Hearing set on 'dude fishing' license bill

The House Special Committee on Fisheries is scheduled to hold a hearing at 10 a.m. tomorrow, in part on House Bill 143.

This bill would increase the fee for a seven-day, so-called "dude fishing" crew license from $30 to $60.

We now have a sponsor statement from the committee chairman, Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, explaining the problem he sees with people buying multiple seven-day licenses.

We also have a fiscal note from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which says that last year, 443 resident and 2,317 nonresident seven-day commercial crew licenses were sold.

The note further says that 136 nonresident fishermen purchased four or more seven-day licenses in 2012.

Dude fishing rules!

The Alaska Board of Fisheries has voted to continue "dude fishing" in Bristol Bay's Nushagak District.

The dude fishery gives tourists a chance to ride aboard a commercial fishing boat and net a few salmon. A boat operating in the dude fishery may take up to 90 salmon per day.

The special fishery is seen as good business in Dillingham, one of the main commercial fishing villages on Bristol Bay.

The Board of Fisheries originally approved dude fishing as a test three years ago. The authorizing regulation was due to expire, or sunset, at the end of this year.

But the board over the weekend adopted a proposal to eliminate the sunset date.

That means dude can keep fishing!

The board also voted to expand the dude fishing season. Now the season will open June 1, instead of July 1, and run through Sept. 30.