Blue Economy
Working With Coastal Partners to Grow Our Blue Sector Assets
Dive into the unlimited potential of the New Blue Economy
The Pacific Ocean offers sundry resources which allow for a diverse range of business creation. The Blue Economy encompasses all of the economic sectors that utilize and affect those resources, including but not limited to, commercial fishing and seafood processing, shipbuilding and repair, marine and coastal tourism, shipping and transport, marine aquaculture, ocean renewable energy, and marine research and development. With 60 miles of Pacific coast, three ports, and a marine science research center, Lincoln County has a thriving Blue Economy and endless opportunity for growth and development.
Hatfield Marine Science Center
The Hatfield Marine Science Center is located in Newport and serves as Oregon State University’s marine laboratories. HMSC provides academic programs and opportunities for students and entrepreneurs to enhance social, economic, and environmental well-being through improving scientific understanding of marine systems and coastal processes and resources. As a leading marine laboratory in the Pacific Northwest, HMSC has the expertise, technology, and resources to address important issues of high economic, scientific, and aesthetic value in marine and coastal networks.
Hatfield iLab
Discovery through collaboration is key to the state-of-the-art research labs at Hatfield’s Marine Studies Building. The Innovation Lab (iLab) joins a network of OSU Innovation spaces, each specializing and sharing expertise to solve today’s problems. The iLab offers the space and equipment needed to take a project from the idea phase through production and on to market.
O2IH
O2IH is a collaborative project determined to enrich and increase Oregon’s Blue Economy. Through the cooperation of OSU, local educators, industry leaders, researchers, local government authorities, entrepreneurs, business support services and coastal ports, this project will allow for the much-needed research, development, and marketing of all the sectors of the Blue Economy. This will be done through the establishment of the Oregon Ocean Innovation Hub, a distributed initiative in which individuals can perform research and development, receive innovation and entrepreneurial support, and engage in Blue Sector workforce development. The innovation hub will be a coast-wide cooperative enterprise with multiple locations along the coast including the Hatfield Marine Science Center and other participating sites in and around Newport.
Oregon’s Ocean Cluster Initiative
The Oregon Coast Visitors Association (OCVA) is taking a lead role in re-localizing our food systems on the Oregon coast and supporting efforts to keep more local seafood in our communities, through their Oregon Cluster Initiative (OCI), which focuses on enhancing the use of local sustainable seafood in small businesses through infrastructure investments, workforce training, and partnership development. OCI is already partnering with a diversity of nearly a dozen entities who share the vision to improve local seafood access to local markets, impacting fishermen, processors, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. To learn more about this project and how to purchase local seafood, click here. If you are a business or organization that would like to get involved with OCI’s capacity building efforts and stay in the loop, please fill out this interest form here.
Port of Alsea
The Port of Alsea is located in the southern part of Lincoln County and encompasses about 300 square miles, including the communities of Waldport, Yachats and Tidewater. The port offers exceptional opportunities for recreation, including a boat launch ramp, boat moorage, picnic areas, nearby campgrounds and plenty of space and resources for any estuary activities. The Port of Alsea provides easy access to fish for delicious seafood like Dungeness crab or Chinook salmon, take an exhilarating kayak trip to explore the Alsea River, or enjoy relaxing on the accessible viewing platform to watch the ocean waves and marine life.
All of the Port property sits within the Lincoln County Enterprise Zone, to learn more about the opportunities and incentives for development in the Enterprise Zone, click here.
Port of Newport
The Port of Newport is located on the central Oregon Coast in the City of Newport and encompasses approximately 59 square miles. With both commercial and recreational marinas, the port serves as the area’s major hub of business and economic activity. Port boundaries reach north to Otter Rock, east up to six miles inland, south to Seal Rock, and west to the Pacific Ocean. Commercial and sport fishing, fish processing, shipping, tourism, recreation, and lumber and wood processing are the area’s major industries. The port serves as the region’s premier haven for commercial fishing fleets, recreational fishing, tourism, ocean observation, and marine research support.
All of the Port property sits within the Lincoln County Enterprise Zone, to learn more about the opportunities and incentives for development in the Enterprise Zone, click here.
Port of Toledo
The Port of Toledo encompasses 443 square miles, including the cities of Toledo and Siletz, as well as a large area of unincorporated towns with facilities located along the Yaquina River. Its headquarters are located about 7 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean and the Port of Newport. The Port of Toledo Shipyard is a full-service shipyard with two marine straddle lifts and offer haul out services for vessels up to 660 tons, ranging in length from 20’ to 135’. The Port has a skilled crew and the equipment and facilities necessary to provide services to commercial fishing vessels, recreational fishing boats, sailing vessels, other marine equipment, and also provides industrial leases and recreational facilities.
