Excess salmon headed for Oregon Food Bank; Coast Guard to marshall Vet's Parade; Mapleton Auction returns.

Oregon Food Bank Angling for Leftover Salmon

It’s looking like a good year for Northwest Salmon… at least for hatchery fish. So good in fact, that the Oregon Food Bank Network will benefit from some of the catch. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife sells some Columbia River hatchery fish to a processor in Bellingham, Washington that has a market for fish roe and carcasses… but not for the fillets. So, the processor freezes them and returns them to Oregon for the Food Bank. Mike Moran (muh-RANN) says the fillets will be distributed this spring.
210 -- “We have not seen a substantial amount of fish, in fact, we haven’t seen very much fish at all for the past three or four years coming from Fish and Wildlife because the returns have been so low. But, this year is… things have changed quite a bit.”

Moran, the Food Resource Manager for the Food Bank, calls it a unique partnership between a business, a charitable group and a government agency that ensures no part of the fish goes to waste. He adds that no wild, native salmon are part of the process. They’re sorted out as they head upstream and over Bonneville Dam. Some of the hatchery fillets will eventually wind up at Florence Food Share, but most likely not until March.

Organizers of the Veteran’s Parade in Florence are breaking new ground once again. This time it’s with their first ever Grand Marshall. Actually, it’s plural, members of the US-Coast Guard Siuslaw River Station will be honored during the Saturday, November 7th parade. Entry forms are available online at Florence-Veteran’s-Day-Parade-dot-com.

After a one-year hiatus, a popular Mapleton event is back on track. The doors open tomorrow at four PM at the Mapleton Lion’s Clubhouse for the Mapleton Country Auction. One new feature this year will be the ‘Artists Row’. Eight different local artists will demonstrate their craft during the silent auction from four to 5:30. A live auction gets underway immediately following that. All proceeds benefit youth scholarships, school programs and other community needs.

Another major earthquake rolled across the ocean floor early this morning. According to the U-S-G-S a 4.1 magnitude quake was recorded 211 miles west of Coos Bay at 1:40 this morning. The quake did not produce a tsunami.

TAKING A LOOK INTO COAST RADIO SPORTS:
Prep Volleyball:
The Mapleton Sailors will face Triangle Lake Monday in a Mountain West League playoff game. That’s after the Sailors fell last night to the McKenzie Eagles in three games. Mapleton and T-Lake will face off at Mohawk High School at 5:00… immediately following that match will be a tie-breaker between McKenzie and Crow. A victory for the Sailors on Monday would put them in another playoff match Tuesday against either Alsea or Lowell.

In the Sunset League last night, the Bandon Tigers blocked any chance of the Reedsport Braves making the playoffs, downing Reedsport in five games. The Braves will be at the Marshfield Invitational this weekend… along with the Siuslaw Vikings.

Also on the schedule… Prep Football tonight. Siuslaw, one-and-one in the Far West League will host the oh-and-two North Bend Bulldogs. The pregame show is set for 6:45 on KCST. The Reedsport Braves will be in Medford against Cascade Christian. Mapleton heads up Highway 36 to Triangle Lake… All games kick off at seven.

On the college gridiron: The Oregon Ducks are back in action after a weekend off. They’ll be in Seattle against the Washington Huskies at 12:30 tomorrow… airtime on KCST is set for 11:30. Meanwhile, the Beavers, also following a weekend off, have headed the other direction. They’ll be in Los Angeles where they’ll take on the USC Trojans at five… airtime on KCFM will be at four.