A Letter From Clifton Dean Ferguson

Dear Clatsop
County Commissioners;


Thank you for
taking the time to read my comments and concerns regarding Marine
Reserves off the Oregon Coast. Proposals have been submitted and are
now available for public review.



I have the
following comments for your consideration:



1)



I
would like to express my disappointment at the Marine Reserve
proposals submitted for the North Oregon Coast area for the following
reasons:

a.



You
may or may not be aware, but much of the year bottom fishing is
constrained to inside 40 fathoms. This leaves very little productive
bottom fishing areas for those of us fishing out of Columbia River
ports. The major areas inside 40 fathoms we have access to are the
Tillamook head and Cannon Beach areas.

b.



Closing
these areas to recreational bottom fishing effectively closes bottom
fishing to North Coast sport fisherman year around.

c.



These
closure areas would have the same affect as having the ODFW simply
close the area north of Cape Falcon to all bottom fishing without the
expense of maintaining Marine Reserves.

d.



The
Tillamook Head Marine Reserve closes one of the most productive
salmon, bottom fishing, and crabbing areas available to North Coast
residents. This will have a major economic impact upon:



i.



Charter
operators who run bottom fishing trips. This will effectively kill
the bottom fishing charter business from Columbia River ports.



ii.



Commercial
salmon trollers who frequent this area as this is one of the most
productive areas certain times of the year.



iii.



Commercial
crabbers who frequently fish in that area.



iv.



Recreational
fisherman and the plethora of industries that are supported by tourism
and fishing as that area will now be out of bounds.

e.



The
Cannon Beach and Manzanita reserve is troublesome due to the following:



i.



The
size of the MPA extends north to encompass Tillamook Head. This is a
VERY large area singled out as an MPA.



ii.



As
your aware, MPAs will be managed by rule making specific to each MPA.



iii.



As
proposed, commercial fishing has been singled out as being allowed in
the MPA. No mention of recreational fishing is made in the proposal.
One of the reasons cited for the need of Marine Reserves is due to
excessive commercial harvest. Here we are allowing commercial
harvest exclusively within an MPA. I do not believe that is congruent
with the spirit of an MPA and certainly not the Marine Reserve process.



iv.



Should
surfing, paddling, recreational fishing, and commercial fishing all be
equally allowed within the MPA then certainly I have much less
objection to the proposal.

f.



One
of the stated goals of a Marine Reserve is to stabilize fishing
regulations and opportunities (provide safe haven to “Big Fat Females”
in order to increase overall fish populations). This goal cannot be
studied if ALL fishing areas are closed. We would never know if the
MR has been successful in providing a net increase in fishing
opportunities and populations without areas adjacent to a MR remaining
open to fishing.

g.



I
personally fish these areas frequently and spend in excess of $15,000
per year on fishing equipment, electronics, fuel, bait, licenses,
launch fees, etc. These closures will cause a considerable reduction
in fishing opportunities and therefore a reduction in economic
activity as far as my dollars are concerned.

h.



The
ODWF has expressed concern over declining revenues in license fees.
One of the reasons for this decline is continued erosion of fishing
opportunities. These closures will be one of the largest losses of
fishing opportunities ever implemented. I would anticipate another
large decline in license sales with the implementation of these
reserves. This past year I obtained a fishing license in both Oregon
and Washington, but fished nearly exclusively out of Ilwaco. Should
these productive bottom fishing areas be closed off the coast of
Oregon I see no reason for me to purchase an Oregon fishing license
next year. I will fish exclusively from Washington ports.



2
I
would like to express my disappointment at the Marine Reserve
proposals as I was never contacted by any of the groups proposing
marine reserves along the North Coast.

a
The
ODFW stated many times that involvement by Ocean users would be
critical in considering these proposals.

b
I
am an Ocean user but was never contacted, nor do I know of any other
Ocean users in my area that were contacted.

c
The
process we were promised was not followed and therefore these proposed
areas are invalid.

3
I
DO support the Depoe Bay proposal and any other proposal that is
reasonable and was done via collaboration of all the affected parties.

a
I
believe strongly that this is the road toward successful
implementation of Marine Reserves.

b
It
is in alignment with the Governor’s Executive Order #08-07 and avoids
severe economic impacts to the coast communities.



Again, thank
you for taking the time to listen to my comments and concerns and
thanks for your involvement in this process.



Sincerely,



Clifton Dean
Ferguson