NEWPORT — Two of the four seafood commodity commissions have grudgingly agreed to support two of 20 marine reserve — and only marine reserves — proposals.

Oregon’s four seafood commissions, Dungeness crab, salmon, albacore tuna and trawl, have discussed the merits and drawbacks of proposals that would eliminate fishing in various areas of Oregon’s territorial sea.

It’s become clear, as commercial fishermen considered each reserve, that some sector of the fishing industry — crab, salmon, groundfish or sport fishermen — would be affected by any potential reserve.

Ones off the North Coast, such as the one at Tillamook Head and the two at Cape Falcon, would hit sardine and crab fishermen hard, said Newport crabber Gene Law. 

Crabbers would be affected by most of the reserves, fishermen said this week when the commodity commissions met in Newport. Salmon trollers could be hit hard by ones at Cascade Head, Cape Perpetua and Cape Arago, especially, and sport clammers could be closed out of historically good butter clam areas if one of the reserves goes into effect at Mack Reef, on the South Coast.

“A lot of crabbing goes on at that site,” Depoe Bay fisherman Mark Roberts said, referring to the two proposals at Cascade Head. “It’s a real healthy salmon fishery,” he added.

The Siletz and Salmon rivers are both salmon-producing rivers that help keep fishermen working in that area, he said.

Salmon Commission member Ray Monroe said that closing the Cascade Head area — or many other areas, for that matter — could force some fishermen to other fishing grounds and lead to conflicts.

“Nobody wants to be forced on the last rock, for God’s sakes,” Monroe said.

The Newport get-together gave fishermen the chance to do what many do best when surrounded by their peers: brainstorm and find solutions. They talked over issues that have not been captured on the record at OPAC or other South Coast meetings, such as effort shift. They’re issues those proposing the reserves, oftentimes environmental groups, had not considered.

Supporters say one of the benefits of reserves is that there is a spillover effect. Fishermen setting their gear close to the edge of the reserve will benefit from increased fish populations inside the reserve that stray outside.

But the nature of crabbing creates a whole other conundrum.

Crab are a locally migratory species. They may travel north or south, parallel to the shore, in one season, or move deeper or shallower depending on feed, weather or other conditions.

Yet at the same time, crabbers would set their gear right up next to the boundary of the reserve. The pots attached to buoys and left to soak would be victims of the whims of the ocean.

Say a storm comes up, fishermen said. The pots move closer to shore with the bigger waves.

“The gear scatters every year,” Astoria Crab Commission member Brian Petersen said. “Any time a pot ends up in that reserve, you’re in violation.”

Those issues — effort shift, gear drift and transiting — are ones that must be resolved in the next two years or so, Crab Commission Executive Director Nick Furman said. That has to happen while the reserve proposals are being considered, funded and studied by the state.

The two reserve sites that have had comparatively broad community support, the one at Depoe Bay and the one at Redfish Rocks, in Port Orford, also garnered support from two of the commissions — but not without some debate.

Shrimp fishermen from as far away as the Columbia River may fish in an area near Redfish Rocks that was proposed as a marine protected area, where some fishing would be allowed. 

In the case of Redfish Rocks, the Port Orford Ocean Resource Team proposed a larger MPA around the reserve to allow only crabbing and salmon trolling, but no trawling with nets. Shrimpers use nets to catch small pink shrimp in the summer.

Though the Port Orford site has the support of most of the commercial fishermen from the local port, shrimpers said no one contacted them.

“Most fish at Orford Reef,” POORT Director Leesa Cobb said of the local fleet that consists of small-boat, hook-and-line fishermen. 

Local fishermen chose to nominate their own 2.6-square-mile reserve before the more lucrative Orford Reef was proposed by someone else, Cobb said. The MPA would still allow the crabbers and salmon trollers to fish the area outside of the reserve.

 Charleston shrimp fisherman Nick Edwards said he had some of the best shrimp trawling in history in the proposed MPA area near Port Orford.

“In the past 10 years, how often do you make money there?” Port Orford fisherman Chris Aiello asked Edwards.

The past two years, Edwards replied. 

The crab commission and salmon commission voted to support the community-developed marine reserve proposals at Depoe Bay and Port Orford — and only the marine reserve, not the MPA proposal at Redfish Rocks. The approvals also had stipulations attached, such as the incorporation of sunset clauses and using only state money for studies. The albacore commission vote failed and the trawl commission did not have a quorum present.

 Many fishermen are against the thought of closing areas to fishing in already crowded areas, they said.

But this is different, said Winchester Bay fisherman and salmon commissioner Barry Nelson.

“This is a compromise,” he said.