By BILL LUNDQUIST

GOLD BEACH – Members of the Oregon Chapter of Surfrider Foundation came to town to enlist support for marine parks or protected areas off the Oregon coast, but insisted their organization has a lot in common with fishermen.

"We're a conservation group, not a protection group, said Oregon Outreach Coordinator David Revell.

"We're the ocean recreational users," he said. "We represent the users and the ethic that comes with living and playing around water.

"We're a waterman's association. We just want the ocean recreational users' interests represented on the table."

Revell said he enjoys talking with fishermen, and some have joined the Surfrider Foundation.

"We all appreciate the ocean and its resources," he said.

Revell said marine protected areas (MPAs) are not necessarily no-fishing zones. He said local economies have to be considered when deciding where to put them.

"Ours is a middle-of-the-road position," said Revell. "We want the maximum benefit to the environment and local communities. We want to support our coastal communities and make sure they have input."

Revell wasn't as clear, however, on what his group hoped to accomplish with MPAs.

He first said research was the main goal. He said there are currently few examples of MPAs in temperate waters. He said some need to be established so scientists can study them.

When asked if a few small, isolated MPAs would fill that need, Revell said they should be larger to preserve the linkages between habitats and reserves.

He said, however, that the foundation is not a fisheries organization, but wants MPAs to protect water quality and the environment. He said water quality is an indicator of overall ocean health.

Revell said the decision on MPAs needs to be scientific, and not political. He said the science is not all in yet, but the sooner MPAs are put in, the better.

He said political pressure could set up a system that is bound to fail because it is too small.

The Surfrider Foundation's Special Places Campaign is asking citizens to urge the governor to create MPAs.

Its brochure said marine parks will:

•Enhance the coastal experience by providing a national park-like system of pristine areas for recreational enjoyment.

•Protect Oregon's special coastal and ocean places from dredging and dumping, oil drilling, ocean pollution, mismanaged commercial harvest and water quality problems.

•Restore marine ecosystem health, preserving recreational fishing areas.

To those ends, the foundation is circulating petitions and conducting a postcard mailing campaign to the governor.

It urges the governor to ask his Ocean Policy Advisory Committee to provide him with a blueprint for a network of protected areas off the Oregon coast.

Revell also prepared a letter to that committee commending it for its work on MPAs and marine reserves.

He said one possibility would be to link state parks on land with national wildlife refuges offshore. Another would be to extend reserves offshore from headlands.

Revell also said, "The establishment of marine reserves needs to examine the socioeconomic impacts to the coastal communities.

"The socioeconomic study should look at both the short term and long-term impacts, not just those caused by marine reserves, but also alternatives based on different economic and management scenarios."

Revell said that while the foundation feels the fishing community needs to be involved in the discussion, so should surfers, divers, boaters, sailors, kayakers, other recreational users, conservation groups, tourism boards, chambers of commerce and the public.

Revell said the state would need to provide basic funding to establish the reserves, but it would not be practical to put all funding in place before the reserves were created.

He said outside funding could be sought for research, design, monitoring and enforcement.

Revell said while 20 percent of land is in protected areas, less than 1 percent of the ocean is protected.

He said the foundation wants to help identify the good and bad places to put MPAs. "They could potentially benefit communities," he said, "or put a lot of people out of work."

He said local advocates could identify which areas people don't use that could be turned back to "ocean wilderness."

Revell said there are lots of types of MPAs. He envisions a large, multi-use area.

"You need an objective before you do something," he said.

He also said, "We need to set some areas aside because we don't know what they do. It's been said that the first sign of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts."

Revell said Port Orford would be a bad place for a reserve because it could devastate the area economically.

He asked if local experts knew of a spawning area that might make a good reserve for producing more fish.

He said foundation members and fishermen had a lot of the same goals. "I eat fish," he said. "I want my grandkids to be able to eat fish."

He said different sites need to be evaluated for different levels of protection, which is something only the communities can figure out.

Revell said the foundation is now the fiscal agent for Community Based Management in Port Orford. It is also helping to develop a Geographic Information System.

"We're all here because of the ocean and coast," he said. "There is a lot of common ground among the stakeholders."