ers ill 1964.
'fhe per C8Dt qe
COIIpOSitiOil
ia shown
in Pigure 2. Host of the production came from boat bara off the Peter Iredale
section of
b~h
betvea Tillamook Bead and the south jetty of the Columbia
Rivero
Research Activities
Drift Bottle StudJ
The drift bottle atucly bepa iD 1963 waa coat:Lnued in 1964, with an
additional release of 240 bottles about one aile offshore
River and Tillamook Head.
Analysis ia as yet
be~een
the Columbia
Seveaty-tvo per cat of the bottles were recovereclo
inca~plete
but a aoutherly clrift la evid•t except
off Seaside where cun•t pattema lack a defilltte pattUDo
the results of this
study will appear tD the Research lrlefso
Injury StuciJ
Numhera of injured razor clams have been noticed in the flahezy and a
study was initiated to detel'lline the nu.ber aa.d
tne•
of tnjuiea suffered by
razor clams and their possible significance to the vastaae probl...
Injuries have
been classified as anterior, posterior and eda• chips, constrictions, and broken
valves.
The number of injuries for a siven sample may range from nothina to
401, and individual clama may show five injurl.. although single injuries are
tlle aost
c~ono
The analysis is incomplete but should be finaliaed by 1966.
8.
60
,..,
!I
so
~
1-
40
1-
1-
•
20
10
.
'-
0
o.s
0.3
0+
Figure 2.
1+
2+
Age composition of eom.ercial
County beaches during 1964.
3+
~••o~
ltf-
clams fraa Clataop
S+
9.
Beach Surveys
Surveys of beaches south of Clatsop County were conducted in 1964 and
the results are shown in Table 4.
Short Sand Beach, in the northwest
corn~
of Tillamook County, and Heyer a Creek Beach, near Cape Sebastian, are the two
aoat consisteat producers of the southern beacbea.
Large cl... were preva-
lent on 110at of the southern areas duriag the 1964 season.
Table 4.
Iazor Clam Beach surver,
1964.
Date
Area
Nco
Dis a
Claas Bio.
Sample
Per
Dis
Sl&e and/or Age lange
Mean Lenath
(Dil)
<-->
7- 9-64
Cove Beach
6
0
35
6-11-64
Cape Blanco
1
19
--
3•s • older
••
5-13-64
Beaver Creek
140
aoatlJ 3•s
--
7-12-64
Meyers Creek
43
7-11-64
Heyera Creek
-- --
21
8- 8-64
H. Coos ·Jay-Beach
0
0
2
8- 9-64
Coos BayWinchester Bay
0
0
0
8-10-64
Vhiskey Run
2
0
0
5-14-64
Cape Blanco
1
24
--
mostly 3•a4•s
--
S-15-64
Meyers Creek
104
128
91-150
8-10-64
Merchant Beach
7-13-64
Basteadorf Beach
...
6.. 12-64
Short Sancl
----
-2e4
-· ---- ·0
16
0
7.8
127
84-143
moatly 0'•
0
2
.58
98
38-137
o•a
--
·-
--
10 •
. CRABS
The crab prograa durtns the period of this report vas eonfined to in1tiating two tagging studies, determining width-length relationships, width frequencles, shell condition studies, a pre-season erulae, and pcapoaina atudiea
for federal funding.
Tagging Proar•
Two taaaln proarams were started during this report period. The flrat
i nvolved tagging 5,000 ocean-caught craba at dockside in YaqulDa Bay and
tran~­
portiog thea to sea for release between Yaqulaa Head aud Receta Kead. The
second study involved taaaiaa and releastna 4,000 oceaa•cauabt crabs at the
Port Orford doet..
Both studies were deaiaaed to:
meat; and (3) the best tt.e of year to
l~inary
(1) deter..ine arowtb
taa
vitb the suture-line
infomatiOil sugeats that the lonaer tbie
higher the retentioa rate.
~•t•••
taa
~v•­
(2)
taa.
Pre-
la ia place the
It is planned to publish the results of these
studies upou c011p let ion of the proar••·
Shed Carapaee
Numerous calls are received by the staff reportiag major crab mortalitles along the Oreaoa coast.
mortalities to be
aoth~&
Investigation of all complaints revealed the
.ore than the shed eKo1keletoaa of recently molted
crab. Measureaents of these carapaces indicated that the ant.ala that had
shed woul d be of leaal size during
~be
1964-6S •••son.
Pre-season Cruise
Shellfish personnel fraa Oregon acca.panied the California biologists
on their pre-season cruise in
the Creaeeat Ctty-Brooklnga
area.
Their findings
I
.
,
indicated an improved catch and excelleot coaditloo
f or the 1964-65 seasono
~s ~ased
on shell condition
these predtctlona vere verified upon the season opening.
11.
Condition Sampling
Crabs were sampled for shell condition from December 1964 through February
1965.
DurlD& this period 10,233 crabs were examined for shell conditi on and
4,589 (451) were a
hardness, •••
sured for width fr quency.
Condition, as baaed on shell
aoocl ranalaa from 2.1-7 · " aoftsbell at the opening of the aeaaoo
and r ...intq at a relatlv lJ l01r 1
mean width of crabs
~el th~ouah
th
r 1t of the season. fte
aua-ed vas 169.9- (6.7 lDchea).
In addition to the normal width frequencies. 100 larae crabs w.re
measured for length•vidtb relationships.
