MYRTLE POINT, Ore. (AP) - A group of fishermen are leading an effort to restrict motor boats on the South Fork of the Coquille River as tensions rise.

Bank anglers and drift boaters claim the motor boaters are getting more aggressive and riding over lines. Motor boat guides say they need to help make sure clients get a catch of the steelhead there.

There have been reports of rock throwing and arguments.

"It's become so bad, that (the motor boaters) have really just driven us out of the good spots," said Bandon bank angler Dave Hambly. "These motors have made it such an impossibility to fish there, you just find another river."

Because of the mounting tension, a group of anglers submitted a petition to the Oregon State Marine Board asking that motor boats be banned on the South Coquille from Broadbent to the Siskiyou National Forest boundary. The petition was signed by 269 people.

The board will take public comment through the winter steelhead season but is unlikely to address the issue until March 2009.

"There's nothing wrong with outboard motors, but they're an inappropriate technology for a small, crowded river like the South Coquille," Reedsport angler Jim Thurber, one of the petitioners, told The World newspaper of Coos Bay, Ore.

But motor boaters say the ban unfairly restricts the guides who make their living from angling.

"Honestly, I don't think (the petition) was needed. This is more of a social issue. I'm fine without motors, but the thing that congests the river is its popularity," said Medford fishing guide Jim Dunlevy. "And as far as the guides go, motors for us are a tool. It'd be like taking a hammer away from a carpenter."

The shore anglers and drift fishermen have some allies in property owners along the river, including Gordon Hayes, who allows anglers access through his riverfront land.

"They run up and down the river like yo-yos. They act like they own the whole river," Hayes says of the motor boaters.

Marine board operations policy analyst Randy Henry says the problems on the South Coquille River stem from a variety issues, including the growing popularity of the area and its relatively small size, as well as ignorance of traditional river etiquette.

"It's a social conflict," Henry said. "And the issue is bigger than just the South Fork of the Coquille."

There are already motor bans on portions of the Elk and Sixes rivers. A similar petition on the South Coquille came before the board in 2002 but it did not go further.

John Ward, southwest regional director for Northwest Steelheaders, said he'd like to see an educational effort before any ban.

"The problem with the Coquille is it's a small but popular area. When you have small and popular together, the people have to find a way to share with the other fishermen," he said. "We've identified a problem. If we can't solve it the easy way, we may have to solve it the hard way."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)