Florence - The freeze on commercial fishing off the Port of Siuslaw is slowly melting. Soon anglers may make their way back to Florence, thanks to an anonymous donation.

The old ice house on the Port of Siuslaw was a vital tool in keeping the fishing industry alive. It's taken three years, but it's coming back to life.

"This is going to be where the new ice house sits, right across here," shows Ralph Saulsgiver, chairman of the Siuslaw Fisherman's Association.

A new state of the art ice house, sitting beside the old one, for folks with the Siuslaw Fisherman's Association, it's a great catch.

"It has a rake that comes up and down and it'll rake it down into the chute and then deliver the ice out to the boats," explains Saulsgiver over some diagrams.

"There's no one inside the house it's all delivered by automated system. You press a button tell it how much ice the boat needs and it delivers that much ice to the boat," explains Mark Lull, President of the Association.

The old house had it's problems and shut down in 2004, and with it, went the fishermen. "You can't blame the fishermen for going somewhere else we have to have the ice in order to fish," says Saulsgiver.

To lure them back, they raised money to fix the $20,000 ice machine. But they still needed $200,000 to replace the ice house. They got half of that this month with an anonymous donation of $100,000. "We're a big step closer," says Saulsgiver.

The folks with the Association say that bringing back the ice house will not only be good for commercial fishermen, but also for the whole city of Florence.

"Sure we've got the sand dunes, recreation, restaurants, great shops that's all wonderful. If you add the fishing boats, it becomes magical," says Lull.

A little bit of magic, some say will reel in the heart of the port: "fishing's not a matter of life and death it's more important than that."

They hope to get donations and grants to pay for the other $100,000 they need. But they say they're very hopeful it'll be up and running by the end of April.

To contact the Association:
www.siuslawfisherman.org
or
P.O. Box 2431
Florence, OR 97439