Comment from Justin Smith

I applaud NOAA's efforts to begin apply appropriate regulation to the commercial charter fishing industry in Alaska. Charter fishing has gone through explosive growth in recent years and this, along with commercial and subsistence use, is placing the halibut stock in the Icy Strait area in danger of local depletion. Current international regulation does not adequately address the issue of local depletion. The charter industry's continued efforts to block regulation are typical of young, unregulated industries which have been enjoying large financial gains. This tends to make the people involved blind to the finite nature of the resource. This pattern can be found in the history of many of the world's failed fisheries. Please have the courage to take the steps necessary to arrest the decline of our local fishery.