Several sport boats were lined up outside the Florence Events Center on Quince Street in Florence on Friday. Many carried signs reflecting sentiments against proposed marine reserves, such as these. World Photo by Susan Chambers

FLORENCE — Seven boats on trailers lined the east side of Quince Street in Florence on Friday.

There were signs on some of the boats and the trucks.

“Outside interests want to take control of Oregon’s ocean,” said one.

“No fishing = no jobs and poor local economic forecast. Save our coast. No marine reserves,” another one read.

At the end of the row, Lakeside resident Bill Hargis, with a yellow “I fish, I vote — Oregon Anglers” button pinned to his shirt, stood guard.

Sometimes the trucks, the boats may get keyed, he said, as he watched for suspicious activity outside the Florence Events Center. Inside the center, the Ocean Policy Advisory Council was listening to public testimony on proposals for 20 marine reserves and a smaller number of marine protected areas.

“It happens,” he said. “Some people don’t like us.”

For Hargis, that’s somewhat difficult to understand. He owns a 16-foot boat. There are few days with weather that will allow him to drop a line in his favorite fishing spot near Cape  Arago.

It’s the proposed reserve at the cape south of Charleston he is most concerned about. If it is implemented as designed, he couldn’t fish there. He would have to run farther south — and if the weather comes up, it would be a risk for him to get back to the jetties in time. It also would cost him more for fuel.

Current fishery management is sufficient, Hargis said.

“They’ve dropped the bag limit to five fish,” he said. “That should take care of it.”

Hargis’ comments were echoed by other sport and commercial guys gathered at the front of the row of boats.

It also underscored the deep division separating the supporters of marine reserves and those against — and the passion on both sides of the issue.

Supporting reserves

Charlotte Mills, of Tidewater, east of Waldport, is one of the people supporting marine reserves — but she’s weary of the controversy.

She sat in a row of chairs at the edge of the meeting room during lunch. On her lap were three books: “Between Pacific Tides,” by noted marine scientist and friend of John Steinbeck, Ed Ricketts; “The Edge of the Sea,” by Rachel Carson; and “The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth,” by E.O. Wilson.

This is the bible, she said, referring to the thick book, “Between Pacific Tides.”

Though it was published in 1939, it remains a scientific tome that is now in its fifth edition.

Mills noted that Ricketts visited Yachats as part of his sweep through Oregon to study animals in the intertidal areas.

She referred to his work as some of the most important ever done. The nearshore areas should be protected for both nearshore fish and shellfish and those that roam the waters offshore as well.

Still, the controversial nature of marine reserves is not lost on her.

“My heart goes out to them,” she said of the fishermen who testified against a network of marine reserves.

Mills knows fishermen. She knows the fishing industry. Just a few years ago, the retired history and journalism teacher was the oldest woman working in the belly of a commercial opilio crab boat that traveled the Bering Sea, catching and processing crab in Alaska.

The contrast between Mills and the fishermen was analogous to the messages being delivered by both sides. Instead of flannel shirts, hooded sweatshirts or work clothes, she wore khakis, a pink sweater that matched the hue of her cheeks and a lightweight black vest. Her platinum blond, short curly hair was in contrast to the short, straight hair often covered by baseball caps worn by fishermen who opposed reserves.

 She’s softspoken but passionate and not afraid to get involved. As a member of Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, she walks a mile near Yachats, helping clean the beach. She is a member of the Yachats Coastal Action Team that helped design the Heceta Head and Cape Perpetua Marine Reserve proposal.

Marine reserves go beyond rebuilding fish stocks, she said. The tidal areas are rich, productive areas that must be protected from runoff and development, too.

“We need marine reserves … which will address shoreland protections and protect our giant kelp forests which appear mostly within the three-mile offshore area where marine reserves are proposed,” she said in written testimony.