All of the Port property sits within the Lincoln County Enterprise Zone, to learn more about the opportunities and incentives for development in the Enterprise Zone, click here.
PacWave
Oregon State University is collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy and the Pacific Marine Energy Center to build the country’s most ambitious wave energy test facility 7 miles off of the coast of Newport. PacWave aims to develop the technology and facilities necessary to harvest wave energy in order to provide alternative renewable energy sources to alleviate the impacts of climate change and provide power in local communities. The project consists of two open ocean wave energy testing facilities that are highly accessible and served by a diverse maritime supply chain. PacWave will allow for an increase in the diversity of jobs within the local Blue Economy and will establish Lincoln County as a base for wave energy and other ocean energy projects.
NOAA MOC-P
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Operations Center-Pacific facility administers engineering, maintenance, administrative, and logistical support to the NOAA Pacific fleet, as well as, acting as the homeport for two NOAA ships. The facility is located in the Port of Newport and includes office and warehouse space, a small boat dock, and a 1,300-foot-long wharf. It also houses the Marine Operations directorate, which oversees the Pacific, Pacific-Islands, and Atlantic marine centers and all NOAA ship operations. The Marine Operations Center-Pacific supports five ships that collect data essential to protecting marine mammals, explore coral reefs and shipwrecks, produce nautical charts, manage commercial marine fish stocks, help maintain buoys that gather oceanographic and weather information, and warn of tsunamis.
Oregon Sea Grant
Oregon Sea Grant is one of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Sea Grant College Programs through Oregon State University. The program aims to address regional and national oceanic issues through an integrated program of competitive, rigorously reviewed research, public outreach and engagement, and ocean and coastal education. Oregon Sea Grant provides dynamic and inventive approaches to meet the needs of the community as well as utilizing local marine resource users as key program partners. They collaborate with industry and conservation groups, teachers and their students, resource managers, and political leaders to develop and provide the public with oceanic information based on sound research and innovative science.
Oregon Coast STEM Hub
The Oregon Coast STEM hub supports integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education along the entire Oregon coastline and is headquartered in Newport at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center. It is a collaborative effort with more than 60 partners, including coastal school districts, post-secondary institutions, non-profits, government agencies, and businesses all determined to improve STEM education opportunities for all students along the Oregon coast. By promoting the best practices in STEM education, connecting in and out-of-school learning, facilitating communication amongst stakeholders, and mentoring students and educators the STEM hub leverages local and regional resources to promote college and workforce-ready students who are equipped to pursue STEM careers and address real-world challenges. Since its inception, the Oregon Coast STEM Hub has provided more than 30,000 direct hours of STEM activities for coastal students, and more than 14,000 hours of STEM-related training for educators in the coastal region.
Oregon Coast Aquarium
The Oregon Coast Aquarium is located in Newport and offers a unique and engaging experience that connects visitors to the Oregon coast and inspires ocean conservation. The aquarium is a vital educational resource, with over 40,000 students visiting each year. They also created the Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Oceanscape Network, an online youth educational program that is designed to inspire youth curiosity in science, nature, and outdoor exploration and also provides important resources for educators about marine life. In addition, the Oregon Coast Aquarium plays an active role in ocean conservation and animal rehabilitation efforts and is ranked among the top aquariums in the nation.
Pathways to Blue Careers
Oregon Coast Community College Aquarium Science Program: OCCC offers a two-year Associate of Applied Science degree and a one-year certificate that is open only to individuals who already possess a bachelor’s degree in a life science area. Both the Certificate and the AAS provide theory and practical experience designed to prepare students for a career in aquatic animal husbandry.
OCCC and the Port of Toledo Welding Program: OCCC currently offers a series of welding certificates which, upon completion, qualify students to take the welding certification test offered by Port of Toledo. The Port of Toledo and OCCC Maritime Welding Training Center is a 2,000-sq-ft facility next to the Port of Toledo Shipyard on the Yaquina River, where students from OCCC, Toledo High School and the surrounding area advance in the art and craft of welding.
OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center: Hatfield provides a number of undergraduate and graduate degree programs that would lead to careers in the Blue economy. They also provide internships, scholarships and K-12 learning opportunities.
