Impassioned Voices Speak Out on King Cove Road

Commercial fisheries veterans were among those whose testimony was heard this past week in Anchorage at a federal public hearing regarding building a road between the fishing community of King Cove and Cold Bay’s all-weather airport.

In testimony delivered on behalf of Stanley Mack, mayor of the Aleutians East Borough, the US Fish and Wildlife Service heard an impassioned plea to allow for a land exchange that would allow for construction of a single land road – to be used for medical emergencies – between the two communities.

Mack said in his testimony that the government should look at the record, which shows that the Aleut people take what they need for subsistence and leave the rest of the wildlife alone. “If you’re a swan or any other animal who wants a life in the wild, you’re pretty happy with the Aleut way,” said Mack, a Sand Point resident who was born and raised in King Cove.

Sam Cotten, a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, said, “the reluctance of the United States government to allow this road is a good example of a bad decision to presume a one-size-fits-all land designation should trump the logic and merits of this particular project.

Peter Pan Seafoods is the major employer at King Cove, a thriving community of about 900 residents, operating its plant there 50 weeks a year. The community recently had a huge celebration marking the 100th anniversary of Peter Pan in their community, located on the wind-swept southern edge of the Alaska Peninsula.

The weather there is often stormy and/or extremely windy, making it impossible for small aircraft – the normal transportation between King Cove and Cold Bay, to fly.

Then the only option is travel by fishing vessel, a journey that can take three hours to deliver a patient to a medevac flight at Cold Bay. Sometimes the weather gets so bad that even travel by water is unsafe.

King Cove Mayor Henry Mack, also a fisheries veteran, said a road would assure residents and others, including a number of employees of Peter Pan Seafoods, with access to doctors in emergencies, and that lives could be saved.

Several national environmental groups oppose the land exchange that would make the road possible because the road would wind through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

A decision on the road might come as early as December from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Ports Offer Vital Link for Wild Seafood Feeding Millions

By Margaret Bauman


From the shores of Oregon and Washington State to the small fishing communities dotting Alaska’s vast coastline, ports and harbors are a vital link in getting millions of pounds of fresh seafood to markets around the world.

Every year crews aboard thousands of commercial fishing vessels of all sizes visit these ports, large and small, to offload or transfer their perishable cargo, arrange for maintenance and repair of their vessels and pick up supplies.

Awaiting them on shore are shipping industry veterans ranging from the likes of Steve Barkemeyer, the boat yard manager at the Port of Astoria, Oregon, to Marty Owen, port director/harbormaster at the Port of Kodiak, and Sitka harbormaster Stan Eliason.

On a cold spring day in early April, Eliason, a self-proclaimed big supporter of commercial fisheries, was busy dealing with the lucrative sac roe herring fishery, and several dozen vessels waiting for the next opening in the biggest sac roe fishery to date, with a guideline harvest level of 29,000 tons of the little silvery fish.

“They’re rafted out three to five deep,” said Eliason, whose enthusiasm was understandable. “We get a large portion of their fish tax and that is a big part of our budget,” he said.

For the port of Sitka, like most other ports, fish taxes and port user fees provide the millions of dollars in income necessary to keep ports up to date.

The biggest challenge for the port of Sitka at the moment, said Eliason, is major maintenance on infrastructure that’s just getting old.

Sitka, on the west coast of Baranof Island, lies some 255 nautical miles southwest of Juneau, the state capital, and 544 nautical miles southeast of Kodiak, another major Alaska fishing port. Fishing, fish processing, lumber, tourism and regional health care are the big contributors to the economy of Sitka, whose history is rooted in Tlingit Indian culture and that of the invading Russians back in the 1700s.
“I need to replace the Alaska Native Brotherhood Harbor, an $8.2 million job right there,” said Eliason. “The state of Alaska has a 50-50 matching grant. We will likely borrow $4.1 million and the state will send the other $4.1 million. We hope to have a new harbor by 2014,” he said, complete with new water lines, docks and electrical supply infrastructure.

Sitka is also looking at upgrading and expanding a breakwater built two decades ago by the US Army Corps of Engineers. “Things are in motion,” he said.

Meanwhile, Eliason is busy running the largest small boat harbor in Alaska, based on number of slips and linear feet, able to accommodate some 1,322 vessels in slips from 16 feet to 150 feet.
Kodiak’s Owen oversees harbor facilities that can accommodate about 700 commercial fishing vessels, everything from 32-foot drift gillnetters used in the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery to 175 foot vessels employed by draggers, crab harvesters and some catcher processors.

