Commercial fishermen are supporting a bill that would create a commission to help Alaska communities determine how climate change will impact them and how to respond.

“Commercial fishermen and the fisheries tend to be at the leading edge of the issue,” said Rowland Maw, the executive director of the United Cook Inlet Drifters Association.

Maw testified before the state House last week, just before it voted 29-0 in favor of a bill to create the Climate Impact Assessment Commission.

Maw said the commission would not be concerned with who or what is causing climate change, but rather identify what changes Alaskans should expect and how to prepare for them.

Commercial fishermen and the Kenai Peninsula are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, he said, “Just look at the amount of coastline we have,” he said.

Commercial fishermen depend on predictability, not only to ensure a good catch, but also to fish safely, said Buck Laukitis, a commercial fisherman from Homer.

“We make a living by figuring out patterns,” said Laukitis, who also testified before the House. Living by patterns has become more difficult as fish runs seem to be occurring earlier and storms more frequently, he said.

As a commercial fisherman, he wants the commission to compile and gather information on climate change and determine which observations are anecdotal and which are part of a larger pattern.

Although the commission may not be the end-all answer to climate change issues, it would be a good start to addressing them, he said.

The commission would be Alaska’s first look at how to prepare for the impacts of climate change, according to Susanne Fleek, a program officer at the Alaska Conservation Foundation.

The commission would hold hearings around the state, build on research being conducted at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks and Anchorage and recommend responses that can be carried out by local, state and federal governments.

The commission would not be about assigning blame, but rather buckling down and recognizing that there is a problem that needs to be addressed and tackling it, Laukitis said.

Since they are among the most fuel-consumptive food producers in the world, commercial fishermen are in no position to point fingers about who is to blame for climate change, Laukitis said in his testimony before the House.

“(But) it would be prudent to establish a systematic framework to contemplate where we are in this debate, and to begin to establish policies to address mitigation options,” he said in written testimony he read before the House.

“As resource users we really need to pay attention to what’s going on,” he said in an interview this week.

Patrice Kohl is a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion.