“Commotion In The Ocean:”

A Beacon Special Report:

Farsighted public officials from Depoe Bay established a committee nearly three years ago to deal with the inevitable presence of marine reserves. Dr. Jack Brown, whose focus on harbor issues as a city councilman led to his appointment to the governor’s influential Ocean Policy Advisory Committee, alerted the town’s leadership to the problems — and opportunities — that lay on the horizon.

Long before other communities were shocked to action, Depoe Bay was hard at work crafting a proposal that has now been accepted as a pilot marine reserve, one of just two sites that passed muster at a critical OPAC meeting that we are fully reporting on in this issue.

We haven’t always agreed with the Near Shore Action Team. We’ve criticized the committee or its leadership when we felt it was necessary, but now we’re here to say, “Congratulations, committee, on a job well-done.”

A network of “no-take” marine reserves in Oregon’s territorial waters could wreak economic havoc with coastal communities already battered by the loss of timber industries. Properly sited and monitored, however, they also have the potential to protect commercial and sport fishing interests and provide lucrative opportunities for research.

We encourage our readers to get up to speed on this issue by paying close attention to reporter Cindy Ashy’s accounts of the recent OPAC meeting. Our town’s future now appears intertwined with the success of the marine reserve experiment.