Commercial Fishing License Limitation in the State of Alaska: A Controversial System of Grandfather Rights
By Bruce Twomley
ABSTRACT
The State of Alaska's license limitation program is an elaborate system of grandfather rights applied to limit fishing capacity in salmon and similar fisheries, characterized by individual owners and operators of fishing vessels coupled with additional regulatory constraints on fishing power (such as vessel size and gear restrictions). Although the State of Alaska has enhanced its program by providing for limits on individual fishing capacity, so far, the State has not acquired more flexible limitation tools (such as individual transferable fishing quotas). Despite the generally acknowledged necessity for limited entry and the overall effectiveness of Alaska's program, license limitation in Alaska remains controversial in large part due to the transferability for market value of the individual fishing rights the program creates. Today, Alaska has applied this license limitation system to some 63 fisheries, making Alaska's license limitation program the largest of its kind in the world.
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