What were those pickle shaped critters off the Oregon coast? Is this a result of global warming? Is there a threat to local fish stocks?

Depending on how it is looked at, these recently introduced organisms could have an effect on local fish stocks. These bizarre organisms, called pyrosomes (Pyrosoma atlanticum), began appearing off Oregon's coast in 2015, but in recent months, their numbers have multiplied into the millions, NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Newport, Oregon, reported A 5-minute midwater tow with a research net off Oregon's Columbia River in late May captured roughly 60,000 pyrosomes. The scientists who caught them had been looking for a rare fish, and had to spend hours sorting through the pyrosomes until they found their target, they said

Sounds like pyrosomes - they are colonial organisms that live in open water and wash up sometimes in big storms. No threat to fish. You can find more information by googling "Oregon coast pyrosomes."