Fishermen, scientists, industry seeking balance of ocean uses

By Susan Chambers
April 19, 2007

Staff Writer

REEDSPORT - Multiple uses of Oregon 's ocean dominated discussions Wednesday when two Ocean Policy Advisory Council working groups met at the Port of Umpqua offices.

Oregon 's territorial sea is a hot commodity: Recreational boaters, surfers, sport and commercial fishermen use it and now, some argue, it's overused and some of it needs to be set aside in the form of marine reserves. At the same time, alternative energy companies are interested in capitalizing on the ocean's power.

How does the state find balance between competing uses?

What are the cumulative impacts?

The Marine Reserves Working Group and Wave Energy Working Group inched forward in addressing some of those concerns Wednesday, before reporting their results to the full council today.

Marine reserves

The council's Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee spent much of the time discussing setting goals for a network of marine reserves - areas that are “designated to meet specific goals and is highly regulated to protect resources or uses from activities that may conflict with these goals,” according to OPAC's 2002 definition.

Committee member Jim Good proposed two alternatives - one a list of goals for establishing a limited number of reserves and one for a comprehensive system of reserves. Each which had system goals but were so similar that working group members had difficulty choosing options.

Oregon Sea Grant representative Jay Rasmussen suggested narrowing the focus. Is the first order of the group to restore animal populations within the reserves?

“I think there are priorities or levels of goals,” Rasmussen said.

Good suggested not producing site-specific goals yet.

“But can we come up with general goals?” he asked.

Then, later, when sites are chosen, individual goals for those sites could be established, he proposed. OPAC could discuss with communities which areas might be worth preserving and how those areas fit into the overall network regime.

That idea changed quickly, however.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski's Natural Resources Office representative, Jessica Hamilton, read part of a letter Kulongoski wrote to the council. In it, the governor iterated that he expected four things of OPAC:

€ to develop and communicate a clear set of goals and objectives for the network of reserves;

€ to provide recommendations on how to broaden public awareness about ocean issues and seek input;

€ to identify “special places” worthy of protection within the entire territorial sea; and

€ to consider alternative methods for designating marine reserves and evaluate whether the National Marine Sanctuary approach could be a useful mechanism for doing so.

Hamilton suggested choosing the sites within the next year and that OPAC should use primarily science to identify candidate areas.

“If we can accomplish it earlier than a year, that's great,” Hamilton said.

Working group members also identified the need for finding gaps in the analyses of socio-economic data, physical science and seafloor mapping, and ways to fill in those areas of missing information.

Many suggested building on the Marine Life Protection Act model in California . Just last week, that state established several marine reserves along its central and southern coastline. It took several years to accomplish.

Working group chairman Frank Warrens noted there were some good and bad things about the MLPA process.

“The fishing community was all but excluded in the process,” Warrens said. “Perhaps OPAC could learn by (those) mistakes.

Wave energy

For the Wave Energy Working Group, much of the discussion focused on updates to current wave energy projects, but also about working with the public.

The Ocean Power Technologies wave park recently received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to put one test buoy in the water near Gardiner. The permit allows OPT to study the site to determine its feasibility. Two other sites in Oregon also have received preliminary FERC approval for similar wave energy work.

It's a new wave of alternative energy and one that requires support and consensus from several of the regions stakeholders.

OPT consultant Steve Kopf answered questions from the working group and also noted that the company is working with the state to build consensus with stakeholders.

Commercial fishermen, in particular, many of whom also fear being locked out of lucrative fishing grounds by marine reserves, are becoming more aware and organized. They're organizing not so much to oppose the wave energy projects, but so they can learn more about them.

Part of the problem is fear of the unknown, said Oregon Coastal Zone Management Association Executive Director Onno Husing.

“So much of this is speculative. You don't know who else is going to file (for a permit),” Husing said.

Already, six coastal sites are proposed for development and a seventh is proposed for the Columbia River . There are rumors of more, Husing said, off Tillamook and Curry counties, for example.

“The six is not the end of it,” he added. “There are more on the way.”

OPT is working through the Oregon Solutions process to achieve a declaration of cooperation from governments, businesses and nonprofits to support sustainable objectives. The company, other Oregon Solutions project team members and representatives from the crabbing industry already have had several discussions about what effect the wave park off Gardiner would have on the industry.

Kopf said the plan still is to put one buoy in the water - originally planned for this fall but now scheduled for spring - then build a small array of 14 buoys. Eventually, the company plans to apply for a full FERC permit to build and place 200 buoys in the roughly 1.3-square-mile area and generate up about 50 megawatts of electricity.

OPT also has plans for two other wave parks in Oregon : one near Coos Bay and one near Newport .

The Reedsport park, though, would provide much of the preliminary information that could be used to develop the other two.

“We need the experience,” Kopf said.

The Wave Energy Working Group plans to make a report to the full council at the Port of Umpqua today.

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