By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT — The Port of Alsea’s facilities – and a key service — are all falling apart at exactly the wrong time.
But crabbers, shrimpers and fishermen are making do, knowing that a $3 million replacement and upgrade to the boat launch, slips and crabbing/fishing platforms are on the horizon.
While the Labor Day weekend has the most crowds of fishermen and crabbers of the year, the port’s facilities are the busiest in late September and early October.
However, the platform where handicapped people can crab or fish is closed because a wooden ramp leading to it is failing. That ramp also led to a mooring area for commercial crabbers and shrimpers, so that dock is also now closed.
Half of the dock farthest out in the bay – A Dock – also had to be closed because it is failing, said Port manager Roxie Cuellar. That closed some boat slips and access for members of the public who crab from the dock.
“It’s literally breaking apart,” said Cuellar. “It would have been nice if it would have lasted another two months.”
It wasn’t supposed to be that way.
The Port had planned to close the marina last October so its contractor could tear everything out and replace it. But delays in getting permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers forced the project back a year.
Now the Port will close everything Oct. 21 so Bergerson Construction of Astoria can stage equipment and begin dismantling the existing structures in November.
Because of migrating fish and other issues, state and federal agencies only allow in-water work to be done from November to mid- February. The Port expects Bergerson to be finished in late February and the marina to reopen April 15.
But there is good news in the delays.
Voters in the Port district, which stretches from Waldport east to Tidewater and south to Yachats, approved $2.3 million in bonds in 2018. The district has collected $300,000 in interest since then.
The Port has also received $400,000 in local and state grants over the past two years, allowing it to do more with the project. These include two recent grants from the Oregon Marine Board — $28,000 to include a launching area for kayaks and $39,750 to pave a parking lot adjacent to Port shops. The Port will contribute $30,000 to those projects, said Cuellar.
New launch and marina by April
The marina project involves a new, two-lane boat launch with a center walkway and rebuilt parking lot.
Rusting pilings will be pulled out. The smaller marina – which dates back 34 years – will be replaced with new walkways, 38 boat slips, short- and long-term tie-ups and a boathouse for Central Coast Fire and Rescue.
There will also be a new fishing and crabbing platform and a 150-foot-long, 10-foot wide floating walkway for fishing, crabbing and the kayak launch.
The new docks will extend 40 feet farther into the bay. Contractors will dredge sand from the entrance and north sides of the marina and place it on the beach near the west side of downtown Waldport.
The project required permits from the Corps, the Oregon Department of State Lands, and the National Marine Fisheries Service. As part of Corps-required mitigation, the port agreed to use more expensive grated walkways in the marina, install fewer pilings and haul away concrete blocks from a former seawall at the west end of the marina parking lot.
But NMFS required more mitigation requirements. Finding and developing a suitable project to satisfy the federal agency took three months last year and disrupted the project’s timeline.
That mitigation will involve removing 400 yards of rock and dirt used to make a dam in a canal in the wetlands on the north side of the Alsea River across from Eckman Lake. That will cost an additional $140,000.
The port has already remodeled its bathrooms and installed a an automatic payment machine for daily boat launching.
Business closes at busiest time
Making the marina area even more confusing was the closure Aug. 31 of Dock of the Bay, which sold licenses, bait, fishing and crabbing equipment, rented crab rings and boats – and then cooked and cleaned everyone’s catches.
While the Port owns the land and building, the business was owned by Bill Ternyila, who died in late July. His estate didn’t want to operate the business this fall and plans to sell it. Cuellar hopes the store can reopen in January.
“It is a big loss at our busiest time,” Cuellar said.
But a commercial shrimper called Shrimp Daddy has opened down the street to sell bait, equipment and cook crab. Crabbing and fishing licenses are available at True Value and Ray’s Market in downtown.
Boaters and crabbers using the dock seem to be adjusting. Maybe because crabbing is the best in years, Cuellar says. Fishing has been better than expected as well.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “We’re down to 47 days, but who’s counting. It will be a much better facility for everyone when it’s done.”