Clatsop County and Astoria are looking for solutions to a destroyed gangway at Youngs Bay that is essential to the county’s fisheries program and the local gillnet fishery.

Near the end of December, a windstorm and high tides led to the destruction of a gangway that connects to floating docks at Youngs Bay. Steve Meshke, the county’s natural resources manager, said 2-to-3-foot waves lifted the gangway off its piles.

“We’ve been maintaining some of the pier but it was just too much for it — the tide got so high and the wood was floating, so it just lifted everything up and the straps gave way,” he said. “It’s an older pier, but it was still safe, it was sound. But evidently it couldn’t put up with that.”

The spot, on city property outside the Astoria Recreation Center, is one of three locations where the county’s fisheries program uses net pens. The program, a collaboration between the county, the fishing industry and the state, helps develop high-quality salmon that does not interfere with wild salmon runs and can be harvested without impacting endangered native stocks.

A piece of the gangway went into a net pen and the county had to release 25,000 coho salmon early, Meshke said, but fish in other pens were safe.

However, in the spring, the county is expecting the arrival of nearly 3 million Chinook salmon from hatcheries that will be distributed across net pens.

In years past, the program’s staff laid a pipeline along the gangway to reach the docks and net pens.

“The biggest thing we’re working on right now is we’re working on a temporary pipeline — a floating pipeline,” Meshke said.

Before being released, fish spend time in the net pens while they smolt — a process which prepares them for the ocean — and imprint the scent of the area so they return for sport and commercial fishing.

During gillnet season, the county allows gillnetters, as well as interested buyers, to tie up at the docks at Youngs Bay. There will often be 20 to 30 boats tied up, Meshke said.

While there is a boat ramp at the location, mud makes it inaccessible when tides are low. Not having a walkway out to the docks will be a major inconvenience for the fishermen, Meshke said.

“It’s a big economic driver for the fisheries, for the economy around here because of the amount of fish we release and the ex-vessel value just of the fish they’re catching in the bay is almost a million dollars,” Meshke said. “ … And you figure all those guys live local and work around here, so it’s their business. It’s a huge deal.”

Steve Fick, the owner of Fishhawk Fisheries, said he has heard from many people who are worried about the docks not being accessible.

“It’s important to find a short-term and long-term solution out there,” he said.

Jonah Dart-McLean, the city’s parks and recreation director, said the city is working with its insurer and assessing the damage to the gangway.

“We’re acutely aware of the importance of the gangway’s role in supporting the county’s fisheries program as well as the reliance our local gillnet fishery has on it in order to reach their moorage at the floating net pens’ dock so they can most easily participate in upcoming spring openers for Chinook salmon,” he said in an email.

Dart-McLean said the city is unsure of a timeline for a fix or what it will cost. Meshke said they are pursuing funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.