CSHB 26(FIN)-SHORT-TERM COM FISHING CREWMEMBER LICENSE  CHAIR WAGONER announced CSHB 26(FIN) to be up for consideration. 3:37:06 PM ADAM BERG, staff to Representative Carl Moses, sponsor, explained that CSHB 26(FIN) allows the purchase of a seven-day commercial fishing crew member license for $30. The only option available now for crew members is an annual license, which is $60 for residents and $180 for non-residents. The reason for introducing the bill is to try to give commercial fishermen more opportunities to earn a living by charging tourists to participate hands-on in the commercial fishery. Right now they can only observe. Secondly, it would allow commercial fishermen temporary short-term help, such as relatives and friends, at a lower cost. 3:38:46 PM SENATOR ELTON joined the committee. 3:39:40 PM SENATOR GUESS joined the committee. SENATOR DYSON said the Coast Guard Auxiliary asked him if conformity with the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 46 had been discussed. MR. BERG replied that the Juneau Charter Boat Operators Association asked that question of Sue Jorgenson with the Coast Guard, and she responded if an individual pays for the opportunity to go out fishing on a commercial vessel, that vessel is then considered a vessel for hire and would have to follow the same Coast Guard rules that charter boat operators follow now. SENATOR DYSON asked if this isn't a backdoor way around Coast Guard licensing procedure. MR. BERG replied that is correct. 3:41:36 PM SENATOR ELTON asked if this bill would have any implications on the Fishermen's Fund. SENATOR STEDMAN joined the committee. MR. BERG replied that an amendment was offered saying that short-term crewmembers aren't allowed any type of compensation. Currently, 39 percent of the first $60 of any license goes to the Fishermen's Fund. That doesn't change under this bill, which has an indeterminate fiscal note from the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. 3:43:35 PM SENATOR STEDMAN asked if the commercial fishermen would fall into the category of six-pack license requirements. MR. BERG replied that they would have to have a six-pack license, be enrolled in the random drug testing program and the vessel would have to be documented for coastwise as well as fishery type 1 personal floatation devices - in addition to the survival suits that are required on commercial boats. 3:44:38 PM PAUL SHADURA, President, Kenai Fishermen's Association, supported HB 26. Its approach is reasonable and adds a lot of dynamics to the commercial fishing industry. It offers a survivalist type of experience for those who are interested and would probably not affect any other users in any way. A lot of people have family members come up and visit them and currently hiring them for a couple of days is prohibitively expensive. 3:46:37 PM CHRIS CONDOR, Board Member, Juneau Charter Boat Association, opposed HB 26, because it has all kinds of holes and dangers in it for tourists, especially. You're going to put people who have never been on a boat out in these type of seas. Despite all the safety precautions a charter boat has, they're [commercial boats] in much more dangerous situations.... In those seas something is going to happen.... In these disclaimers when they talk about these releases, they're not worth the paper they're written on when you talk to a lawyer about them.... If someone gets into a problem out there, we're going to have a real bad PR problem about that. You can see it any time...we lose a tourist. It's real bad PR for Alaska. Furthermore, he said the charter boat license and insurance requirements would be prohibitive. Another consideration was how enforcement would be conducted and he surmised that a Coast Guard person would have to board each vessel to check out the people on it. He also thought it was an unfair bill for the charter fleet saying: If you want to be a commercial fisherman, be a commercial fisherman. If you want to be a charter fisherman, be a charter boat fisherman. If you want to do both, that's fine too, but you have to do it separately, not combined. I can't sell my catch. The commercial fleet would never allow me to do something like that. It's just not fair. 3:50:41 PM JACK CADIGAN, Captain, M/V CADIGAN, suggested amending the bill to address licensing short-term people who would not be compensated on commercial boats. Because of the unusual activity of taking tourists out, commercial boats should be required to display an appropriate decal, which would be similar or identical to that of charter boat operators, so that enforcement doesn't necessarily have to board the vessels. MR. CADIGAN pointed out a the further issue of whether the fish would be counted as sport or commercial fish allocations and whether the tourist passengers would be allowed to keep any fish caught without having to purchase them via a fish ticket. In any case, he asked how the catch would be identified and allocated under current regulations. He suggested requiring vessels operating under the authority of this legislation to comply with all applicable regulations under CFR and with all Alaska licensing requirements apropos to sportfishing guides and sportfishing business licenses unless non of the personnel who are acting as crewmembers are in any sort of a paid status. 