Kodiak has no plans for harbor expansion at this time, but Owen, like Eliason, has a busy schedule dealing with port activities ranging from dock space to the boat yard to emergency preparedness, an exercise of increased importance in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami. Walk the docks at Sitka and one will see several of the huge black buoy balls from Japan that have drifted from Japan to Southeast Alaska since the tsunami.

At Cordova, Alaska, where some 85 percent of the harbor commerce is commercial fisheries related, the large gillnet vessel fleet fills some 500 boat slips. A port spokeswoman said they’re hoping to add a new breakwater this summer to fend off damage from winter winds. At Cordova, one of many Alaska communities where memories are still clear on the damage from the 1964 Good Friday earthquake, emergency sirens still are tested every Wednesday at noon.

The Port of Astoria, Oregon is also in the process of updating its emergency plan for earthquakes and tsunamis, said Rita Fahrney, terminal services manager, and at the Port of Ilwaco, Wash., there is a tsunami warning system with sirens tested every two weeks and heard all over the peninsula, staff said.

Jim Pivarnik, deputy director at the Port of Port Townsend, Wash., noted that preparation in the event of tsunami and environmental issues is ongoing. This year’s fleet of commercial fishing vessels using port slips is about 13 boats, the largest it has been in six years, he said. New Day Fisheries, which sells live fish and also sells ice to the fleet, operates a lift leased from the port for its own deliveries and other commercial users.

At Dutch Harbor, the nation’s largest fisheries port by volume of seafood deliveries, the newest facility is the Carl E. Moses Small Boat Harbor, opened just months ago, said Jamie Sunderland, acting port director and also the police chief for the city of Unalaska.

Dutch Harbor is most busy during icy cold winter months, with king crab, Pollock A season, and snow crab fishery. Pollock caught at sea is processed and frozen into Pollock blocks and you see endless streams of boxes (of Pollock) for 24 hours straight coming across the city dock at the Unalaska Marine Center, he said. There are about five city dock facilities, all of which serve some portion of the fishing industry, including the crab vessels, he said.

The economy overall at Dutch Harbor is robust, he said. “A lot of it has to do with fish taxes and fuel taxes. The port is maintained and operated by the city’s ports and harbors department and as with any operation like that there are expenses and revenues. We try to balance that out so it is a self-sustaining operation. The revenues come primarily through moorage, wharfage and other dock associated fees.”
This summer a new project will replace a lot of fendering at the city dock and at the Carl Moses harbor there will be a US Army Corps of Engineers project to put in a floating breakwater to protect the new harbor, he said.

“We’re excited about the new harbor because of the expanded capability for the fleet,” Sunderland said. “The majority of the slips are 60 feet to 180 feet. There are a number of crab boats, longline boats and jig boats tied up there. We are still working at filling all of the slips.”

Sitka, Kodiak, Dutch Harbor and many other ports in Alaska, Washington State and Oregon either have or are in the process of upgrading their emergency alert systems in the event of future earthquakes and tsunamis, while trying to plan for how to deal with a massive amount of debris from the Japanese tsunami now drifting eastward across the ocean.

At Dutch Harbor emergency sirens are tested on the 15th of every month, and there is a much briefer test of the sirens every Saturday afternoon. “The community is certainly concerned about these issues,” Sunderland said. “We believe that the Carl Moses harbor has been engineered to take anything you would throw at it. A lot of careful planning went into it.”

Sitka recently completed formulating a severe weather emergency plan, a cooperative effort of the city and harbor staff working together, Eliason said.

At Kodiak, every Wednesday at 2 p.m. the emergency siren is tested. Everyone in town knows about it, said Owen. It runs for about a minute, very loud. “If the siren goes off any other time, you’ better head for high ground,” said Owen.

The noise “will wake the dead, might even wake up a drunken sailor, but it doesn’t bother the sea lions at all,” he said. The only time the sea lions duck and cover, often under the docks or launch ramps, is when killer whales come into the harbor. Otherwise there are nearly three dozen sea lions that have taken up permanent residence on a piece of old floating breakwater.

Far to the south, on the coastline of Washington State and Oregon, emergency preparedness is also a top priority for ports like Astoria and Newport, Oregon, and Port Townsend, Wash.

