Rulemaking Process Continues on Proposed Motorized Boat Ban on Upper Siletz River

By Brian Bahouth

In February of this year, the Oregon State Marine Board received a petition from the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians to prohibit motorized watercraft upstream of Jack Morgan Park. 

Jet-propelled boats have been prohibited from operating in this area since 1987.

The petition set in motion a rulemaking process during which rule advisory committee staff work to gather information related to the petition through the summer and fall and will present draft rules to the Marine Board during its January 2026 quarterly meeting.

If the Board approves the draft rules, a public comment period will follow and will include a hearing in the Siletz community. The Board could consider adopting rules by April 2026.

Advisory committee meetings have been held on July 10, August 28, and September 16.

During the September meeting, a pair of fish biologists who work for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians made a presentation for a science discussion.

The presenters were Stan van de Wetering, Biological Programs Manager for the Tribe, and Dylan Gorman, a tribal hunting and fishing biologist. 

They showed underwater video they gathered in May of this year that shows the disturbance a typical fishing boat on the Siletz would cause to gravel on the river bottom, essential salmonid spawning habitat.

They also presented research that studied the waves that reverberate from propellers and the hulls of boats and what the energy transfer means for gravel and salmon egg survivability, though the biologists said there has been very little peer-reviewed research done in this area. 

Do motorized boats impact salmon spawning habitat?  Gorman and van de Wetering’s underwater video and hull pressure research would indicate that they do. 

The debate among committee members was passionate. Some committee members are fishing guides and avid fishers. Clearly, there is a division between motorized fishing advocates and the Tribe’s position on the issue. The biologists invited questions. 

Jay Yelas is a recreational fisher and member of the committee. During the September 16 meeting, he said the number of fish in the river was abundant and that current regulation was working and sustainable. 

Tribal representative Angela Sondenaa disagreed.

“There are currently not enough fish in our river,” Sondenaa said. “We are not getting the resources that we need. And I do think conditions are going to continue to decline. The overall habitat quality trends aren’t looking good with some of the modeling, so we need to get ahead of it.

“And I just want to just point out that we are in a record low year for the river. We are going into winter at the lowest water levels we’ve ever recorded. Are we going to have enough water through rain to bring that river back up to quote, unquote, ‘normal levels’? Our normal level keeps shifting, and we’re getting drier and drier and drier. So we’re looking to the future and what we need to do to safeguard this river and the resources it supports.”

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife committee representative Chris Knutsen aptly set the context for the rulemaking in terms of risk. He said the threat to salmon habitat needs to be balanced against activities like fishing and recreating. Where that line is drawn is a matter of further debate. The next advisory committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, October 23.