- Yellowtail rockfish above a bed of crinoids off the Oregon Coast. Waldo Wakefield, NMFS
Oregon is home to a magnificent underwater environment, producing valuable fisheries and diverse seafloor habitats. Deep underwater canyons like Astoria Canyon where the Columbia River meets the ocean are home to a variety of coral and sponge habitats. Heceta Bank off the Oregon Coast is a hotspot for black corals. These complex habitats provide homes for commercially important species like rockfish, which are currently rebuilding from overfishing.
Washington state is famous for its spectacular shores and rugged coastlines. Below the ocean's surface, the coral, sponges, and other colorful seafloor life off Washington are just as beautiful. For example, the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary is home to corals, sponges, and other living seafloor habitats. In fact, this sanctuary is home to a rare discovery of Lophelia pertusa, a reef-forming deep-sea coral previously thought to exist only in the Atlantic Ocean (click here to read article on Lophelia discovery). Even Puget Sound contains hydrocorals scattered throughout its various inlets and islands. These corals are living, or "biogenic", habitats that provide structure on the seafloor for other marine life. Biogenic habitat provides feeding areas, shelter from predators, and nursery for juveniles.
Trawling in the Pacific Northwest has taken its toll both on the fish and their habitat. Targeting flatfish, whiting, and rockfish, trawlers have flattened many of the corals, sponges, and other living seafloor animals before scientists even knew they were there. Since the early 1980s, NOAA Fisheries has been collecting information on corals and sponges through trawl surveys, but until 2002, no trawl vessels were required to carry observers to count what they were catching!
Along with a coalition of environmental and recreational fishing groups, Oceana has developed a comprehensive, collaborative proposal to protect important undersea habitats, while maintaining vibrant fisheries off the Pacific Northwest Coast. The proposal is included in an Environmental Impact Statement as Alternative 12, and was selected by the Pacific Fishery Management Council as one of their "preliminary preferred alternatives". The government will make its decision this summer 2005.
Off the Oregon coast, in addition to areas of known importance like Astoria Canyon, Rogue Canyon, Daisy Bank, and Heceta Bank, we have identified concentrated areas of living (or biogenic) habitats based on records from NOAA. While maintaining open areas of high economic value to Oregon's trawl industry, Alternative 12 protects important habitats and prevents trawling from expanding into unexplored areas. The result is shown in the figure below, where light blue areas remain open and other areas are proposals for closure.
- Map of Alternative 12, showing open areas (light blue) and trawl closures (grey, purple, green, and orange). From Pacific EFH DEIS.
Off Washington, Alternative 12 protects two areas in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, several areas of dense biogenic habitat, and a large portion of Grays Canyon.
- Map of Alternative 12, showing open areas (light blue) and trawl closures (grey, purple, green, and orange). From Pacific EFH DEIS.