Federal Fund Proposals
The 1964 Coaar..a paaaecl Public Law 88-309 bOVD as the Coaaercial
Fisheries lteaearch and Development Act.
Upon uotice of this potential source
of funds several projects vue submitted for couaf.deratioo for funcllng.
11Ddnary proposals weret
(1) larval r ad.q of
DuD&•••• crabs;
Pre-
(2) offshore
distribution of Dungeneaa crab larvae; and (3) effect of trawlina for
bott~
fish upon the crab resource.
Commercial Production
Commercial crab production has declined aluce the 1956-57 crab season when
12.0 milli on pounds were landed.
environmental
c~ditions
Thla decline was believed to be related to
rather than overfishiq.
The 1962-63 and 1963-64
seasons appear to have beeo the law point of the decline vhen only 3.5 million
pounds wer e landed each season.
Preliminary catchea during the 1964-65 season
led to a prediction of a 6.0-6.5 million pOUilcl year.
It is believed that C1:'ab
producti on is now on an up. rd trend.
ABALONE
Abalone work vas conflned to two surveys of the
Brooki ngs and Coos Bayo
~ntert idal
areas
a~
Fr om l imited examinati on. the i nter t i dal populati on of
red abalone did not appear to be any bett er or worse than on previou
surv~s.
12.
OYSTERS
Oyster work durin& the report period involved studying the feasibility
of culture of this species in the Necanicum River near Seaside, investigating
a lease application in Yaquina Bay, outlining a program of study on oysters
for Tillamook County Rural Area Development Committee, and entering into a
cooperative study with Ore.son State University on the feasibility of tntroduciaa
tbe European flat oyster into Netarts Bay.
Necanicum River Study
The Seaside Chamber of Commerce made a formal inquiry into tbe possibility of introducing oysters into th
lower section of the Necanicum Rivero
During the summer of 1964, and a period of lov river flow, salinity samples
were taken at the surface and botta. of the Necanicua River tbrouah a complete
tidal cycleo The results of this work revealed that salinity, .wen during
low flows, was below the nomal requir ents of oysters. This data, coupled
with the obsexvation of raw sewage in the atr••• proapted us to advise
against planting oysters ln that areao
Lease Application
An
application for leasing native oyster lands in Yaqulu Bay was
investigated and a recomaendation favoring the lease was submitted to Portland.
Subsequently. the le•se was granted and is now in operation.
European Flat 9Jstera
The Oregon State University Extension Service obtained a small shipment
of European flat oysters (Ostrea edulia) froa the Bureau of Commercial
Fisheries Laboratory at Milford, Connecticut. This shipment was divided into
three portions; one being planted in trays in Netarts Bay, one in Yaquina Bay,
and the other held in the laboratory.
The objectives of this cooperative
13.
study are to deter.mine:
(1) if these antmal will urvive in Oregon waters;
(2) the possibility of establishing th
as part of our shellfish fauna; and
(3) the feasibility of laboratory rearing of this species.
R.A.D. Proposal
The Tillamook County Rural Area
Developaen~
committee proposed to build
a laboratory, with Oregon Fish Commission cooperation, devot d to shellfish
cultureo
A program and budget was developed bJ the sh llfish staff and the
proposal submitted to the Area Redevelopment Adainiatration.
However, the
program was rejected becaus of inadequate funds in the Area Redevelopment
Administration and reorganization of the group.
INTERTIDAL ANIMALS
The study on intertidal non-food animals has only been staffed for a
little over a year.
Consequ ntly, work durlag the report period was primarily
oriented toward long-range program planniaa and determining the course to be
taken on this program.
Ecological Studies
A
long•te~
ecological study was started at Yaquina Head.
Permanent
transects were established and counts made of aotmals in these transects.
They are monitored periodically to
dete~ine
population trends and by stripping
selected areas of all animals and studying repopulation by species and timeo
Taxonomy
A
long-range program of identifying animals and compiling a check list
of marine invertebrates of the Oregon coast was started.
It is hoped that
within a few years a list of Oregon's most common and some of the less common
marine non-food antmals may be publish d as a guide to people utilizing these
areaso
14.
Permits
During this report period 148 collecting per.mits were issued.
Of this
number. 137 were issued for scientific and educational purposes and 11 for
commercial collection for curio items.
their use will appear in an
The number of animals collected and
lnfo~ttonal
report.
MISCELLANEOUS
Several items pertaining to assorted shellfish problems are classified
as miscellan ous.
This classification is applied to items that reflect
sp~clal
work or isolated problems that are deemed worthy of mention. The following is
a list of such items:
(1) small expertmental treabDents of isolated areas of
Tillamook and Yaquina bays with the pesticide Sevi.J.I to study effects on small
areas; (2) investigating many reports of dead
11
salmon" on the beach which all
turned out to be hake (Merlueclus productus); (3) investigating proposed boat
ramps 9 dredging applications 8 etcot for possible
deleterio~s
effect upon the
shellfish resource; (4) capturing crayfish in selected coastal and Willamette
Valley streams to determine average weight per dosen in different areas; an4
(S) attending a variety of professional meetings. public hearings, and speaking
at service organizations.
c. Dale Snow. Project Leader
Darrell Demory
Waldemar DeBen
John B.. Neilsen
Aquatic Biologists
!I
Trade name of the chemical 1-napththyl-N-carbamnateo