Fishermen’s Terminal in Seattle also has emergency management plans in place, and goes through a complete emergency exercise annually, but lies in a much better protected location, inside Elliot Bay, noted Kenny Lyles, general manager of the Fishermen’s Terminal.

“What’s key to this geographic location is the locks,” Lyles said. “We are half a mile away from the locks. If the locks were damaged or gave way, it would be like emptying out the bathtub. We are about 12 feet higher than Puget Sound. That is of concern.”

At the sprawling Port of Seattle, there are a number of facilities that provide moorage, from the Fishermen’s Terminal to the Marine Industrial Center and Terminal 91, the homeport of a number of large catcher longliner and processor vessels.

“We are a full service facility,” Lyles said. That includes barge service, cranes and hoists, groceries and other stores, restaurants, hydraulics, electric, refrigeration, radar and navigation services.

To compete with other ports in this multi-million dollar industry, the Port of Seattle in recent years completed millions of dollars in infrastructure improvements, including redeveloping docks to floating concrete, plus renovated seawalls and major electrical, sewer and water line upgrades. “Basically we rebuilt the harbor,” he said.

Next up will be an approximate $6 million project to renovate nine net locker buildings to fire department code by removing platforms that elevated their height with elaborate shelving systems. Because the port is owned by the city of Seattle, it has taxing authority and can issue municipal bonds to fund the majority of its capital improvements.

At Newport, Oregon, only about 23 percent of the activity is related to commercial fisheries, although the commercial fleet does use a lot of port infrastructure for loading and unloading its catch, a port spokeswoman said. Newport is home to a number of businesses that provide support services to the fishing fleet, and the Newport international terminal has one of only three deep draft ports on the Oregon coast.

The port is busy year round.
Renovation of Newport’s international terminal, a 17-acre facility with 1,000 feet of deepwater waterfront, docks and storage facilities, plus additional adjacent acres of industrial land, is to be completed by year’s end. Also ongoing is rehabilitation of the port’s moorage dock, over a period of several years.

The International Port of Coos Bay, on Oregon’s southern coast recently completed renovation of the Charleston ice dock, which supplies high quality ice to the fleet of some 165 commercial fishing vessels based there, said Elise Hamner, communications and community affairs manager. Federal economic stimulus funds provided half the money for that $700,000 project, Hamner said. The port also owns and maintains the Charleston marina and shipyard, with myriad vessel support service businesses, fish plants and fish buying stations.

All the ports also provide boat yards with lift facilities where vessel owners or their appointed contractors can do maintenance and repair on port facilities. Often they are able to contract with skilled professionals in the marine trades operating near the ports.

At smaller ports and harbors, much of the infrastructure is privately owned by processors maintaining all of their own facilities.

With the exception of one port facility, where officials said the addition of more heavy equipment mechanics are needed, all spoke of an adequate labor supply to handle traffic and facilities upkeep.
What lies ahead for all of them is the challenge of replacing and upgrading older docks and other infrastructure, including electrical, water, sewer and other services with facilities that can endure for many years to come in changing climate conditions, while competing against other ports and harbors offering competing services. They are also bracing for how to deal with massive amounts of debris from the Fukushima tsunami, expected to arrive next year.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margieb42@mtaonline.net.

Southeast Alaska Salmon Seiners Say Yes to Buyout

A majority of the 379 permit holders in the Southeast Alaska salmon purse seine fishing fleet have approved a National Marine Fisheries Service plan to repay a fishing capacity reduction loan to purchase 64 permits identified in a fleet reduction plan.

NMFS said in an announcement May 1 that of the 269 valid votes received, 215 permit holders approved the proposed purchases and fees, while 54 of the permit holders cast votes opposing the move.

NMFS said the referendum was therefore successful and that accordingly, the relinquishment contracts are in full force and effect.

NMFS is now preparing to tender and disburse reduction payments to the selected bidders, who will be listed, with the permit numbers being relinquished, in a notice this week in the Federal Register. NMFS will then mail reduction payment tender instructions to each of the 64 permit holders, along with a copy of the notice.

Disbursement payments in the selected bidders are to begin in June, after the end of a 30-day period for any parties with secured interests in the relinquished permits to take any necessary action.

NMFS plans to begin fee collection on salmon landings immediately thereafter, likely around July 1, agency officials said.

NMFS will provide additional fee collection guidance and instructions in the coming weeks.

Individuals with questions for NMFS may call Mike Sturtevant or Liz Ryan at 1-10`-427-8799.

