Limited Entry Policy and the Bristol Bay, Alaska Salmon Fishermen

Abstract

The impact of limited entry was examined upon the diverse groups engaged in the Bristol Bay, Alaska salmon fishery. Whereas limited entry was intended to enhance the state's rural fishing economies, the system has in fact significantly diminished access of the local population to the fishery, the region's primary economic activity. A significant proportion of local fishermen were intially denied entry permits due to entry criteria in which the implicit definition of a legitimate fisherman was based largely upon a nonrural model, development of an application poorly designed for use by the rural Alaskan population, and administration of the program by a bureaucracy that appears insensitive to the needs of the rural communities. The salability of the permits, combined with the poorer fishing earnings of local fishermen and the generally impoverished local economy, led to a further drain of permits from local areas. Unless the system is substantially altered, local fishing communities can be expected to suffer significant further impoverishment because the fishery is now effectively closed to their burgeoning youthful population. However, the present system substantially benefits urban Alaskan fishermen (as well as non-Alaskan fishermen), who are more effective politically than their rural counterparts, so no substantial change in the present system can be expected. Limited entry programs clearly must be based upon a better understanding of the socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of targeted fishing communities if such highly inappropriate consequences are to be avoided.Key words: limited entry, Bristol Bay, salmon fishery, socioeconomic, Oncorhynchus nerka, fishery management