- Today on All Across Oregon, our journey brings us back to the rugged coastal town of Port Orford, Oregon, where the day begins with the warm smell of a local bakery.

We step behind the scenes of sustainable seafood to a bustling seafood market, a local artist creating along the dock, and a kelp scientist fighting to restore balance beneath the waves.

This is coastal life and this is All Across Oregon.

(upbeat electronic music) All Across Oregon is made possible in part by Travel Southern Oregon Coast, Travel Curry County, and John Warekois, CPA.

(upbeat music continues) Welcome back to one of Oregon's most unforgettable coastal treasures, Port Orford.

Perched high above the Pacific, and rich with rugged beauty, this historic seaside town welcomes us once again with crashing waves, salty air, and the timeless spirit of a true working port.

Today, we're returning to the Southern Oregon coast to reconnect with the land, the people, and the coastal charm that makes Port Orford a place you never forget.

Our day begins at a charming family-run pastry shop, where homemade treats and a few unexpected pet turtles bring personality to the experience.

Bakeries like this echo old-world coastline traditions, places built on craftsmanship, comfort, and community connection.

Step inside Tasty Kate's Bakery, where the aroma alone tells you something special's happening.

But it's the owner who truly sets the tone, filling the room with energy, laughter, and an unmistakable personality.

This is a place where passion is baked into everything they do.

Okay, so it's day two in Port Orford, and you know what we're gonna start our day with?

Pastries.

(light energetic music) - [Catherine] Yeah, we were just looking at the turtles.

- [Vinny] Like real turtles?

- [Catherine] Yeah.

- [Vinny] In here?

- I rescued them from LA, they were like this big.

- [Vinny] How old are they?

- They're six.

- This is so neat.

- Isn't that fun?

- I got an email about you, and they said, "Okay, you're gonna be in Port Orford, you gotta stop by Tasty Kate's."

- Seriously?

- Oh yeah.

No, they said -- - Like it was a good email?

- A great email.

It was from -- - Oh, my gosh.

- Yeah, and they said, "She's gonna make you some goodies, you gotta try 'em."

For treats.

- Oh, I just got chills.

- Yeah, so... (upbeat music) - And that's how I started in Port Orford was they had a farmer's market over at Redfish, of all places, in their Statue Garden.

That evolved into, I rented a place across the street for a year, but I got invited to a party here.

And when I walked in, I'm like, "This would be the coolest place for a bakery."

And a year later, it was for sale.

- There you go.

Tasty Kate's.

- And here I am, 12 years later.

(upbeat music) - [Vinny] Oh my goodness.

What have we got going here?

- Well, I try and use as many local fruits as I can, so we've got raspberries.

- Okay, go ahead.

- The tomatoes are local, the plums are local.

And then I try and do sweet and savory every day.

If I have time, I whip up a lunch.

I always want it to be like somebody just walks in, and says, "Hey Kate, what's for lunch today?"

And that's what's for lunch.

- Good for you.

Man, props to you.

- So no menu.

- I wish I could do that.

Which one is like, Kate, we're doing sweet or are we doing savory?

- Well, are we doing sweet or are we doing savory?

- You know, I'm a sweet and savory kind of guy.

- Then you'll need to take two bites.

- Okay.

- So the Caprese is the savory.

- I love this.

And this crust-- - I do too.

So it's puff pastry, fresh mozzarella, basil pesto, and tomato.

And those tomatoes came from my friend Tom West's Garden.

- You're looking at your tomatoes, Tommy Boy.

- He is a local roofing contractor, but he has a thing for growing tomatoes.

- Oh.

- It's good, right?

- Ah, good tomatoes.

- The cheese danish is super popular.

Do you like a cheese danish?

- I love cheese, are you kidding me?

Do I like cheese danish?

If I could live on danishes, I could live on cheese danishes.

Then we'll eat it together.

- Okay, ready?

- As my guys are drooling.

- They're going to eat too.

- Oh my goodness.

- They're good cheese danishes, I love danish though.

'cause it's not too sweet.

- Mm-hmm.

- Mm-hmm.

See, we're good.

- Mmhmm, good.

Oh, we're good.

So light and fluffy and sweet.

Oh my goodness!

Oh my goodness.

That was insanely good.

Now all we need is a shot of a espresso.

Do I have thing on my face too?

- No, I did.

- Do you?

- [Catherine] You just want a shot?

Or you want something fun and fancy?

- Fun and fancy would be perfect.

- Okay.

- So you have a signature dish?

I mean, signature drink?

- The thing I push on people who are not so adventurous, but I make them be, black sesame.

- So I am very adventurous.

- Then you're gonna have black sesame.

