Trump order tells agencies to weigh permits of three years or more with presumed renewal

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Sept. 17 directing federal agencies to evaluate, within 60 days, moving existing permits to terms of at least three years with a standard presumption of renewal "to the extent permitted by applicable law." The order also sets a goal of a single interagency permit portal within a year.

Nothing changes for Alaska charter and guiding businesses that hold federal permits until an agency acts. The first agency evaluations are due Nov. 16.

Agencies are to consider limiting the presumption of renewal to permittees in "good standing." The order says that may be defined as agency records confirming three things: full compliance with Coast Guard safety rules, no major environmental or fisheries violations and a 100 percent compliance rate with mandatory electronic catch reporting. Agencies would check standing through interagency data sharing and their own databases, not new paperwork from applicants.

The third test refers to electronic reporting the order directs NOAA to deploy through mobile apps on existing or successor platforms. Alaska saltwater charter operators have had to report every guided trip through the state eLogbook since 2025. The order does not say whether that record would count.

Since 2011, charter halibut permits have been required on Southeast and Southcentral Alaska charter trips where clients keep halibut. At the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Oct. 8 meeting in Anchorage, Gretchen Harrington presented the National Marine Fisheries Service's report, which said charter operators this year had to buy electronic charter halibut stamps for their clients. "There is a requirement in the regulations that the fees be paid prior to NMFS issuing next year's CHP permit," she said.

The portal would replace separate applications to different agencies with "a single, unified interagency Special Use Permit (SUP) application," the order says.

A separate 30-day deadline passed Saturday. By then the secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture and Commerce and the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works were to take steps to begin suspending, revising or rescinding regulations that "overly burden boaters, anglers, and outdoor businesses."

The order applies only "subject to the availability of appropriations" and creates no right a business can enforce in court.