Red Fish Rocks Community Team
The Redfish Rocks Community Team (RRCT) was established in 2009 and officially recognized by the State of Oregon in 2010. The team works to promote marine stewardship through outreach, education, and community engagement regarding the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve and MPA.
We support the success of the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve and Marine Protected Area through community engagement in marine stewardship.
Check out Red Fish Rocks Community Team website.
RRCT x RRMR
We support the success of the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve and Marine Protected Area through community engagement in marine stewardship.
Advancing marine reserve implementation through community engagement
Protecting the natural habitats, ecological services, and biological communities of Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve and Marine Protected Area to enhance resilience of nearshore ecosystems to natural and human-caused effects.
Enhancing public awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the marine environment, the land-sea connection, and the natural, historical and cultural resources of Redfish Rocks.
Supporting the evaluation of social and economic impacts on ocean users and the Port Orford community.
Supporting, promoting, and coordinating citizen science at Redfish Rocks.
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Red Fish Rocks Marine Reserve
This site is Oregon’s only marine reserve located south of Cape Blanco. Cape Blanco is a known biogeographic break — where the north-south extent of some species begin or end — within the California Current System.
Beneath the Surface
The marine reserve includes emergent rocks and islands surrounded by high-relief rocky reef and bedrock, intermixed with cobble and boulder fields. Kelp beds are found in between the islands and the shore. These habitats support a wide diversity of fish, invertebrates, and seaweeds. The MPA is located west of the rocky reef. The MPA is dominated by large stretches of sand broken up by patches of rock habitat of varying size.
Take a deep dive into the marine reserve by visiting ODFW’s Marine Reserves website and perusing the Red Fish Rocks Marine Reserve Site Management Plan
LOCATION AND SIZE
The Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve is located off the south Oregon coast between Rocky Point and Coal Point, just south of the town of Port Orford. The site includes a marine reserve with an MPA to the west that stretches offshore towards the state’s Territorial Sea boundary.
Size: 4mi2, Depth range: 0-131ft
VISITING
Visitors can find views overlooking the reserve from nearby parks at Port Orford Heads, Battle Rock, and Humbug Mountain. Looking out over the reserve you’ll find five distinctive islands rising dramatically above the surface of the water. These islands are part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge and are home to seabirds and marine mammals. Nearby towns and ports include Port Orford and Gold Beach.
HISTORY
The process that led to Oregon’s five marine reserve sites involved multiple phases and coastal community members, ocean users, and other interested Oregonians working with state decision makers to design and site marine reserves and protected areas in locations that would provide ecological benefits while minimizing adverse social and economic impacts to ocean users and coastal communities.
Baseline monitoring began at Otter Rock Marine Reserve began in 2010. Harvest restrictions began in 2012.
Read more about the history of Oregon’s marine reserve sites.
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There are many ways to experience the reserve and surround areas, check them out here.
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