NPFMC Budgets Two Days for PSC Halibut in Gulf of Alaska

Two whole days of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting in Kodiak in June will be spent on halibut issues, notably final action to slice the cap on halibut in the groundfish fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska.

Options before the council include reductions of 5 percent, 10 percent or 15 percent of their current caps, which include 2,000 metric tons of halibut for the gulf trawl fishery and 300 metric tons for the fixed gear fleet.

Mark Fina, senior economist for the council in Anchorage, said these reductions could apply to either or both the trawl and fixed gear fisheries, but not to the rockfish program, which has already seen a 12.5 percent cut in its allowable prohibited species catch of halibut under the extended rockfish program implemented this year.

Also on the council’s halibut agenda are a review of the report on the recent Seattle halibut workshop hosted by the council and the International Pacific Halibut Commission and a discussion paper on Gulf of Alaska comprehensive halibut bycatch amendments. Tentatively, there is also a discussion paper on Bering Sea/Aleutian Island halibut prohibited species catch limits.

Industry opinions are mixed on what action the council should take on the issue of halibut bycatch in the Gulf of Alaska.

Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association in Sitka, was among those attending the halibut workshop in Seattle. Behnken said that the group concluded that bycatch has had a significant impact on the spawning biomass of halibut. “It’s a conservation concern with allocative implications,” she said. “The direct yield loss of a pound of bycatch taken in the trawl fleet is a pound to the commercial fleet, maybe a little bit more, and the impact to the female spawning biomass of one pound of bycatch ranges from two to five pounds of impact to the spawning biomass, depending on where the fish is taken and size of the fish.”

Kenny Down, executive director of the Freezer Longliner Coalition in Seattle, said he supports a status quo because of reductions that his sector has already taken, as well as the fact that their mortality rate on halibut was 9 percent. The coalition allocates a small amount of halibut bycatch to each vessel and each vessel has 100 percent observer coverage, a situation which has proven very effective in keeping bycatch low, he said.

Julie Bonney, executive director of the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank at Kodiak, said there is still so much unknown about the status of the halibut resource that a better plan would be a comprehensive five-year work plan to get a better understanding of the science surrounding the fishery.

Bristol Bay Sockeye Chilling More Than Doubles Over Five-Year Period

A processor survey of the 2011 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery shows it was the coolest ever, with 53 percent of the sockeye salmon delivered to processors chilled.

“If 53 percent still sounds low,” said Bob Waldrop, executive director of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, “consider this: When we started contracting annual processor surveys in 2008, that figure sat at 24 percent.

“The board of the BBRSA invests in many different projects to help strengthen the Bristol Bay fishery, but none is more important – year after year – than encouraging chilling by any means possible,” Waldrop said.

The Northern Economics survey for the BBRSDA also determined that 20 percent of the overall 2011 harvest, up from 15 percent in 2010, went into fillets in first wholesale product form, while the percentage of sockeyes processed as head and gut frozen product fell from 51 percent in 2010 to 45 percent in 2011. For both years, the percentage of canned product was 33 percent and head and gut fresh product was 1 percent, the survey showed.

The study also showed that the set net permit holder portion of the chilled product has dropped from 30 percent four years ago to just 5 percent in 2011.

Northern Economics warned that “in a world which may be starting to encourage Bristol Bay permit holders to focus on quality, set net permit holders risk being left behind or marginalized if they don’t have access to chilling methods and inputs.

“Given the link between chilling and quality, we believe that the lower the set net share of chilled product shrinks, the more likely this long-term marginalization is to occur,” the report said.

The Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run in 2011 came in 18 percent below the average run over the past 20 years, and 21 percent below the Alaska Department of Fish and Game preseason forecast. By state estimates, the total Bristol Bay commercial salmon harvest in 2011 was 141 million pounds, 27 million pounds fewer than in 2010.

BBRSDA has posted the complete report online at www.bbrsda.com

Grant Award Will Aid Jig Fishery for Kodiak Area

A $90,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to the Alaska Marine Conservation Council will be used to help fishermen in the Kodiak area get greater opportunity and better prices in the jig fisheries that target Pacific cod and rockfish.

The award was announced April 20 by NFWF in Washington DC. AMCC added $126,460 in matching funds, so that the funding totals $216,460.

