PSA Jurassic Park / Swan Island sturgeon not currently accessible

The "hole" everyone fishes at swan is in between 2 cleary marked "no tresspassing" signs on the piers surrounding dry dock five. The hole is not a public site......

The fact that they had it buoyed, they way they did previously, was them allowing something they didn't have to do. They were allowing folks to fish at thier construction site. They don't have to do this. The fact that some posters on here feel entitled to fish this private worksite is confusing. The fisherman on Friday abused this privilege everyone was being given, forcing them to put up barriers.

You guys sound like hunters saying because you see game on private property, you can hop the fence to shoot because?.......... You bought a liscense......

If the no-trespassing signs are attached to piers, could it be reasonably interpreted that the intent is you cannot climb up on to the piers/docks?  I would say that's how I have interpreted the signs when I have been down there.   

Where does their "construction" site end and the public water way begin? This is assuming if in fact they truly can legally block the public off a navigable waterway. I would argue they are not a construction site.

How do people treat any other dock, bridge or structure in the water elsewhere in the river?  I think we tend to all assume we can go right up to it, but cannot land.  During new Selwood bridge there were clearly marked zones that you couldn't go into, I don't see that as the case down in swan island.

Vigor is a private site. You cannot enter with out a badge... 

Vigor is not a public dock, boat launch, or bridge used for civilian travel.

Correct, the land based portions of Vigor are private, but they extend into a public, navigable water way.  They don't own any of the riverbed or anything below high water. That is pretty clear from this Oregon pamphlet: https://www.oregon.gov/dsl/WW/Documents/nav_brochure.pdf   

They have permission from the state to put permanent structures into the water and riverbed, but I haven't been able to find anything so far in my short search that says as long as you are not touching their property and are floating, if you can legally be restricted from entering an area. 

To be clear, I think that throwing a leg over or tying up to the oil booms is 100% considered a trespass that they have tolerated. 

They are just going to barrier the hole. Which they can legally do. It's located between two structures(the piers), adjacent to the worksite at dry dock 5, and located underneath two industrial cranes working 7 days a week.  On the west of the hole is the navy ship coranado, on the east is DOD ships collector and tracker.

There is no case to be made for a 200-5k $ kayak to disrupt the work of a billion dollar job site.......

The guy in the canoe forced their hand and escalated the situation to the way it currently stands

They are just going to barrier the hole. Which they can legally do. It's located between two structures(the piers), adjacent to the worksite at dry dock 5, and located underneath two industrial cranes working 7 days a week.  On the west of the hole is the navy ship coranado, on the east is DOD ships collector and tracker.

Cool, so then do it if they legally can. You seem to be angry at another fisherman for "forcing" them to do something you sound so convinced they should be doing all along. So what's the issue here? It sounds like you're both pissed that they did what they had to do while also justifying their actions.

 I'm clarifying what took place since I  observed what happened leading up to the current barrier situation.

Do I think the canoe guy is a asshole? Yup.

Legally I think its only the Naval ships that have a statue that controls standoff distance.  There's a reason that the special barriers get installed around those that actually prevent access.   All the yellow booms are technically oil booms meant to contain hydrocarbon spills.  They just get used as defacto exclusion barriers when strung between two fixed objects. 

It's my understanding the shipyard is considering putting up floating metal barriers with barb wire, in place of where the yellow barriers are now. They had them around the coranado in the past on the east end of the site last year.

The shipyard(not me)  is pissed....

Like many, I fish there 5-10 times per year. It would be great to have clarity on the actual rules as I've heard speculation and vague interpretations. I often see entitled guides, powerboats, kayaks, etc. who constantly push the limits of the security guards who are just trying to do their job. I also often see security guards overreact and harass Joe Fisherman for seemingly no reason.

Anyway, I appreciate this discussion.

-Craig

btw, there are holes stuffed with dinos all over the basin.

Good conversation. I work at Vigor and fish there a lot. Several have mentioned that the floating yellow booms are spill containment which is correct and I have never had any issue hanging leg or tying off to one of those. Currently, the sensitivity is higher with the USS McCampbell project. The security in the yard, and on the water, goes up significantly when USS navy vessels are in. Last year when the USS Coronado (the wicked looking ship) was in and docked on the inside there were very solid physical barriers and on water security patrols. Many of the ships we work on are USNS (Naval Sealift Command - Support ships for the USS fleet) which have a MUCH lower security profile. e.g. Less guns and Navy personnel.

We do what the Navy tells us to do. If folk are interested, you might check out what authority the US Navy has relative to the waterways surrounding their ships. Anyone been downtown during Rose Festival and tried to paddle up to one of the ships for a closer look? Ain't gonna happen!

Swan Island was developed by the Army Corps of Engineers to improve navigation, for Portland's first airport, and then for ship building for the war effort.  Basically it was a government project which has now been turned over to industry to manage.  The entire basin was CREATED for industry. For those claiming that you should be able to access anywhere you want to because it is "navigable", does that then mean you should be able to float up into the dry dock and fish it when it is flooded prior to a ship coming in?  After all, it's "navigable."   I am surprised they put up with people hanging on the booms (which they are required to put in the water for environmental reasons) for as long as they have.  It really isn't hard to drop an anchor there.