Friday, June 8, 2007
Community Stewardship Area: Port Orford
The Port Orford Ocean Resource Team (POORT) with support from the Surfrider Foundation, Pacific Marine Conservation Council, and Ecotrust is leading an effort to establish a "Community Stewardship Area" on the south coast of Oregon. The goal of the Stewardship Area project is to protect the rich marine ecology of the region while also promoting sustainable fisheries for the local fleet. Development of the Stewardship Area is being facilitated through a local process that involves commercial fishermen and other stakeholders in planning efforts. Parallel to this process, POORT and project partners are working to identify policy space, assemble scientific expertise, and build the necessary support at the state level for such a designation. The Port Orford Ocean Resource Team is a local non-profit that involves commercial fishermen in the science, management, and marketing of its local fishery. Surfrider has been testing water in Port Orford since 2003, and maintains a water quality testing laboratory at Pacific High School in partnership with POORT.
