By MICHELLE KLAMPE/OSU News Service NEWPORT – Marine heat waves off the West Coast create ongoing and complex disruptions of the ocean food web that may benefit some species but threaten the future of many others, a new study has shown. The study published in the journal Nature Communications is the first of its […]
Environment
Three Oregon congressional members ask feds for more comment time on offshore wind energy sites
By LYNNE TERRY/Oregon Capital Chronicle Three of Oregon’s congressional members are pushing the federal government to extend the comment period on two proposed wind power projects off the southern Oregon Coast. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced last month it was moving forward with plans for offshore wind power installations off Coos Bay and […]
Wandering Pacific gray whale first seen off Florida coast in December now spotted in New England
By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews A Pacific gray whale spotted off the coast of Miami in December has apparently made its way north to Massachusetts, where it continues generating headlines and stunned scientific reaction. Gray whales, after all, belong in the Pacific Ocean, where thousands make twice-annual trips to feeding and calving grounds off Alaska and […]
Researchers refine ocean oxygen sensors so they can enlist Oregon’s crab fleet to track changing conditions
By MICHELLE KLAMPE/OSU News Service Oregon State University researchers are helping to refine the design and expanded use of oxygen monitoring sensors that can be deployed in crab or lobster pots to gather critical information on changing ocean conditions. The new project, a collaboration with industry and tribes, is funded by a three-year, $1.2 […]
Yes, you are right — it was very wet again in February in the Yachats area. And then it snowed March 1
Well, March might be remembered for starting with snow on ocean beaches, but February will be noted for just being wet. Very wet. Coupled with a record-wet January, lots of rainstorms in February meant higher than average rainfall. Two miles north of Yachats, longtime weather watcher Don Tucker measured 11.57 inches of rain in […]
New OSU study says fish exposed to some pesticides — even briefly — can display adverse effects
By MOLLY ROSBACH/OSU News Service NEWPORT — Fish exposed to some pesticides at extremely low concentrations for a brief period of time can demonstrate lasting behavioral changes, with the impact extending to offspring that were never exposed firsthand, a recent study found. The findings raise concerns not just for fish, but for all vertebrates […]
Despite attempts to control invasive green crabs in Oregon’s coastal waters, researchers say “they are here to stay”
By JULE GILFILLAN/Oregon Public Broadcasting On a summer day nearly two years ago, a team of researchers from Portland State University made their way upriver from chilly, salty Siletz Bay to the fresher, warmer waters of the Siletz River. They were retrieving traps set earlier to see whether invasive European green crabs were finding […]
OSU researcher wonders if gray whale off Florida coast was just lost or a sign it’s “exploring” the Atlantic
By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews The first few springtime sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic Ocean between 2010 and 2021 left many marine researchers scratching their heads. They wondered why whales known almost exclusively to populate the waters off the West Coast of the United States, Mexico and Canada suddenly were swimming an ocean away […]
Yes, there was that ice storm in January, but it was the rain that set local records to start the year
By YachatsNews Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction – even though he’s in Pennsylvania — that spring weather could be arriving soon should bring a sigh of relief to the central Oregon coast. January saw record rainfall by the weather watchers who keep track of such things for YachatsNews, and then – of course – there was […]
Canadian company specializing in dinosaurs prepares massive blue whale skeleton for final migration to Newport
By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews Discovery nearly a decade ago of a dead blue whale on the southern Oregon coast drew flocks of sightseers and scientists, all curious to gape at and inspect the relatively intact remains of the largest animal ever to populate the planet. Few, however, guessed that it wasn’t the end of the […]