Clammers concerned with NOAA port
Yaquina Bay’s south side now will house the fleet beginning 2011, pending the signing of a 20-year lease, according to an NOAA news release in August.
But the president of the Clam Diggers Association, Bill Lackner, voiced some concern.
“My first point of concern is the impact they’re going to have on the essential habitat,” Lackner said.
Lackner said eel grass beds could be destroyed in the building of the port, and he’s worried that they won’t be able to salvage the area.
“Eel grass beds are dynamic, necessary for a whole host of marine species,” he said. “What we’re willing to give up just isn’t worth it.”
Lackner also said Yaquina Bay never has been user-friendly in terms of clam digging and other recreational activity, and he thinks this will only make tourism worse. He said tourists looking for recreation would rather head to places like Charleston, and the NOAA port will turn more tourists off from visiting Yaquina Bay.
“People have to go places to recreate,” Lackner said. “It’s counterproductive to good tourism.”
Lackner said in a letter to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Doug Cottam: “Combining the NOAA exclusion zone with the areas currently restricted by the state and local agencies severely limits public access to a high percentage of the most desirable areas of the bay and the reason why visitors to the coast choose to visit other bays over Yaquina Bay.”
Bob Buckman, an ODFW fish biologist, said ODFW currently is looking into habitat issues with the new port. Discussions are preliminary.
ODFW will work with consultants to try to minimize impact on the habitat, including mitigation of the deep water habitat that could be destroyed.
“It has a rich and diverse fish production and clams and shellfish, with extensive eel grass,” Buckman said. “There are potential issues with dredging in these areas.”
Eel grass beds are important because they provide productive habitat for fish and other wildlife, Buckman said. He also said the large docks could create pilings of sand and scour, which also could affect the habitat.
NOAA will have to submit a proposal for mitigation, and ODFW can comment on the decision, Buckman said. They haven’t quite gotten to specific mitigation discussions yet.
“I think it’s details that we are yet to work on,” Buckman said.
Lackner said this is just one of many problems the Oregon Coast has had over the years, with local economical issues overpowering natural habitat preservation, and a loss of essential habitat has continued.
“The development of the infrastructure in the bay over the last hundred years has severely diminished the ecological productive of the bay with long lasting consequences,” Lackner said in the letter to ODFW.
“If we had taken the time to consider this years ago, we wouldn’t have this problem,” Lackner said.
He just wants to make sure wildlife has somewhere to live, and recreational clamming and crabbing doesn’t die out.
“I’m the only one that beats the drum because I care about clamming,” Lackner said. “Somebody, somewhere, at some point in time has to point this out to them.”
My Fellow Clam Diggers,
I met with Dan Avery, the ODFW Estuarine and Freshwater Habitat Biologist, to express our concern about the development of the NOAA port facility in Yaquina Bay. Dan explained ODFW’s role in the decision making process to evaluate and protect the essential habitat in Yaquina Bay. I am confidant that ODFW has and will continue to meet their responsibility to maintain the integrity of the essential habitat in Yaquina Bay. The Clam Diggers Association of Oregon applauds the ODFW’s commitment to protect the essential habitat in Yaquina Bay.
However the most contentious issues remain unresolved: Mitigation and Recreational opportunity.
NOAA, the State of Oregon and the Port of Newport have the opportunity to enhance and restore the functional values associated with the ecological productivity of Yaquina Bay through their choice of mitigation sites. Considering the ecological value of the marine habitat at the proposed NOAA site, the selection of the mitigation sites should require site selection with equal or greater functional values as well as a provision to at least double the size of the tidal area displaced by the NOAA port facility.
It is my understanding the State must mitigate the loss of recreational opportunity. The Natural Resources Policy Director for the Governor, the Director and staff for the Oregon Division of State Lands and the Director, ODFW Commissioners and staff of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife as well as the NOAA contact representative will receive a copy of our request for mitigation via this email.
The Clam Diggers Association of Oregon requests the Oregon Division of State Lands and NOAA to add a recreational component to their plans to develop a port facility at Yaquina Bay.
Clam diggers will experience the greatest loss of recreational opportunity in the area encompassed by the NOAA port site. Ninety nine percent of the recreational activity in the NOAA site area is related to digging clams. Ninety nine percent of the recreational enthusiasts fishing and crabbing in the NOAA site tidal area are in boats. There are at times visitors to the tidal flats at the NOAA site but negotiating the riprap discourages most from entering the tidal flats and those that do are usually ill equipped to deal with the mixed substrate they encounter and they quickly leave the area.
If for some reason adding a recreational component to NOAA’s port site fails would it be possible for NOAA to mitigate the loss of recreational opportunity at the NOAA port facility site and the loss of public access to the exclusion zone by funding a geoduck supplemental planting program through the ODFW in Tillamook Bay and Coos Bay?
Tillamook Bay and Coos Bay, Oregon’s largest bays are ideal candidates for the planting of geoduck clams. Funding the geoduck planting program would satisfy the loss of recreational opportunity by clam diggers in Yaquina Bay; plus there is overwhelming enthusiasm and support by the members of the clam digging community for the geoduck supplemental planting program. A successful geoduck supplement program would translate into jobs and provide a terrific boost to the local economy.
It would take three to five years for the ecological values attributed to marine plant and animal communities to achieve maturity in the shallow water habitat of the mitigation sites. It may take even longer before the mitigation sites are available for recreation. Even then the bay clams generally associated within the mitigation areas may need help in colonizing the mitigation sites. These observations should provide you with some insight to the value of mitigating the loss of recreational opportunity and subsequent value of mitigating the loss with the geoduck supplement planting program.
The CDAO extends our collective thanks to the Newport News Times for printing our letter to the Editor and to the World Newspaper in Coos Bay for reporting on our issues of concern.
As always good digging, Bill Lackner, President CDAO
Clam Digger Alan Kaylor commented:
I have to agree bill. I do however feel that the noaa site needs to be here. it is a tax payer institution that will save us some funds due to their new location. We wont see it I am sure but it will be cost effective
Alan,
It is great that NOAA is relocating in Yaquina. We have never objected to NOAA locating their port facilities in Yaquina Bay. The Association welcomes them. It is encouraging to see that the functional values associated with the ecology of Yaquina Bay are NOAA’s top priority.
The CDAO represents the interest of recreational clam diggers and the NOAA proposal goes straight to the heart of our objectives and ethical values.
Our objections to the site selected by NOAA are based on our intimate knowledge of Yaquina Bay. We see that NOAA is under taking hydrological flow and sediment disposition studies to determine the feasibility of the site selected for their port facility.
NOAA has to mitigate the loss of essential habitat and recreational opportunity. The CDAO is confident that ODFW and NOAA will fulfill their responsibilities. It is our responsibility to see that they meet the highest standards.
The loss of recreational opportunity affects the clam digging community more than any other group by a wide margin. It is our responsibility to advocate for recreational opportunity that benefits the clam digging community.
As always good digging, Bill