A compromise Proposal

[Nordic Sun]

I propose the following...........

For every acre of Marine Reserve taken, 3 acres of artifical reef be created within 3 to 5 miles of the the reserve.

Now lets see if it's research they want or no fishing.

Bob

[South Paw]

I've got an old Ford van I'll donate.

[Bucolic buffalo]

That would be great except in todays Oregonian it was pointed out that the conservation types also want a halo area around the reserves where no fishing or taking except maybe crabbing could take place. It sounds like you may want to go for more artificial areas.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Bob, I said in a couple of meetings at the SD "co ve tio "(thanks Hank)and we brought up this very subject a number of times only to have it immediately poo pooed by the powers that be. They stated they tried to build a cement artificial reef years back but the ocean currents in our area sanded them in so fast that nothing developed. Further more our environmentalism here in Oregon would most certainly fight the scuttling of a large series of ships off our shores according to Bodenmiller. they are afraid to tackle the pollution concerns that might surround the ship.

After watching them sink a aircraft carrier off the coast of Florida on the learning channel and the amount of inspections and cleaning that goes into scuttling one of these ships I still think it is a fantastic idea. These carrier type ships are big enough to counter act the ocean currents and sanding in. What a bonus for fish to have one of these sunk in 300 or 400 foot of water. Even 200 foot would be just the ticket. If they are truly concerned about stocks of fish this would certainly provide habitat for the fish to thrive in. We have hundreds of ships available for this type of reef building yet nothing is being done on the west coast to carry on with this. Heck, the east coast fisheries actually fight to have ships sunk off their shores. We need more progressive thinking at ODFW and NMFS IMHO.