00                      CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 218(FSH)                                                                    
01 "An Act relating to cost recovery fisheries for private nonprofit hatchery facilities."                                 
02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
03    * Section 1.  The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section                         
04 to read:                                                                                                                
05       FINDINGS.  The Alaska State Legislature finds that Alaska private nonprofit salmon                                
06 hatcheries should maximize the harvests of returning hatchery-produced salmon by                                        
07 commercial salmon fishing permit holders.  The legislature also finds that private nonprofit                            
08 hatcheries should minimize, to the greatest extent feasible, the direct sale of salmon harvested                        
09 in special harvest areas.                                                                                               
10    * Sec. 2.  AS 16.10 is amended by adding a new section to read:                                                    
11            Sec. 16.10.455.  Cost recovery fisheries.  (a) A hatchery permit holder may                                
12       harvest salmon for a facility in a special harvest area through agents, contractees, or                           
13       employees of the permit holder as provided under regulations of the Board of Fisheries                            
14       or through the common property fishery under this section.                                                        
15            (b)  A hatchery permit holder may elect to harvest surplus salmon produced at                                

01       a facility in a special harvest area established for that facility through the common                             
02       property fishery.  The commissioner of fish and game, after reasonable consultation                               
03       with the hatchery permit holder, affected commercial fishermen, and other interested                              
04       or knowledgeable parties, shall adopt regulations governing the harvest of surplus                                
05       salmon in a special harvest area if the hatchery permit holder elects to harvest surplus                          
06       salmon produced at a facility through the common property fishery.  The regulations                               
07       must specify the terms, conditions, and rules under which the common property                                     
08       fishery in the special harvest area shall be conducted, including requirements for hold                           
09       inspections and reporting of harvests and sales of salmon taken in the special harvest                            
10       area.  The board may adopt regulations, as the board considers appropriate, regarding                             
11       a fisheries management plan governing operations under this subsection in a special                               
12       harvest area, including allocation plans.  Participation in the fishery must be open to                           
13       all interim-use permit and entry permit holders who hold permits to operate a type of                             
14       gear that may be used in the administrative area in which the special harvest area is                             
15       located if that type of gear is authorized by regulation to be used in the special harvest                        
16       area.  An interim-use permit holder or an entry permit holder who takes salmon in a                               
17       common property fishery in a special harvest area may sell the salmon to any fish                                 
18       buyer or processor who is licensed to do business in the state.                                                   
19            (c)  As a condition of participation in a common property salmon fishery in a                                
20       special harvest area under this section, a fisherman who participates in the fishery is                           
21       subject to the payment of the assessment levied under (d) of this section.  The                                   
22       assessment is levied on the value of salmon that the fisherman takes in the special                               
23       harvest area and either sells to a buyer or exports from the state without being sold in                          
24       the state.  If the buyer of the salmon is licensed under AS 43.75, the buyer shall collect                        
25       the assessment on salmon taken in a special harvest area at the time of purchase and                              
26       remit the assessment to the Department of Revenue in accordance with regulations                                  
27       adopted by the Department of Revenue.  If a fisherman does not sell salmon harvested                              
28       in a special harvest area to a buyer licensed under AS 43.75 or if a fisherman does not                           
29       sell salmon harvested in a special harvest area to a buyer before the salmon are                                  
30       exported from the state, the fisherman shall remit the amount of the assessment to the                            
31       Department of Revenue in accordance with regulations adopted by the Department of                                 

01       Revenue.                                                                                                          
02            (d)  The Department of Revenue shall annually set the rate of the assessment                                 
03       levied on salmon taken in a special harvest area in consultation with the Department of                           
04       Fish and Game, the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic                                                
05       Development, the hatchery permit holder, and representatives of affected commercial                               
06       fishermen.  The rate of the assessment shall take into account the operating, capital,                            
07       and maintenance costs of the hatchery permit holder for the facility for which the                                
08       special harvest area is established, reasonable overhead expenses, including debt                                 
09       service on loans for the facility, the estimated return and harvest of salmon in the                              
10       special harvest area, the projected price to be paid for salmon in the region, and the                            
11       amount by which the assessment collected in previous years under estimated or over                                
12       estimated the costs to the hatchery permit holder for the operation of the facility.  The                         
13       total rate of the assessment may not exceed 40 percent of the value of the salmon.                                
14            (e)  The Department of Revenue shall deposit the assessments collected under                                 
15       this section in the general fund.  The legislature may appropriate the funds collected                            
16       under this section to the hatchery permit holder who operates a facility in the special                           
17       harvest area in which the assessment was levied.  A hatchery permit holder shall use                              
18       funds appropriated under this subsection for the purposes set out under                                           
19       AS 16.10.450(a).                                                                                                  
20            (f)  A person who violates a regulation adopted by the Department of Fish and                                
21       Game or the Board of Fisheries under (b) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor                               
22       under AS 16.05.723.  A person who violates a regulation adopted by the Department                                 
23       of Revenue under (c) of this section is guilty of a class A misdemeanor.                                          
24            (g)  In this section,                                                                                        
25                 (1)  "facility" means a hatchery or salmon rehabilitation project for                                   
26       which a permit is issued under AS 16.10.400 - 16.10.470;                                                          
27                 (2)  "special harvest area" means a special harvest area established                                    
28       under regulations of the Board of Fisheries in which a hatchery permit holder may                                 
29       harvest salmon for the hatchery at times set by the board or the department;                                      
30                 (3)  "value" has the meaning given in AS 43.75.290.                                                     
31    * Sec. 3.  AS 43.76.035 is amended to read:                                                                        

01            Sec. 43.76.035.  Exemption.  AS 43.76.001 - 43.76.040 do not apply to                                      
02       salmon harvested under a special harvest area entry permit issued under AS 16.43.400                              
03       or in a common property fishery conducted in a special harvest area under                                     
04       AS 16.10.455.