The Homer City Council last month introduced an ordinance that would extend the exemption fee for work and seine skiffs attached to motherships from moorage fees in the Homer Harbor through 2025. The policy to charge skiffs for moorage was amended to reinstate the exemption fee until Dec. 31.
A public hearing on Ordinance 24-64, introduced Nov. 25, will be held Jan. 13.
At an April Port and Harbor Commission meeting, 18 local fisherman spoke in opposition to the new skiff policy. Some noted that the fee has never been required before and many other ports in the state including Valdez, Kodiak and Seward do not charge for it. Other comments included lack of parking, laundry and showers for fishermen that other harbors offer and undue hardships for younger members of the fleet if the skiff fee is required.
Harbor Master Matt Clarke provided some comments on why the harbor was considering a skiff fee in the first place. He noted that the average seine skiff is approximately 20 feet long. The width and general size of the vessel is typically as large marine policy limits allow. At the peak of spring fisheries mobilization, when the seiners as well tenders and charter boats are present in the harbor, the addition of 50 or more skiffs in the water creates an addition of at least 1,000 feet of congestion. “It’s really a considerable amount of space,” Clarke said.
Clarke noted that all other vessels in the harbor are required to provide moorage and that while there are justifications that can be made to supporting the commercial vessels and the economics that they contribute to the rest of community, there is a sense of fairness and equity that needs to be considered.
“I think as far as having a public tariff policy and a rate structure, it’s a very slippery slope when you start to carve off concessions for needs, and because everybody really does have their own justification. So, what started with seine skiffs, grew into requests for ender skiff and requests from charter boats who want a small vessel to launch for hunting or simply to get to shore,” Clarke said.
Clarke also noted the difficulty of trying to introduce a new policy like this in the midst of the depressed economic environment, low fish prices and poor stock returns. “I think the council gets that. They have heard a lot of commentary and know that it’s a pretty sensitive topic right now,” Clarke said.
Full details on the January public hearing are not available at this time on the City of Homer websites.