By THE OREGONIAN/OregonLive
Winter storms have washed away the sea lion docks on the Newport bayfront, leaving visitors without a popular attraction and sea lions without a familiar place to haul out.
The docks were torn from their pilings during December storms, the Newport News Times first reported, and while all pieces were recovered, it could be a long and costly process to reinstall them.
Janell Goplen, president of the Newport Sea Lion Docks Foundation, an organization formed to maintain and improve the floating docks, told the News Times that several of the docks’ hinges broke off during the storms, setting three pieces free. Two pieces were found close by, just underneath the Clearwater Restaurant, which Goplen owns, and one piece was recovered three miles into Yaquina Bay.
The damaged dock sections are being held by the Port of Newport until they can be repaired and replaced, although there’s currently no telling how long that will take.
“We will need to pull them out of the water and assess how to repair them,” Goplen told the Newport News Times. “Our goal is to replace them as soon as possible.”
The Newport Sea Lion Docks Foundation had just installed the new docks last summer, spending $30,000 to repair and replace them following damaging winter storms a few years earlier. Now, the organization is fundraising all over again, asking the public for donations online at www.newportsealions.com/donate.
Sea lions have long been known to populate the docks around Newport’s Historic Bayfront area. Tourists flock to nearby attractions and seafood restaurants, but also usually make a stop at the docks, drawn by the loud barking of the massive pinnipeds. From viewing areas just above the docks, visitors could watch the sea lions sleep, fight and haul out from the water.
