OUR STORY & VISION
“In 2020, the supply trucks stopped coming over the coastal mountains. Within weeks the Oregon Coast felt the squeeze of inventory shortages. Within months, businesses closed their doors. Our deeply rural communities were more isolated than ever before. The pandemic highlighted our vulnerabilities and our tenuous connection to the rest of the world.
The Oregon Ocean Cluster is intentionally built as a highly collaborative, 360-degree approach to ferment the systemic change we need to relocalize our seafood and allow us to serve as change agents. As global supply chains continue to fray, we can and must rebuild shorter ones at home.
For the sake of business resilience, emergency preparedness, food security, community nutrition, economic prosperity, and protecting the tremendously valuable natural resources we all collectively own as Oregonians, we simply cannot fail to be the change we wish to see.”
– Marcus Hinz | Director, Oregon Coast Visitors Association
Our Mission
Oregon’s coast has long been regarded as home to robust and productive fisheries, yielding high quality sustainable seafood while maintaining a local family-based fishing industry.
However, over 90% of seafood sold in restaurants, food stores, and institutions is sourced from other distant domestic and international markets, indicating that the high quality seafood harvested from the Oregon coast is bypassing local markets.
OOC partners with a diversity of entities who share the vision to improve local seafood access to local markets, impacting fishermen, processors, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. This work keeps more local seafood in our communities and enhances the use of local sustainable seafood in small businesses through infrastructure investments, workforce training, and partnership development.
Our VISION
OOC is a thriving community of practice that unlocks new value and resources for Blue Food Innovators and Entrepreneurs. We feed our local communities with regional foods and business support, in service of a resilient, sustainable, and equitable food economy.
how we do it
Our 5-year strategic plan (developed in 2023) outlines 6 key strategic initiatives that guide our projects and investments.
travel impacts
In 2024 Dean Runyan Associates showed visitors to the Oregon Coast spent $890.4 Million on food and food services. This is "new money" for coastal communities. The Oregon Coast Visitors Association (OCVA) estimates that at least 20% of this total food spending ($178 million) is immediately lost to economic leakage annually due to restaurants and food stores re-ordering non-Oregon food items when they restock their inventory.
As the fiscal sponsor of the Oregon Ocean Cluster, The Oregon Coast Visitors Association (OCVA) is taking a lead role in re-localizing our food systems keeping more local seafood in our communities.
The Oregon Coast Visitors Association
The OCVA is the official Regional Destination Management Organization for the entire Oregon Coast as designated by the Oregon Tourism Commission, and recognized as a 501c(6) by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
In this unique role, OCVA has the honor of leveraging our industry’s network to benefit Oregon’s rural coastal communities by aligning partnerships to share limited resources, highlight regenerative tourism, promote community resilience, and advance economic development through sustainable localized food systems.
This includes engaging with all 8 coastal counties, 30+ incorporated cities, NGOs, and state and federal agencies to responsibly use the natural resources that make Oregon's coast unique.
“Oregon’s fisheries are the lifeblood of our coastal and tourism economies—supporting jobs that families rely on, and supplying communities across our state and around the world with exceptional products and experiences.
As we continue to recover from the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must ensure that this crucial industry receives the support it needs to survive and provide for Oregonians and consumers around the country. I’m thrilled the USDA has recognized the important work the Oregon Coast Visitors Association Inc. does for both Oregon’s fishing and aquaculture industry, as well as our great state’s tourism industry. The grant OCVA has received will support its important work, helping to establish and strengthen the much-needed infrastructure for our fisheries to efficiently operate and thrive, and help our tourism industry bounce back stronger than ever.”
— Senator Jeff Merkley