Juneau task force's whale-watch recommendation no longer commits to a license or cap

Juneau's tourism task force released a rewritten recommendation on whale watching Monday. It still says the status quo isn't sustainable, but it no longer commits the city to a license or a cap on operators.

A week ago, the Visitor Industry Task Force's earlier draft called on the city to "explore and implement a CBJ whale watching license or permitting structure," including limited-entry licensing, a moratorium on new operators, a cap and "future tapering."

The public review draft the city released Monday says something different. The city should "explore implementation of a strategy to manage commercial whale watching activity through new regulatory and/or operational frameworks in coordination with CBJ Law and local operators." Licensing, a moratorium, a cap or tapering are now "potential tools and structures to evaluate."

The new wording came from Vice Chair Kirby Day, according to the task force's notes from its Oct. 22 meeting.

The recommendation is still rated high priority, to be done within about two years, at an estimated $105,000 to $290,000, mostly for legal and policy work. It still opens, "Recognizing that the status quo is not sustainable."

It also keeps a line telling the city to "learn from pitfalls in other management programs, including commercial fishing (permits migrating out of state), and incentivize keeping ownership local."

About 75 whale-watching boats operate in the Juneau area, by NOAA's estimate. The city has never limited how many companies can run them. The Southeast Alaska Whale Watch Association has said it supports a cap.

A companion recommendation, estimated at $62,000 to $188,000, would write the association's commitments into the city's voluntary guidelines. Those include no-go zones and spacing around whales, an expert analysis of a "good" number of boats around a whale and work with state officials and the Coast Guard to move the 500-foot buoy.

The task force takes public testimony on all its draft recommendations Thursday, Nov. 5, at 5:30 pm at the Mendenhall Valley Public Library, and written comments are due that day. It's scheduled to finalize the recommendations Nov. 12. The task force only advises. The Assembly decides what, if anything, to adopt.