Mike Shirley joined the Ilwaco Port Commission in October. Shirley lives in Ilwaco and is the co-owner of Ilwaco Landing Fishermen.

Mike Shirley joined the Ilwaco Port Commission in October, replacing Dave Nichols who resigned in July. Shirley lives in Ilwaco and is the co-owner of Ilwaco Landing Fishermen. 

Where are you from?

“I’m originally from San Luis Obispo, Cali.”

How long have you been in the area?

“My parents moved me to Oregon when I was about 13. I moved to Colorado and hitchhiked through Utah, then I met a pretty girl and ended up marrying her. We’re about to celebrate our 23rd anniversary next week.”

What brought you to Ilwaco?

“We were looking for a dock to offload seafood off our boats. We were looking at Newport and not really considering Ilwaco, because it seemed in the far distant end of the world. We had an opportunity to look at a dock here and we came up and fell in love with the town. We decided it was where we wanted to do business. We bought the business in 2014 and moved to Ilwaco in 2017.”

Where did you live and what did you do prior to moving to Ilwaco?

“We were living in Molalla, which is outside of Oregon City in Clackamas County. I was a firefighter there for about five years.”

What inspired you to switch from fighting fires to commercial fishing?

“It was mainly an obsession with the ocean, which has been my life since growing up in central California and Morro Bay. I spent a lot of time on the water and piers.”

Who first introduced you down there?

“My grandparents. They are a huge part of why I love fishing and the ocean. They were inspirational.”

Was there specific experience that got you hooked?

“I think I was born into it. I have pictures from when I was a one-year-old in Hawaii on the beach in the water, just not wanting to leave. The ocean has been a draw to me my whole life.”

What motivated you to want to join the port commission?

“I want to help my community, support the great things already going on and bring new ideas to the table.”

What do you feel is the biggest challenge facing the port?

“Money. The biggest challenge we experience in any business — and especially in government — is money and budgets. Picking the right things to spend money on is important. We need things that are going to give the most return.”

What do you feel could use more investment?

“I think currently the port is doing great things. What I’ve seen in five years in Ilwaco has been a vast improvement. Guy Glenn, the current port manager, has done a great job with his team and the commission. I’ve been in many other ports between Newport and Morro Bay and it’s night and day. The professionalism and the community support is tremendous here.”

What do you feel the Port of Ilwaco does better than other similar-sized ports?

“It starts with the port staff — just the experience, tools and professionalism they bring. It’s also the attitude. When you walk down to the port it’s not doom and gloom, everybody is happy although they’re working. It’s a good environment for them, which creates a good port environment, one where patrons want to talk to the port managers and give ideas. It’s not just a stone wall, people are open minded to hear ideas. It’s important that the general public can walk away knowing that they were heard.”

You mentioned that you’ve seen a vast improvement at the Port of Ilwaco over the past five years, how so?

“If you walk down the docks, they look nice. There’s no garbage or dogs running around. The facilities are taken care of, there’s no trash blowing or floating in the port. Comparatively, if you go to others ports, you may not want to shower there because you may end up with something you didn’t want.”

If you had a wish list of goals you hope to accomplish as part of the port commission, what would they be?

“Overall unity between the port commission and the town and being able to drive some of the wonderful things that we already do. We have a huge attraction to the general public. We have the world’s best salmon fishery and some of the best razor clamming. Being able to support and sustain the tourists and locals year around is important to me.”

What do you feel are some of the most pressing legislative issues facing fishermen?

“There’s lots of different things going on right now. There’s the issue with the whale entanglements and the crab season… the salmon issue going on with the orcas… Big-city folks are making decisions that affect small-town fisheries and it’s very challenging to get them to understand the issues we’re up against. Our hands are tied in a lot of ways.”

Are there fisheries you could foresee expanding at the Port?

“We’ve seen more gillnetting this year than we have in the last three years, which is promising. The first thing to my mind is sustaining our local fleet of gillnetters, getting them on the river, and getting those pounds across our dock, where we have wide-open markets for salmon. Maybe not Seattle right now, but the rest of America loves to eat salmon. It’s a huge part of our margins in our business.”

Do you feel the strong demand for salmon across America will continue?

“Absolutely. Salmon is one the hottest fisheries in the world right now. It’s one of the most talked about fish because of aquaculture and the dams, just all the things that go with it. If people can understand where their fish is sourced sustainably, it makes a big difference. They will pay a premium to know where their product came from.”

What’s something you’re proud of?

“I’m proud of the team we built in Ilwaco, from what we started with to what we have now. I’m very proud of that on a business level. On a personal level, my daughter is my pride. She’s off at welding school learning to be a pipe welder. There aren’t too many girls that do that. She’s worked at the landing with me the last three and a half years. I’m proud of what she’s become.”

What do you like to do for fun in your free time?

“I enjoy my family and working on my farm, where I’ve spent the past two years building our house. I love to go on walks and pick mushrooms with my wife. We picked a whole pile of chanterelles yesterday. We have several state and national parks nearby and some of the best fisheries anywhere. One of the most spectacular places in the world is right here in Ilwaco.”