Councilor McBride, chairperson of this subcommittee, stated that the subcommittee met earlier in the day and reviewed the history of the interest in limiting the number of state ‘for hire” vessel operators licenses issued.  Before its next meeting, the subcommittee would like to have a copy of the following information: 1) the law or regulation that placed the original food fish license into effect and 2) the original Council vote supporting a cap on these licenses.  Council Chairman Wise assured Councilor McBride that he would get that information to him before the next meeting of the Subcommittee.  He identified the following issues as those constituting the Subcommittee’s charge:

• Should there be a cap? If so, what should the cap number be?
• Should periodic license requalification be required?
• If the number of extant licenses falls below the cap number, should new licenses be issued and using what criteria?

Mr. Wise advised the Subcommittee solicit input from current ‘for hire” license-holders to get a sense of how they feel about these issues.  Councilor McBride responded that he would get in touch with the leaders of different associations for this purpose.  He hopes to have the findings and recommendations of the Subcommittee ready for the Council’s review in a few months.

 

Page last modified Sunday, May 8, 2005 by George E. Carroll