- Go crazy, let's go.

- Yeah.

- Let's go, black sesame.

(chill music) Do you know when I was a kid, these would be on the front porch all the time.

- Mm-hmm.

- When I was really little.

- It really does keep the milk colder, and you get a nicer foam.

- You know, that's an excellent point, because you can be in an ice cold cooler, and that carton stuff, it don't work very good.

- So a little black sesame, this beautiful foamed milk, bloop.

Okay, your first black sesame latte.

- Black sesame latte.

- Mm-hmm.

It's good, right?

- That's excellent.

- [Catherine] Everybody thinks it's so weird.

Yes.

- Then they try it.

- Before they try it, then I make them try it, because I'm a little bossy.

- I love it.

- And it's so good.

- I love it.

- I know.

- I love it, let me see.

- It's just Torani.

- It's just Torani's Toasted Black Sesame.

Come on.

- Yeah.

I know.

- I love this flavor.

- Mhmm.

- Okay.

Okay, note to self.

- Black sesame.

- Vinny's Italian Kitchen is getting black sesame.

So we started off our day with some pastries, but now we're gonna head over to a place called Port Orford Sustainable Seafood.

What's it all about?

Let's take a look.

Sustainable seafood is about protecting our oceans, while enjoying the incredible flavors they provide.

It means harvesting fish and shellfish in ways that maintain healthy populations, respect marine ecosystems, and support the coastal communities that depend on them.

From responsible fishing practices to thoughtful processing, sustainability ensures today's catch doesn't compromise tomorrow's ocean.

It's seafood you can feel good about, and sourced with care for the sea, the people, and the future.

This is Port Orford Sustainable Seafood.

- Vinny, good to see you.

Pleased to have you here.

So today we've got a bunch of fish that came in last night.

We've got Albacore tuna, we've got some Lingcod, we've got some Rockfish, and we've got Black Cod.

- Rockfish are super cool, and then the Lingcod, those are like the mean-looking ones, right?

- Yeah, totally.

- This is Brian?

- This is, yeah, so in here, we got Brian Morrissey.

He is our cutter in chief, he knows how to cut, you know, over 1,000 pounds of fish in one day.

- Hey Brian, can I come back?

- Come back.

- [Vinny] Let's go.

- All right, let's go get 'em, Vinny.

Here we got some fish.

- [Vinny] Hold on, I gotta put gloves on.

- [Kean] Get some gloves on.

- I got a long day ahead of me, I can't have fish guts on me the rest of the day.

- I do it.

(group laughing) - [Kean] These are assorted deep water red rockfish.

- Whoa!

Look at this!

- Look at those clown eyes.

- Oh my goodness!

Man, you are just slopping all over the place!

(light rock music) So basically all I'm doing is I'm taking this off right here, right?

- Yeah.

- Or am I going too close?

- You can do a little bit right there.

- So a little bit right here?

- [Brian] Yeah, pull that off.

- [Vinny] Okay.

- [Kean] And there's, yeah, there's a bone line.

- [Vinny] Oh, we gotta get this bone out though, right?

- It's kind of the bone line right here.

- So am I going on the outside of this right here?

- [Kean] Yeah, that's it, that's the spot.

- [Vinny] All right.

Okay, so Kean, if Brian's cutting a thousand pounds of fish a day, where's this going?

- So it's going to a few places.

First off, we've got 22 locations throughout Oregon where we deliver fish to.

Those are pickup sites for members.

We've got over 400 members throughout Oregon that are a part of what's called a CSF, Community Supported Fishery.

However, we also prepare some fish for consumption right here.

We call it The Galley.

So we've got a few special dishes that we do here that are based off of what we have in excess.

We catch a lot of Black Cod in Fort Orford.

So we wanna highlight this as a special fish that we catch in Fort Orford.

Yeah, we'd love to show you some of the special stuff that we make here.

- I would love to see it.

- Right on.

- But first, is there any chance I could see a big fat codfish?

- You want to see a big Lingcod?

- Is there one in there, that bucket?

- It's out here, but I can go.

- You wanna see a codfish?

- Let's go get you one, yeah.

- [Vinny] Let's go look at the cod, let's go look.

Hey, Brian, thank you my man.

- There we go.

There we go, there's a bigger one down here.

That's a nice grade one right there.

- Wow, look at this!

- See, I'm telling you, these guys, they'll open up and they'll swallow like a whole, whole Rockfish in one bite.

- Their mouth is huge.

- Totally.

We take advantage of everything we can on this fish.

We'll cut the cheeks out.

That's a special cut.

The belly turns into like a katsu also.

So every little part of this fish is gonna get used.

