Bill > HB117

This bill establishes new regulations for fishing in Alaska, specifically concerning electronic monitoring for trawl fisheries and the administrative areas for set net permits in Cook Inlet. It allows the Commissioner of Fish and Game to require vessels participating in state commercial finfish trawl fisheries to use electronic monitoring systems, but only if the vessels already have such systems for federal fisheries and if implementation is practical, cost-effective, and doesn't disrupt the fishery or require new equipment purchases. Importantly, the bill prohibits the state from charging commercial fishers to fund these electronic monitoring programs. Additionally, it creates a new distinct administrative area on the east side of Cook Inlet for commercial set net entry permits, separating it from the general Cook Inlet area, and outlines a transition process for existing permit holders to be reassigned to this new area if they can prove past participation in the specific statistical areas that will now form the new zone, with provisions for appeals and reassignment of permits by the Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC), which is the state agency responsible for managing fishing entry permits.