One thing that will be decided in the meeting before final action is taken is what window years will be used to determine which license limitation program (LLP) permits will be retired. The choices cover a range of options in the years between 2000 and 2008.

The subject is not without considerable controversy. State Rep. Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak, has introduced a joint House resolution "Requesting the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to cease consideration of an amendment package that would require a Pacific cod endorsement for a license limitation program license holder to participate in the Pacific cod fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska."

Austerman said the resolution is basically "asking them not abolish 65 percent of the LLPs so that the new entrants, particularly young Alaskans, can still have an opportunity to have reasonable access to a fishery."

Austerman maintains that the community of Kodiak as a whole is not in favor of further limits on entrants to the cod fishery, in spite of some very vocal exceptions.

"That's a wrong impression," he said. "There are some people there that are currently fishing that would like to reduce the number down to just those people fishing, and then they end up owning the access rights, but as a general rule, the community is not in favor of that kind of rationalization program."

The license limitation program was originally implemented to restrict the number of entrants in the fishery, he said. "We do have limited entry for cod already in place."

Austerman was not sure what sort of reception the resolution would get from the council.

"That I don't know," he said. "A number of the council members are wrestling with the idea of continuing down the same road that we have been, with giving the access and the resources based on fish history, and I'm hoping that they'll change their mind and not put the endorsements on, and I hope they'll send a strong message to the rest of the fisheries that they shouldn't be fishing in the cod industry if you're just fishing for history."

HJR 21 states that, "In absence of a biological concern for resource sustainability, it is important to maintain fisheries with relatively low entry barriers to encourage and allow the entrance of the next generation of fishermen into Alaska's fisheries. While HJR 21 carries no legal force, it puts the Alaska Legislature on record as supporting a policy of broad participation in Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries."

The resolution has passed easily through several committees in the House. Austerman said he knew of no legislators who were actively working against it, and pointed to a number of letters from Kodiak and Alaska Peninsula fishermen and communities in favor of it. There are, however, some big names in the Kodiak fishing fleet who have written letters opposing it, including Al Burch, who has lived and fished in Kodiak for 40 years.

Burch's main points against HJR 21 are that the Legislature has no business trying to manage fisheries by resolution, and that it pits one group of fishermen against another.

"(The council's package) does not take anything away from anyone who has participated in the fixed gear Pacific cod fishery," Burch's letter states. "Yet it allows new entrants into the fishery."

Other letters in opposition also take issue with the Legislature getting involved in fishery management.

"(The council is) the body that handles fisheries," writes Chris Holland. "We don't understand why now you are trying to have the legislature step into an ongoing action and mess with it."

Austerman is hoping to get the resolution through the Senate and passed by both legislative bodies before the council takes up its proposal April 1.

Cristy Fry has commercial fished in Homer since 1978. She also designs and builds gear for the industry. She currently longlines for halibut and gillnets salmon in upper Cook Inlet aboard the F/V Realist. She can be reached at realist468@gmail.com