3:55:05 PM RICK BIERMAN, Whaleside Lodge, Shelter Island, said last year the Legislature passed comprehensive regulations on the guided sport fishing industry regarding vessel safety and operator responsibility. Now it is proposing to put his clients on commercial fishing boats without the same safeguards contained in those regulations. He said a commercial fishing boat is a far more dangerous environment than a charter boat. The Coast Guard also stated that enforcement isn't practical unless vessels somehow indicate they have passengers for hire and he suggested requiring vessels to carry a prominent sticker that identifies them as carrying tourists. 3:57:36 PM He was also concerned that since this bill creates a whole new fishing experience in Alaska, his clients will now have a choice to come to his lodge and be restricted to three king salmon a year, bag, possession and gear limits or they could rent a commercial vessel and catch as many fish as they want. "There is nothing in this bill that says the operator of the vessels can include those fish in the price of the adventure." He insisted that the tourists should have to buy the fish they catch; otherwise they would be circumventing sport regulations that happen to be good regulations. 3:59:11 PM Further, he said the people who use this license should be required to prove they have liability insurance. 3:59:43 PM SENATOR DYSON asked who from the marine insurance industry could comment on lines of liability protection for the short-term people. MR. BIERMAN replied that he didn't know of anyone locally, but Charter Lakes Insurance Company in St. Paul writes 50 percent of the liability for charter boats. CHAIR WAGONER commented that he looked at this bill from the commercial point of view and ran away from it because of the liability and insurance he would be required to have. 4:01:21 PM JERRY MCCUNE, United Fishermen of Alaska, supported HB 26. However there were some misconceptions he wanted to clarify. Commercial fishermen already need to have most things on board already and are required to carry liability between $300,000 and $1 million for crew. Some of his members have gillnetters and they come to town, take their net off, take two or three clients out and already have the same equipment a charter boat does. He did agree that commercial vessels being used for charter should be readily identifiable as such. 4:04:40 PM SENATOR ELTON asked how he would address the allocation issue for guests. MR. MCCUNE answered: If you were a commercial vessel and you were taking people out for the commercial experience, which I haven't a whole lot of this going on - myself, I haven't had any requests for this. You're commercial fishing; you've got to have all the commercial permits, all the other charter stuff to go along with it. You've got to have your card; they gotta have their crew licenses and that would go on a fish ticket.... You deliver, you've gotta have a fish ticket. It's just like a commercial fishing boat. Now if you take some of the fish and give them to your clients, which is perfectly legal also, you could do that. But any fish delivered to a tender has to have a fish ticket and it's going to go down as commercial, not sport. CHAIR WAGONER related that in his fishery halibut has to be marked as "retained catch" and must come off your IFQ. SENATOR ELTON remarked that tourists are limited to three king salmon per year, but a person on a commercial boat could take 10 kings, for instance, have them smoked and take them home. MR. MCCUNE replied that as a commercial fisherman, he has to report all the kings he catches, even the ones he's taking home, so ADF&G has an accurate count of fish. SENATOR ELTON repeated that his point is that a person hiring a charter boat is limited to taking three kings for the season, but if he goes out on a commercial troller he could and take 10 kings. 4:10:22 PM CHAIR WAGONER said he understands this is to give people the experience of being on a commercial boat and he, personally, doesn't give his crew king salmon or halibut. If this goes through, that is an allocation issue and should be taken up by the Board of Fisheries. 4:11:11 PM SENATOR ELTON responded that a person may expect to get some fish out of the commercial experience. It could even be used as a marketing tool. CHAIR WAGONER acknowledged that would be an issue, but the Board of Fisheries was the proper forum to set policy. I think if we do anything, if this bill goes forward, I think we want to make the intent of the Legislature - this is not a meat fishery. We are not creating a meat fishery. It's real dangerous when we do that. 4:12:43 PM CHAIR WAGONER said he would hold the bill and get input from the insurance industry and the Board of Fisheries.