COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) -- The Oregon State Marine Board voted against a proposal to ban outboard motors on a portion of the South Fork Coquille River.

The proposed ban was in response to a petition from roughly 350 bank anglers, drift boat operators and landowners who were unhappy with what they consider to be aggressive motor boaters.

At its meeting in Portland this week, the board voted 4-1 against the ban.

"We're extremely disappointed," petitioner Jim Thurber said. "I think (the board members) do not understand the situation and did not have the courage to be proactive."

Businesses opposed the ban, saying it would reduce activity during the winter steelhead season, when hundreds of people head to the waterway.

"The economic benefits to the small community should not be overlooked," Norm Jarvis of Myrtle Point wrote to the board. "Many small businesses benefit either directly or indirectly from the influx of fishermen during the winter-month steelhead season."

Randy Henry, the board's planning and policy analyst, drafted a report recommending the ban following a series of public hearings on the issue in Medford and the Coos Bay area. But he said the board members were concerned about setting a precedent. If they approved this ban on motors, similar requests might pour in from across the state.

With the ban failing to pass, Henry said it would be up to anglers to start following the ethics and etiquette of the river.

He said, for example, that bank anglers should not wade to the middle of a channel where boat use is common. Boaters, meanwhile, should use their anchor sparingly in popular holes and minimize motor use on smaller rivers. Everyone should respect private lands by carrying out their garbage.

"It's very hard to craft rules that force people to be polite," Henry said. "It would be much better for everyone if they recognized a simple truth about fishing: It's supposed to be fun."