Opinion ID: 220720
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: overview of alaska's fishing laws

Text: The Alaska Constitution prohibits the state from creating an exclusive right or special privilege of fishery ... in the natural waters of the State. Alaska Const. art. VIII, § 15. But it allows Alaska to limit entry into any fishery for purposes of resource conservation, to prevent economic distress among fishermen and those dependent upon them for a livelihood and to promote the efficient development of aquaculture in the State. Id. The state legislature has the authority to decide how Alaska's resources should be utilized, developed, and conserved. Id. § 2. By enacting Alaska Statutes section 16.05.221, the legislature delegated that authority to a seven-member Board of Fisheries (the Board). The Board may adopt regulations ... establishing restricted seasons and areas necessary for... setting quotas, bag limits, harvest levels, and sex and size limitations on the taking of fish. Id. § 16.05.251(a)(2), (3). Likewise, the Board may regulate commercial... fishing as needed for the conservation, development, and utilization of fisheries. Id. § 16.05.251(a)(12). The regulations must provide a fair and reasonable opportunity for the taking of fishery resources by personal use, sport, and commercial fishermen. Id. § 16.05.251(d). When allocating the state's fishery resources among personal, sport, and commercial uses, the Board must consider seven specified criteria. Id. § 16.05.251(e). They include the historical uses of each fishery and the importance of each fishery both to the economy and to family or personal consumption. Id. If a particular stock of fish cannot sustainably support both traditional subsistence fishing and other consumptive uses, such as commercial take, the Board must adopt regulations that eliminate other consumptive uses in order to provide a reasonable opportunity for subsistence uses. Id. § 16.05.258(b)(3)(B). The Alaska Administrative Code provides guidelines that the Board must follow when adopting regulations. At least twice each year, the Board must solicit proposals to change its regulations. Alaska Admin. Code tit. 5, § 96.625(b). The Board must make available to the public the proposals that it receives, and it must hold public meetings to gather local comments on proposed changes. Id. § 96.625(c). The Board then must vote in public session whether to adopt each proposed change. Id. To control commercial fishing further, the legislature created a three-member Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (the Commission). The Commission regulates entry into commercial fisheries [1] for all fishery resources in Alaska. Alaska Stat. § 16.43.100(a)(1). In doing so, the Commission establishes qualifications for the issuance of entry permits, id. § 16.43.100(a)(6); sets the number of entry permits for each area, id. § 16.43.100(a)(9); and provides for the transfer and re-issuance of entry permits to qualified transferees, id. § 16.43.100(a)(11). In general, no one may fish commercially in Alaska without a valid entry permit. Id. § 16.43.140(a). Once issued an entry permit, a commercial fisher must renew it annually. Id. § 16.43.150(c). If he or she neglects to do so for two consecutive years, the fisher generally forfeits the permit to the Commission. Id. § 16.43.150(d). The statute provides that  [a]n entry permit constitutes a use privilege that may be modified or revoked by the legislature without compensation.  Id. § 16.43.150(e) (emphasis added). Nevertheless, a holder of a transferable entry permit [2] may, subject to approval by the Commission, transfer the permit to another fisher. Id. § 16.43.170(b). A transferable permit also passes by right of survivorship upon the death of the permit holder. Id. § 16.43.150(h). But as to all entry permits, holders remain subject to all regulations adopted by the Board of Fisheries. Id. § 16.43.950. When the biological condition of a fishery or long-term market conditions make it appropriate, the Commission may decrease the optimum number of entry permits for the affected fishery. Alaska Stat. § 16.43.300. If the number of entry permits previously issued exceeds the revised optimum number of permits, the Commission must institute a buy-back program to purchase transferable entry permits, using money set aside in a buy-back fund established for each affected fishery. Id. §§ 16.43.310-.320. The program must cease as soon as the number of outstanding entry permits equals the new optimum number. Id. § 16.43.320. After obtaining a valid entry permit, a commercial fisher may also buy a lease of tidal or submerged land in the fishery in which the permit allows him or her to fish. Id. § 38.05.082(a). The term of such a lease may not exceed 10 years. Id. § 38.05.082(c). Such a lease allows the fisher to use shore gill nets or set gill nets to take fish, as well as to exclude other commercial fishers from the leased land. Id. § 38.05.082(a). Only the Director of the Division of Lands of the Department of Natural Resources may grant such a lease, and may do so only with the approval of the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources. Id. A fisher who holds a lease must use the leased area personally and must use it only for fishing. Id. § 38.05.082(c). For example, the leaseholder may not erect any permanent structure. Alaska Admin. Code tit. 11, § 64.060. With the Director's approval, a leaseholder may sublease or assign some or all of the leased land. Alaska Stat. § 38.05.095(a). But the legislature provided further that  [t]he lease of submerged land conveys no interest in the water above the land or in the fish in the water.  Id. § 38.05.082(e) (emphasis added).