118 SALMON GEAR LIMITATION 



problem involved. At this stage the legislative judgment both upon 

 the desirability of the general scheme and upon the details of the 

 scheme must be exercised. Then, expert legislative drafting must re- 

 duce the proposal to adequate statutory form, and careful legal 

 analysis must be given to the particular details as they are thus deline- 

 ated. The work here represented thus constitutes the essential 

 groundwork for that to follow. 



VI. A RECOMMENDED PROGRAM FOR GEAR REDUCTION 



1. The number of units of gear of each type should be frozen 

 temporarily at the level prevailing in the last fishing season. 

 It would appear both feasible and desirable to reduce the 

 number of licenses immediately by weeding out licenses for 

 vessels which have not fished for salmon within the past few 

 years. By eliminating much of the "blank ticket licensing" 

 encouraged by the present system, it would be possible to 

 start with a level of licensed gear which corresponds to the 

 number of vessels actually fishing commercially. 



2. License fees should be raised to levels which bear a more 

 realistic relationship to the value of the fishing privilege con- 

 ferred. We feel that this would eliminate much of the strictly 

 casual commercial fishing and the quasi-commercial fishing of 

 some sportsmen, both of which have complicated the regu- 

 latory problem without adding significantly to the effectiveness 

 of the industry. It is suggested that the license fees be higher 

 for vessels of greater productivity, though not necessarily 

 proportionately higher. 



3. A revolving fund, serviced out of license revenues, should be 

 set up to permit the state to purchase licenses and gear at a 

 specified percentage of the insurable value of the boat and 

 gear at the option of the owner. Boats purchased under this 

 scheme would be retired or disposed of in such a way that 

 they would not create the same kind of problem in other related 

 fisheries in the Pacific Northwest. Any fisherman relinquishing 

 his license in this fashion would be permitted to re-enter the 

 fishery, but only by purchasing an existing license. 