Theresa Peterson, outreach coordinator for AMCC at Kodiak, said on a long-term basis, AMCC wants to educate the jig fleet and others who want to become part of that fleet on careful handling, chilling and bleeding of the fish immediately after harvest, to boost the quality of the harvest, and prices.

The jig fishery, said Peterson, represents a true entry-level fishery that encompasses the most sustainable fishing practices among gear types targeting Pacific cod, and has the lowest bycatch and habitat concerns of all other gear types. The project combines the capacity and experience of a community-based nonprofit organization, the support of small boat fishermen and fisheries business expertise to generate innovative solutions to maintaining a working waterfront in one of the nation’s largest fishing ports, Kodiak,” she said.

The collaborative community-based project will address barriers, including the high price of quota shares and limited entry permits, and stimulate progress toward securing the Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod and rockfish quota by creating incentives to transform the fishery into a high-value enterprise, based on excellent quality and appreciation in the market for strong conservation performance and social benefits of buying from small boat, community-based fishermen, she said.

AMCC was one of 18 entities in 2012 sharing in $1.55 million in grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, matched by more than $1.2 million from grantees.
A complete list of winners, including others in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, is at www.nfwf.org

Oregon Ports Stimulate Coastal, State Economy

By Terry Dillman

A network of 15 ports, large and small, along Oregon’s 362-mile coastline feature busy harbors. Some are alive with heavy industrial commerce, some an eclectic mix of commercial and recreational activity, serving as tourist destinations, and most provide refuge when the ocean turns temperamental.

Commercial fisheries and working waterfronts are essential sources of jobs and economic growth, according to the Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association (OCZMA), which conducts studies of the Oregon coast economy and conveys information to an extensive network of government officials and others, aiming to improve the region’s standard of living.

Fisheries also provide part of the overall ambience folks want to experience when visiting the Oregon coast – or opting to live there. They attract artists, writers and others, including a growing number of retirees, who in turn make their own contributions to an ever-changing diverse economy and culture.

Travelers spend time watching and photographing the fishing fleets, and out-of-towners often show up at the coast seeking fresh, locally caught seafood.

Oregon coast ports feature a number of working waterfronts: Astoria/Warrenton, Garibaldi, Depoe Bay, Newport, Winchester Bay, Coos Bay/Charleston, Port Orford, Gold Beach and Brookings. In some towns, commercial fisheries provide 25 percent or more of total annual earned income. The seafood industry also supports associated fish processing plants, mechanics, welders, refrigeration specialists, machine shops, marine electronics sales and service firms, professional services (attorneys and accountants) and marine suppliers – mostly clustered adjacent to the waterfronts.

All Oregon ports – from larger (Coos Bay, Newport, Astoria) harbors that host international shipping and regional-scale fishing fleets to smaller, shallow-draft sites with limited capabilities (Depoe Bay, Alsea) – are integral to their communities’ lifestyles and economies.
Newport is a prime example, especially given what has transpired there during the past three years and what lies immediately ahead. 

Steeped in Marine Research
Newport’s harbor serves as a major center of oceanographic research with the Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) and related facilities operated by Oregon State University (OSU), along with federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). HMSC is one of the top three marine science research facilities in the nation, along with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and Scripps Institute of Oceanography in California.

Still, few observers gave the Port of Newport – located midway on Oregon’s 362-mile coastline – any odds of earning the nod to provide a new home for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific research fleet when the agency started its demanding selection process in 2007. When NOAA shocked nearly everyone and selected Newport in 2009, most observers said they would never finish such an extensive project on such a tight schedule.

Not only did “the little port that could” finish the project, the folks that port officials chose to do the job completed it five days ahead of schedule.

When the 22-month effort reached what Port General Manager Don Mann called “the transition from construction to commissioning and operation,” and NOAA signed the initial 20-year lease and took over the facility in July 2011, it marked a major turning point for a port that celebrated its centennial in 2010. Lincoln County Commissioner and long-time commercial fisherman Terry Thompson said he looked forward to “a new cooperation” between the fishing industry and the research NOAA’s fleet performs, noting that it was something he had always hoped to see within his lifetime.

With jobs, growth, and economic development at stake, an extended backyard brawl ensued between Oregon and Washington leaders over the pending move. According to an economic impact analysis released by the Economic Development Alliance (EDA) of Lincoln County, the move could mean as much as a $32 million influx – the equivalent of 800 full-time family wage jobs in Lincoln County – after 10 years. But while local, state, and federal officials focused on the much-anticipated economic boost, the heart of this project was and is marine science, research, and education, with Newport – in particular the South Beach peninsula, where Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center and Oregon Coast Aquarium are already located – as a pivot point.

