As the legislative session lumbers on in Juneau, an interesting bill has appeared that would make a big change in how people gain entry to Alaska's commercial fisheries.
House Bill 188, sponsored by Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka, would allow for the establishment of "regional fisheries trusts."
These trusts could hold fishery permits and lease them to Alaska resident fishermen "for a limited period of time," Kreiss-Tomkins says in his
sponsor statement for the bill.
HB 188 aims to alleviate the problem of permits leaving rural Alaska communities, as well as the rising price of entering the fisheries.
The bill appears to be a modified version of the bill Kreiss-Tomkins offered last year to establish "regional community permit banks."