Bandon charter boat  owner operator Wayne  Butler is seeking a term as  Port of Bandon  Commissioner.  According to Butler, he  has spent nearly his entire  life on the sea and in 1972  began working as a deck  hand during summers on his  father’s commercial salmon  troller. Butler continued  until he graduated from high  school in 1978.  “At that time it became a  full time profession, where I  participated in multiple fisheries,  salmon, tuna, crabbing,  and a couple of short  stints on shrimp boats,”  Butler said.

“I sold my commercial  boat in 1990 and  began a charter fishing business,  and have continued  this until today.”  According to Butler, he is  serving his tenth year on the  Groundfish Advisory Panel  for the Pacific Fisheries  Management Council as the  Oregon charter boat representative.  However, he still  has strong ties with the  commercial industry and is  active in that management  process as well.  Butler has served on the  Oregon Sport Advisory  Panel since it was formed.  OSAP is a program set up  by the Oregon Department  of Fish and Wildlife and  includes representatives  from the entire Oregon coast  in crafting fisheries management  options with stake  holder input. According to  Butler, the program has  been successful, and has  contributed to better understanding  and a partnership  between the sport industry  and the Oregon Department  of Fish and Wildlife.

Currently serving his third  term as the recreational  advisor on the Pacific States  Marine Fisheries  Commission, in 2008,  Butler worked with the  pacific states to craft the  disaster relief criteria for the  charter boat and booking  offices in the state of  Oregon.  In addition, Butler serves  on the board of directors of  the Southern Oregon Ocean  Source Committee, a group  that was formed to facilitate  dialog between fishermen  and future industrial developers  in the oceans off  Oregon’s coast.