CHARLESTON — Rick Goche has worked many jobs in his life, including commercial fishing,  operating a fish buying business — and even copper mining, and now he wants to add state representative to that list.

The Coquille Democrat announced his candidacy Wednesday for the First District seat in the Oregon House of Representatives, before an audience of about 20 on the D dock in the Charleston Boat Basin. He will be running for the seat currently held by Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach.

Goche began his 40-year stretch in the fishing industry at the age of 13, working in the Oregon State University Department of Fisheries Whiskey Creek research station. He left commercial fishing in 1983, the same year his wife, Robin, gave birth to their daughter, Leah. Opting to spend more time with his family, Goche started a business buying fish off commercial boats. About seven years later, he was out on a boat again.

“I’ve done a lot of things in my life for a short time, but I’ve always come back to fishing,” Goche said.

He has owned five commercial fishing boats over the years, including the Peso II, which he operates out of Charleston. Goche also is the president of Aquatic Resources Inc., a company that designs live seafood holding systems.

Goche lists wave energy, marine reserves, the proposed liquefied natural gas terminal and education as the most important issues facing the South Coast.

Goche fears the potential of wave energy and marine reserves to close parts of the ocean to commercial fishing.

He disagrees with the course taken so far to implement marine reserves.

“It looks to be a leap and then look approach,” Goche said.

Instead of designating up to nine reserves, the guideline provided in the bill passed out by the House’s Emergency Preparedness and Ocean Policy committee last week, he would rather see just one or two reserves established in areas approved by fishermen. Once sites were selected and studied, they would be established as marine reserves. Goche would like to see further studies done after implementation to look at the economic impact of reserving those sites.

He also is concerned about the state of education in the region.

“Education is the cornerstone of our future — every aspect of our future,” he said. “I fear we are coming up short.”

Goche said he would seek to conserve the region’s natural resources and preserve civil liberties, the Constitution and the rural way of life. He said he believes, partisanship has crippled the country and that better policy could be made if the focus was finding common ground.

“I believe in the basic similarities we share: a belief in a power greater than ourselves; the love, care and concern for our families; and a hope that we can leave things better than we found them,” Goche said. “I believe that focusing on those basic similarities we can reconcile what differences we have.”