offshore commercial crab fishery (Armstrong et al., 2003) and adults to the within-estuary 
recreational fishery. Annually, approximately 75,000 dungeness crabs are harvested in the 
recreational fishery in Yaquina Estuary (P.M. Vance, ODFW, personal communication). Fifteen 
species of fish account for >90% of the fish caught recreationally for food or bait from Yaquina 
Estuary (PSMFC, 2006). Statewide, lower-estuary recreational finfish fishing contributes $18.8 
million to Oregon’s economy (The Research Group 2005). Estuary-specific estimates for the 
recreational fishery’s value are not available, but recreational salmon fishing in Newport-area 
estuaries (i.e., predominantly Yaquina Estuary) contributes $4.05 million to the State economy 
(The Research Group, 2005). The Yaquina watershed and estuary support breeding populations 
of five salmonid species (chinook salmon \Oncorhynchus tshawytscha], coho salmon [ O . 
kisutch ], chum salmon [O. keta ], steelhead [O. my kiss], and cutthroat trout [O. clarki clarki ]), 
including the southern-most population of chum salmon in North America (Bob Buckman, 
ODFW, personal communication). Coho salmon are being considered for special conservation 
status because of reduced population size in Yaquina and other Oregon mid-coast estuaries 
(ODFW, 2006). The only commercial finfish fishery within the estuary is for Pacific herring 
(Clupea pallasii pallasii ), whose ovaries and roe are marketed to Asia, with an annual average 
(1979-2006) landing of 153,300 lbs, valued at $76,300 (Keith Matteson, ODFW, personal 
communication). 
Thousands of birds live in or migrate through Yaquina Estuary, which is designated as a 
Continental Important Bird Area (IBA) by the American Bird Conservancy and as a State IBA 
by the National Audubon Society. Two hundred-sixteen species of birds have been observed 
during 1994-2006 Christmas Bird Count surveys (National Audubon Society, 2002). Sixty- 
seven species of waterbirds were censused during 1993-1994 in the estuary, of which 41 were 
year-round or seasonal residents; maximum diversity and abundance occurred in December, and 
was at minimum in June (Merrifield, 1998). 
Small populations of Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsi ) and California 
sealions ( Zalophus californianus) are present year-round in Yaquina Estuary, feeding on fish and 
crabs in the lower estuary (Orr et al., 2004; Brown et al., 2005). Killer whales ( Orcinus orca ), 
gray whales ( Eschrichtius robustus), and harbor porpoises ( Phocoena phocoena) occasionally 
and briefly enter the lower estuary. Other common mammals in the tidal portions of Yaquina 
Estuary include river otter ( Lutra Canadensis ), raccoons (Procyon lotor ), muskrat ( Ondatra 
> ^ 
11 