- You notice how I'm like staying, I'm like dancing around.

I'm dancing around Kean.

Kean, don't get the fish guts on me.

I got too much work.

- These are like some of the best fish for like slapping somebody in the face with.

- [Vinny] Really?

- Yeah.

- Nope.

I'm gonna stay right here.

I trust you.

Look at these guns.

This guy could be a, he could be a a Lingcod slapper right there.

Look at that, rah.

Alright, now let's see what these cuts do.

These off cuts.

- I'm gonna cook up this black cod.

A little portion of black cod, also called butterfish.

It's sold primarily to the Asian markets.

So there's a very soft domestic demand for it.

But we're trying to change that because it's really delicious.

This miso sauce that Brian created is like the perfect pairing for it.

We like to think of ourselves as kind of a lemonade stand but for fish.

- Okay, alright.

This is one of the coolest things.

- [Kean] A true hole in the wall.

- Yeah, and you don't mind being called that?

- No.

- Cause we are, - That's what we are.

- This is literally a hole in the wall and you're standing right here selling this fish.

- We're gonna flip her over one more time and it's gonna be done pretty soon here.

Get a little bit more chili oil.

A little bit of this miso sauce, to glaze.

- This smells this good.

And we have two ingredients here?

- Yeah, isn't that crazy?

Doesn't even smell like fish processing room anymore.

- Not anymore.

(Kean laughing) - Pretty, pretty basic setup here, right?

We've got our rice cooker.

Add a little rice, and then a little bit of this Asian slaw.

It's got that.

And then we put our special miso sauce down.

This is, people just crave this stuff, crave sauce.

- This is so cool.

Dude, this is like, - Give it a taste.

- This is like the best experience right now.

This is so fun.

- Little bit of chili oil.

- Okay.

- And then bingo, we're ready for our fish.

Boom, lay that down, perfect piece of fish.

You gotta pretty it up a little bit.

A little green onion, little cilantro on the side, some limes, and then this gojugara powder with sesame seeds.

And now, now it's pretty, now it's prettied up for the ball.

- Dude.

- It's ready to go.

You are the man!

- Digging it.

- I mean this is insane.

We are in a fish processing plant.

Alright, where's my fork?

Look at that, buddy.

Oh, look how, look at that.

- Tell me you like it.

- Oh.

Mhmm.

Perfect.

- Perfect?

- Perfect.

- Perfect every time.

- That is a soft fish.

- Isn't that crazy?

It's buttery, right?

- It's buttery.

- Thanks for coming by.

Thanks for highlighting Port Orford.

- You bet, yeah.

- Proud to have you.

- Alright, now let's go down to the port of Port Orford and see where some of this fish actually comes from.

(upbeat music) Now we're gonna head down and meet the local fishermen selling their catch of the day and really learn how they contribute directly to the local community.

For some time now in Port Orford, sustainable seafood has meant protecting the ocean while protecting the people who depend on it.

It's helping change how fish are caught, shared, and valued, proving that small boat harvesters can lead the future of ethical fishing, even for those who are less fortunate.

This is one of those very fishermen helping out.

Philip Russum, captain of the Crystal Sea.

- We partnered up with POSS to be able to cut and process the seafood so that we can donate it to our food bank with our stuff that's not as high paying because we don't have as high of markets, as well as the fish that's excess from our sales that we do on the dock.

So we take all of that fish and we donate it through Port Orford Sustainable so we can package and process it and deliver it to our local food banks.

And in turn, our local food banks donates the meats that are too big of packages for them to redistribute.

They can't cut, process and repackage it.

So they donate it to us so that we can continue to do our community feeds that we do down here at the port.

- You do community feeds down here?

- Yep.

- And now you're the one who kind of started that, right?

- Yep.

- Kind of put everybody together?

- Yep.

All it takes is somebody to put one foot forward and everybody else is willing to be a part of it.

You just gotta be that one foot to be put forward.

- Man, good for you.

- Last I calculated before the last couple donations, we were at 2200 pounds in a year and a half that we've donated in a town of 1200 people.

- Be proud of yourself, man.

That's great.

- A hundred percent traceable seafood, catch to table.

- [Vinny] Are you buying these fine fish today?

- [Woman] I am buying these fine fish today.

- What's up, guys?

- Fine man.

- How you doing?

Were you out there this morning catching these guys?

- No, that was yesterday's catch.

- How you doing buddy?

- Good, how you doing?

- You might like that.

- Yeah.

- There you go.

- 51 pounds.

- [Woman] Cut 'em up.

- You gonna eat all this?

Or are you gonna sell it?

Do you have a restaurant?

