CHARLESTON - Got ice?

Charleston does.

Against the steady thrum of machines freezing water and raking ice in a freezing hold at the Charleston Ice plant, Pat Houck looks out over the clean, clear waters of South Slough on Monday and talks about the past.

The late 1980s and early 1990s were good years for the commercial fishing industry, Houck said, and for him as well. Fish were plentiful and the term “overfished” was barely on the radar screen. Groundfish, the backbone of the fleet that kept the big trawl vessels in operation, were plentiful. The Northwest's signature fish, king salmon, had its ups and downs, but always rebounded. The markets for pink shrimp were good and trawl boats brought it in by the tons and albacore tuna always showed up.

And the condensers, evaporators and augers at Charleston Ice always ran, building up to 120 tons of shaved ice that shovels easily and keeps the fish fresh.

Those were the good old days that weren't really so long ago.

“(Fishermen) never figured there was an ice problem here because I was always here,” Houck said.

But a mere five or six years made a huge difference - groundfish was declared a failure and quotas were cut back; tuna stayed far offshore last year and there is no salmon season south of Florence this year - and Houck had to shut huge machines down this year for an extended period of time.

That is, until Monday.

The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay and Houck came to an agreement that would allow Houck to start up the ice machine and, they hope, get back on his feet.

The bills were simply piling up, Houck said. He'd just received the final notice from the power company that said it would shut off the electricity today.

The Port is letting Houck keep the ice plant running for the rest of season, said Port Deputy Executive Director Mike Gaul. The lease payments are being waived, as are the utility bills, through October. By November, shrimp season will be over and the albacore will have migrated to warmer waters. The demand for ice will drop off, Gaul said.

“That's the important piece of this - getting ice to our fishermen,” Gaul said.

Fishermen were excited just at the prospect of not having to wait in line to get ice from Hallmark Fisheries or to have to shovel it by hand from totes if they purchased it from Arctic Ice, in Coos Bay.

“It's a small victory,” Charleston troller Jeff Reeves said.

Now, the tuna are close and several trollers that otherwise could fish salmon are hoping to chase some albacore if the northwest wind calms down a bit. That means they will need ice.

Houck said small vessels often buy a ton or two at a time, maybe three, but it's the trawlers that really kept his business afloat. They required 10 to 12 tons of ice at a time, and already, a couple trawlers have made arrangements to get a few tons from Charleston Ice.

Things are looking up, Houck said, and he was glad he could start the ice machines and see the fishermen tie up at his dock again. He didn't like having to close the plant, but, economically, it just wasn't working.

Gaul agreed.

“It's truly a partnership between Pat Houck and the Port of Coos Bay,” Gaul said Tuesday. “There was give on both sides. We could not have gotten the ice plant open without Pat's cooperation.”

But like the black clouds that loom near the horizon, warning of an impending storm, winter is coming - and that's when purchases drop off in the ice business.

Those thoughts seem to be on Houck's mind as he looks around at the aging ice plant and talks about a family of gulls that raised a couple chicks in a corner of one of the buildings behind the ice machine housing. The birds wouldn't have done that with people here all the time, he said, and the salt air and moisture is taking a toll on the building that just sat, closed up, for a couple months.

The only fishery that needs ice during the winter is groundfish. A shrinking groundfish fleet mades it difficult for Houck to make it through the winter months.

Gaul said the Port is working on that, too.

“We provided some incentives for him to reopen and we will renegotiate his lease when winter comes to make it so he can stay open,” Gaul said.

- Susan Chambers covers fishing industry news for The World and can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 273; or by e-mailing schambers@theworldlink.com.