Port officials say the NOAA fleet will not only enhance research efforts, but will help attract additional marine science ventures, putting Newport’s marine science profile on a rising tide. Even without factoring in the value of attracting additional marine science research, the impact still pencils out to about $20 million annually in the local and regional economy, the EDA study noted.

Landing the homeport facility sets the stage for an enhanced focus on the long-time marine science and research efforts on Yaquina Bay’s South Beach peninsula. Local, state and federal officials believe what’s officially known as the NOAA Marine Operations Center – Pacific (MOC-P) could help take South Beach to the next level, transforming it into an international hub for research and development on ocean health – a key component in climate change.

At least four vessels from NOAA’s Pacific research fleet will dock here, and berths are available for two additional visiting ships.

The fleet provides floating, mobile platforms for marine science research, collecting data essential to protecting marine mammals, coral reefs and historic shipwrecks, managing commercial marine fish stocks, understanding climate processes, and nautical charting. They also deploy and maintain buoys that gather oceanographic weather information and other data.

“NOAA’s mission touches the lives of every American,” says NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, who brought an extensive background as a marine ecologist and environmental scientist, and expertise in oceans and climate change to the agency’s leadership position.

That mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans and coasts, share that knowledge and information with others, and conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources.
NOAA MOC-P plays a central role.

It serves as homeport for NOAA’s Pacific research and survey ships; provides administrative, engineering, maintenance and logistical support to the nine-vessel Pacific fleet; and houses the MOC directorate, which oversees both the Pacific and Atlantic marine centers, and all NOAA ship operations.

Already Here
Their activities also support existing NOAA facilities at HMSC.

The Newport Research Station is the only ocean port research facility for NOAA’s Seattle-based Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Located in the heart of Oregon’s groundfish, salmon and other fisheries, the vessels offer support for the 70 scientists and staff who conduct marine science research throughout the Pacific coast region.

Capt. Rick Brown, a retired NOAA Corps officer and current program manager at NWFSC at HMSC, says their work depends on those NOAA ships “to support a variety of fisheries and ecosystem-based cruises.”

During the field season (spring, summer, autumn – roughly April through October or November), the vessels are almost always out at sea, conducting essential ocean research, fisheries surveys and seafloor mapping. When home, they are highly visible from many viewpoints, standing out at the facility’s central location in Yaquina Bay that allows them quick, easy access to the ocean, from where they can fan out in any direction for exploration purposes.

Former Gov. Ted Kulongoski called the homeport’s construction in Newport “a landmark event for this state,” noting that the ensuing research and development that could evolve from it “will not only put Newport on the map, it will put Oregon on the map.”

During the competitive lease process, Port of Newport officials touted the city as having “the best working waterfront on the West Coast,” with its commercial fishing fleet, US Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay, and ocean research activities. The NOAA fleet, they said, would not only enhance such research efforts, but would help attract additional marine science ventures, putting Newport’s already considerable marine science profile on a rising tide.

Factoring in the port’s current project to renovate its international terminal, which has already drawn intense interest from timber exporting ventures and cruise lines, Newport is seemingly standing at the cusp of economic prosperity forged from a diverse mix of traditional and emerging industries. 

A Socioeconomic Network
Collectively, Oregon’s ports forge “an important regional network of maritime infrastructure,” said Onno Husing, former executive director of OCZMA.

Heading north to south, Oregon’s coastal ports and harbors are Port of Astoria (www.portofastoria.com), Port of Garibaldi (www.portofgaribaldi.com), Port of Nehalem (no website), Port of Tillamook Bay (www.potb.org), City of Depoe Bay (www.ci.depoe-bay.or.us), Port of Newport (www.portofnewport.com), Port of Toledo (www.portoftoledo.org), Port of Alsea (www.portofalsea.com), Port of Siuslaw (www.portofsiuslaw.com), Port of Umpqua (www.portofumpqua.com), Oregon International Port of Coos Bay (www.portofcoosbay.com), Port of Bandon (www.portofbandon.com), Port of Coquille River (no website), Port of Port Orford (www.portofportorford.com) and Port of Brookings Harbor (www.port-brookings-harbor.org). 

Terry Dillman can be reached at tdwordwright@gmail.com