- I'm going to can it, no.

- Oh, you're gonna can it?

- [Woman] I'm gonna can it.

- Oh, oh!

Wow, look at this, I'm in the wrong spot.

Hold on, let me get... I'm like dodging everybody today.

Look at that, I got fish guts on me now.

- It's healthy fish gut.

- Yeah.

- Look at that.

Look at that Omega-3 fatty acids, that's what you want.

- [Vinny] Yeah, buddy.

- Just don't stand right there.

- [Vinny] I know, that was a bad spot.

Pull that sucker, yeah!

Oh, that's where I was standing right there.

(energetic music) Okay, now we're really gonna paint the moment, I guess you could say.

Because while we're here on the dock, we encounter a well-known painter capturing the working harbor in real time.

Artists have documented coastal life for centuries, preserving fleeting moments that reflect both labor and beauty.

And I was over here messing around with you earlier and now it's done.

- It's done, I'm finished.

You know, everyone always asks like, how do you know when it's finished?

And it's, for me, it's just something that just kind of hits you.

You just kind of be finished with it.

- I think James, that if this was my painting, right now I think the only thing that would be missing is, is me popping outta the back of the truck.

- [James] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well you could pretend that's you.

You can change the color.

Maybe you're up there.

- Oh, right here?

- [James] Yeah, maybe you're a captain today.

- Okay, that's fine.

- Yeah.

- There goes your creative mind.

- Well, that's the thing about painting, you can paint - I kind of liked my idea.

- whatever you want.

- James, you've been doing this since you're 10 years old.

- Yeah, since I was 10.

But 2009 I got, a mentor of mine gave me a lesson on the Deschutes River in Central Oregon.

And he taught me to paint outside and it kind of changed my whole direction.

- Is there a name for this kind of art?

- It's plein air painting.

I would guess it's like contemporary impressionism.

So I'm not necessarily interested in having it too detailed.

I want your mind to be able to explore it.

And so when you come up close to it, you'll see big shapes and planes of color and brush strokes.

So you'll actually see the marks that I make.

I don't want it to be too tidy.

And then when you step back from it, then hopefully the picture kind of comes and shows itself.

And you can see the, the depth, if I get my values correct and all of that.

The thing about our minds is that we make up all of the gaps.

- Yeah.

I don't know anything about painting and I'm inspired to paint.

- Yeah, you don't need to.

- It's fantastic.

- Yeah.

And that, and that, you know, it's kind of my goal to spread original art.

And the importance, you know, people talk about art being a luxury, but it's not.

It's necessary.

Me being outside allows me to feel that kind of, you know, that ancient calling that we all have inside of us and a need to be in nature.

And then I get to translate it and then hopefully people feel it.

So it's more about a feeling than it is creating a picture.

- [Vinny] Thank you for sharing with us.

- [James] Yeah, of course.

- Now we mentioned that Port Orford was a working port.

Matter of fact it's one of a kind.

And Port Orford's dock tells a rare story.

With no natural harbor in the area, the town developed its famous dock crane system still used today to launch and retrieve boats.

This method reflects the ingenuity that allowed fishing families to thrive in one of the most challenging coastal environment in the country.

- I mean the port of Port Orford, a very unique port.

Every boat is dry docked.

You know, we sit on these home built trailers and we don't sit in the water.

- [Vinny] Ah, home built.

Yeah, I'd say so.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Nice.

- It's got its pros, it's got its cons.

But one of the benefits is, you know, we don't have a bar to cross so it's a little safer.

But we have to deal with building a trailer and sitting on land.

- [Vinny] Did you build this trailer?

- [Aaron] Yep.

- [Vinny] You fishermen are like such cool guys, you know that?

- Well, we gotta be jack of all trades.

- I know, huh?

- We try to master everything but... - [Vinny] Well man, permission to come aboard.

I know how to say that now.

- Yeah, yeah, Yeah, all right.

- I'll follow you.

- Okay.

- We go up there?

See, he's even in flip flops.

This guy is like... - [Aaron] It's still summertime.

- And now this was just on the water here.

Oh, man.

(grunting) So did you build the boat too?

Geez, what?

Did you build the boat?

- No, no.

- Oh, okay, phew.

Theres something you didn't do?

- No.

This boat was built in 1976.

My brother's boat right there, the Aries, also built in 1976.

- [Vinny] The blue one?

- The blue one, sister ships, built by a local boat builder, Steve Phillips.

I did weld the mast, so I had to do that.

- Yeah, okay, okay.

I figured you did something else.

- I had to do something.

Yeah, it's a multi-purpose boat.

You know, Port Orford, we have to be, you know, in a lot of different fisheries to make it.

