The licensing section at the Entry Commission is responsible for issuance of the annual permits and vessel licenses required for all fishers and vessels participating in Alaska's commercial fisheries, as well as related activities such as replacing lost or damaged licenses, changing vessel ownership and re-registering vessels for different areas or fisheries. Requests to permanently transfer permits, and to transfer them temporarily due to emergency situations, are also reviewed by staff within the licensing section. The workload is seasonal with the greatest volume of activity occurring between November and June. To accommodate the fluctuating demands of the workload, three of the eight positions within the section are seasonal, working only during the months of peak demand. Due to the growing complexity of fisheries management programs and regulations and resulting increases in phone calls, the small staff has been hard-pressed to handle the load in peak periods during the past few years. Automated processing enables the licensing section to issue a large number of licenses in a short time, but the initial stages of processing involve a myriad of details and judgement calls. An unforeseen shortage of experienced staff occurred during the spring of 1995 when demands of the workload left little opportunity to train replacements. The effects made clear that it is the expertise and experience of the staff (most of whom have been here for several years) that normally enables the section to accomplish its tasks in an accurate and expeditious manner.
The licensing section constantly seeks means of improving efficiency and accuracy and streamlining procedures for fishers and staff. A project started late in 1995 involves conversion of the file room from an alphabetic system to numeric system. The Commission maintains approximately 40,000 files for permit holders active in recent years. It is already evident, even though the conversion is not completed, this change will significantly reduce the time required to file and retrieve documents, as well as improving filing accuracy.
The number of fishers licensed and permits issued in 1995 continued the decline seen during the past few years, which appears to be related to enactment of the federal IFQ program. However, there was a slight increase in the number of vessel licenses issued over the 1994 level, probably due to increased awareness among sport charter operators and guides of the requirement to license vessels for those activities. A quick comparison of the numbers of permits and vessel licenses issued in the past few years follows:
| 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | |
| Permits | 32,524 | 32,219 | 29,511 | 28,633 | 27,153 |
| Vessels | 17,580 | 17,194 | 16,276 | 16,259 | 16,277 |
| TOTAL | 50,104 | 49,413 | 45,787 | 44,892 | 43,430 |
| Fishers | 17,944 | 17,635 | 16,561 | 16,408 | 15,853 |
The Limited Entry Act provides for two types of permit transfers. Permanent transfers occur when a permit is sold, inherited or given as a gift. Emergency (temporary) transfers may be approved in certain instances when the permit holder is unable to participate in the fishery due to illness, injury, death or unavoidable hardships of a temporary, unexpected and unforeseen nature. Emergency transfers are typically approved for the duration of the emergency situation or the fishing season, whichever is shorter.
The licensing section receives requests for both types of transfers throughout the year, but emergency transfers occur primarily during or shortly before the fishing seasons, with the majority received from March through July. When an injury or illness is suffered in the midst of the fishing season, the permit holder and transferee may go to the local office of the Department of fish and Game to complete a request for emergency transfer. Field office personnel then relay the pertinent information to CFEC transfer staff who determine if the transferee may commence fishing using a copy of the transfer form.
Since 1989, the annual number of transfer requests has risen with emergency transfers comprising most of the increase. In 1995, the total number of transfers requested was approximately 1,984. This was an increase over the 1994 total of 1,936, although the number of emergency transfers actually decreased for the first time in years while permanent transfers rose.
946 emergency transfer requests were received during 1995, of which 210 were called in by field offices mid-season and 736 were received by mail. 861 emergency transfers were approved upon initial review and 11 were approved "conditionally" for a short period of time pending receipt of more information. 62 requests were denied on initial review. Of those denied, administrative hearings were requested in 37 cases; 27 of these were approved after hearings and 10 denials were upheld. 2 of those denials were later overturned and approved by the Commission on appeal. The final count of emergency transfers for 1995 was 901 approved transfers, 33 denials and 8 requests withdrawn.
Some permits are being emergency transferred multiple times during a season, usually due to schedule conflicts or disagreements between the parties over terms. The 946 emergency transfer requests received in 1995 involved 855 permits. Of these, 812 were transferred once, 39 twice and 4 transferred three times.
The transfer tables at the back of this report provide comparative information on numbers of transfers by fishery, year, and other criteria. The following figures indicate the numbers of transfers by type, as well as the number or requests denied. "Regular" transfers include voluntary transfers requested by permit holders which may be sales, gifts, trades, etc.. "Survivorship" transfers include permits transferred to a surviving spouse by right of survivorship after the permit holder's death. "Foreclosure" transfers are those by which a state-authorized loan agency (CFAB or DCED) repossesses a permit after the holder has defaulted on a loan.
| Permanent Transfers Completed | 975 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Regular | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Survivorship | 28 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreclosure | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Permanent Transfers Denied | 43 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Transfer Requests Withdrawn | 26 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CFEC regulations require the parties to a permanent transfer to disclose in writing all terms and conditions relating to the transfer request. Transfer staff review the bills of sale, contracts or other documents to ensure there are no provisions which violate the statutes or regulations, as well as checking the history of the permit and eligibility of the parties to transfer. Approximately 1,079 permanent transfer requests were reviewed during 1995, as illustrated here:
| Limited Entry Permits Not Renewed | 453 |
| Limited Entry Permits with Fees Waived* | 238 |
| Limited Entry Permits Revoked or Lapsed (since 1975) | 710<\u> |
| Limited Entry Permits Renewed | 12,673 |
| Interim Permits in Fisheries Under Limitation or Moratoria | 1,155 |
| Interim Permits in Open-to-Entry Fisheries | 13,304 |
| Special Harvest Area (Hatchery) permits | 20 |
| Educational Entry Permits | 1 |
| TOTAL PERMITS PAID FOR 1995 | 27,153 |
| VESSELS LICENSED FOR 1995 | 16,277 |
| TOTAL PERMITS AND VESSEL LICENSES | 43,430 |
| Alaska Resident Permit Holders | 12,014 |
| Nonresident Permit Holders | 3,839 |
| TOTAL PERMIT HOLDERS | 15,853 |
* Fees for limited entry permits may be waived in the event of season-long closures such as occurred in the PWS herring fisheries during 1994 and 1995.
During 1995, staff from the licensing section again traveled to Dillingham and King Salmon to provide on-site assistance with licensing and permit transfers. As a result of the staff shortages in the Juneau office, field office service was limited to April 7-8 and 19-21 for the herring season and June 5 - July 15 for the salmon fishery.
The following table shows the number of licenses issued at field offices during 1995.
| Field Office | Permits Issued | Vessels Licensed | TOTAL |
| Dillingham | 149 | 81 | 230 |
| King Salmon | 299 | 183 | 482 |
| TOTAL | 448 | 264 | 712 |
In addition to issuing licenses, Commission staff in the field offices assisted with approximately 108 requests for emergency transfer of fishing permits. "User fees" collected from field office activities during 1995 totaled $8,490.