The new Kodiak Fisheries Advisory Committee met for the first time Tuesday, and its diverse membership delved into business with few fireworks. Controversial subjects came up, but for the most part, they were approached with cordial, civil discussion.

“We are here to help the community and the economy as much as we can, and hopefully come to consensus on some of these issues,” said Trevor Brown, a Kodiak Chamber of Commerce employee who facilitated the meeting.

Fisheries issues have split this community in the past, which is one reason the fisheries advisory committee exists. The Kodiak Island Borough and the City of Kodiak created the committee as a way to keep Borough Assembly and City Council members ahead of fisheries issues. The regulations that control commercial fishing are written and enforced by other governing bodies such as the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the Alaska Legislature, the state Board of Fisheries and the U.S. Congress.

Many Kodiakans feel their community was behind the curve on some of these issues and the result has been a strong backlash against fisheries regulations. Locally elected officials are often asked why Kodiak hasn’t lobbied harder when it comes to fishing issues.

Much of the backlash came after the NPFMC began rationalizing the Bering Sea-Aleutian Islands crab fishing over the last few years.

An upcoming Gulf of Alaska groundfish rationalization plan from NPFMC is on hold, but has been controversial in Kodiak, as people worry it could lead to bitter battles over species such as pollock, cod and sablefish, or to fleet consolidation that reduces the number of fishermen spending money here.

Fisheries consultant Julie Bonney said she was not comfortable with the advisory committee authoring resolutions to influence how the NPFMC allocates shares. The panel should have a “community perspective,” Bonney said.

“Are we going to be concerned with allocations within the community, or are we going to be concerned with the community as a whole?’ Bonney asked.

Bonney is director of the Alaska Groundfish Data Bank Inc., a consulting corporation founded in 2002. Her seat on the advisory committee is reserved for a member representing large processors.

Terry Haines, an alternate for the seat reserved for hired crewmen, disagreed with Bonney. The advisory panel, Haines said, should speak up when the government privatizes resources that were once free for the taking.

“All of us, as present owners of a public resource, have legitimate interest (in privatization),” Haines said. Issues surrounding fisheries shares, and who claims them when NPFMC creates them, Haines said, “should be well within the purview of this community and the City Council and everyone in the United States.”

Haines is a candidate in the October election for Kodiak City Council.

The City Council and Borough Assembly created seats on the advisory committee for stakeholders such as small-pot vessels, salmon/herring net fishermen and large trawl vessels.

There are 17 voting seats in all. The panel is meant to form a consensus, when possible, so the city and borough may pass resolutions to forward to governing bodies that actually control the fisheries.

Tuesday’s meeting was the first for the group and they reached consensus on just one item. They want to hire a paid meeting facilitator to outline their mission and assist them in running meetings.

Issues on the horizon for the committee are an NPFMC review of the Bering Sea-Aleutian Island crab rationalization plan and a plan being studied by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to track commercial fishermen with a career-long identification number.

Joe Sullivan, a fisheries consultant who has contracts with both local governments, but is not a voting member of the advisory panel, said that Fish and Game is studying an ID program, but the earliest possible legislation would be introduced in January.

Sullivan does not expect legislation to be introduced soon, he said, but he wanted the panel to know that an ID program is being discussed at the state level.

“You would tie that number back to the community of residence and the age of the crewmember, all of the relevant economic data you want to analyze,” Sullivan said.

Unlike licensed vessels, crewmembers do not necessarily need a homeport or report one to any agency. The ID program may be important to future fisheries regulations because shares of fisheries — the right to catch a quota — can be linked by regulation to specific communities where the seafood would have to be landed.

Sullivan said there has been a “data gap” when it comes to tracking crewmen.

“This gap has been problematic for any economist who has attempted to measure the effects of fisheries rationalization,” he said.

Gene LeDoux, a commercial fisherman without a seat on the advisory panel, left early in the meeting, during the discussion on ID cards for crewmen.

“Why don’t they tag lobbyists?” LeDoux asked in the hall outside the meeting room.

LeDoux said he has been a financial beneficiary of past rationalization plans, but he is against rationalized fisheries because he believes the past plans have hurt Kodiak. He said the highest paid crewmen have already moved away. Tracking their spending in the economy now might be too little, too late.

“Remember something, with all of this rationalization and privatization that has happened, all the good crewmembers are gone,” he said.

The next Kodiak Fisheries Advisory Committee meeting is Sept. 20. There are currently two seats vacant on the panel. One is reserved for a representative of Kodiak’s rural communities, the other to represent lodge operators and the charter boat fleet. Interested parties may contact the City of Kodiak clerk, 486-8636.

Mirror writer Scott Christiansen can be reached via e-mail at schristiansen@kodiakdailymirror.com.