- Fishery, you say fisheries, you mean a lot of different, you have to broaden your stuff, not just crab, fish?

- Right, right.

Yeah, if you get stuck in just one fishery, you know, due to just seasonal, to weather, to the market, you could go belly up.

Crab is our money maker.

- [Vinny] What's it called, the dolly dock?

- [Aaron] A dolly dock.

- [Vinny] Not a dry dock?

Or both?

- Either or, I don't know.

- I don't know, I'm just wondering.

I don't know nothing.

- We call it a dolly dock because these trailers are called a dolly I suppose.

- Okay.

And so there's not too many of these left in the US, right?

- In the world.

- Oh, in the world?

- I think we're one of the last, you know, maybe the last handful in the world and we might be one of the only ones that use the trailers, at least in the United States.

- See that?

Boom, Port Orford on the map!

- We are.

- On the map.

Okay, good.

- So as a commercial fisherman, the kelp forests are, you know, habitat for the juvenile rockfish.

For the future of our fisheries, you know, the kelp is very important.

And here in Southern Oregon, especially off of Port Orford, we have a majority of the kelp habitat in Oregon.

- Really?

And that's where Tom, is it Calinese, Calabese?

- Tom Calvanese.

- Calvanese.

- Yeah.

Yeah but he'll say Calvanese.

- Calvanese, Tom Calvanese.

We're gonna come talk to you about the kelp!

Now we're gonna meet one of the local scientists, one of the main guys behind this preservation movement.

And we will learn how kelp farming and marine research help restore balance to ocean ecosystems.

These efforts represent the future of coastal stewardship, combining science, tradition and sustainability.

- I used to be an urchin diver.

I'm getting back into that now and that's where I really learned about kelp forests.

Orford Reef is the largest rocky reef in Oregon and one of the biggest ones on the entire coast.

And that rocky reef is kelp forest habitat.

And the reason for that is kelp has to hold on to something.

It needs to grab onto a rock.

It's an ecosystem.

It's just like a forest.

You go out in the forest, you see trees, you see shrubs, you see squirrels and birds and everything, right?

- Yeah.

- In the kelp forest, you have the same thing except the trees are the kelp.

And then there's the fish and all the other critters and the other kinds of kelp.

So that kelp forest is super important to the ecology, to the ocean, to the critters that live there, but also to the fishermen.

'Cause the fish that they fish for, the Rockfish, the Lingcod, the Cabazon all live in the kelp forest.

When it's out of balance like it is right now, what we are trying to do is restore that balance.

And the way we're doing that is, so have you guys ever heard of sea urchins or you ever eat uni?

- [Vinny] Yep.

- And they can make uni because they have food.

They can eat the kelp and produce uni.

Right now we have an overpopulation problem.

We have too many purple sea urchins and they eat all the kelp.

The other problem is there's a predator of those urchins.

A sunflower sea star, it's the one that has like 20 arms.

And they were wiped out by sea star wasting disease some years ago.

They're just starting to come back.

So what we're doing is trying to restore balance to the system by removing the urchins, planting kelp, and trying to help those stars come back so that they can help us control the urchins.

And at Nelly's Cove is really where we started.

Between 2010 and 2022, we lost 70% of Oregon's kelp forests.

That's a massive loss.

But we still have 30% of it, so we're trying to hang on to what we've got, bring back some of what we've lost, and keep going.

This port depends on the health of that system in order to support the local economy and the economy of all of these.

You know, you just talked to Aaron.

- Yeah.

- The Misty is a small business, so you can count every boat as a small business.

And that's 30% of our local workforce here in Port Orford, which is why the port is investing in the revitalization of our working waterfront.

So there's some basic rules of the road when you're trying to get at really good seafood, quality seafood, sustainably caught seafood.

Know your fish, know your fishermen, and know where it came from.

If you know those three things then you know you're eating something that's actually good for you, it's good for your community, it's good for the economy.

- Know your fish, know your fishermen, know where it came from.

Love it.

What a great second day we had in Port Orford.

And you know what, it's not over yet.

(chill music) Another incredible day here in Port Orford.

We kicked things off at a sweet little bakery, then dove into the story behind sustainable seafood.

The afternoon took us down to the port to a bustling seafood market.

Met a local painter, had a conversation with a fishermen, and met a scientist working to restore the region's kelp forest.

We'll see you next time as we go All Across Oregon.

(light electronic music) All Across Oregon is made possible in part by Travel Southern Oregon Coast, Travel Curry County and John Warekois, CPA.

(light electronic music) (light guitar music) (keyboard clicking) (mouse clicking) (mouse clicking) (film whirring)