By Tim Bradner
Alaska Journal of Commerce

A blue-ribbon task force presented recommendations to overhaul state oversight of six community development quota fisheries groups that harvest millions of dollars of pollock, halibut, crab and other fish annually under joint-venture deals with fisheries companies.

The CDQ groups are given annual quotas, or harvest rights, in Bering Sea fisheries under a federal program in existence since 1992. Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed the task force members last spring to review the CDQ program.

The panel presented its findings to Murkowski Sept. 14.

Among the key recommendations is a proposal that the state allow the groups to make business decisions without prior approval, which is required under current rules, and that investments can be made in non-fisheries enterprises within the CDQ regions. The task force also recommended that quota allocations be made for periods of 10 years instead of the current period of three years.

Anchorage businessman Ed Rasmuson chaired the six-member task force, with Carl Marrs, former Cook Inlet Region Inc. president, acting as facilitator. Other task force members include Tom Case, dean of the College of Business and Public Policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage; Stephanie Madsen, chair of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council; Dennis Metrokin, president of Koniag Inc.; and Ron Miller, executive director of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.