Juneau, Alaska – The Alaska House of Representatives on Friday passed Rep. Alan Austerman’s bill to expand the beneficial Salmon Product Development Tax Credit to include Alaska’s wild herring.

House Bill 204 looks to offer the same industry-altering diversification to herring as it has to salmon, which Austerman said has brought large returns on investment and was successful in helping to lift the industry out of a time of low value by letting processors diversify offerings and expand markets for value-added salmon products.

“The herring fishery is under-utilized,” Austerman, R-Kodiak, and the Co-Chair of the House Finance Committee, said. “Only about 10-percent of the fish is utilized, the rest that’s caught and processed simply ends up in the waste stream. That’s literally dollars being flushed from boats that could be captured, processed and sent to markets. That cycle means more dollars to fishermen, more dollars to the state through tax levies and more opportunity to get our tremendous wild Alaska fish resources to consumers.”

HB 204 does four things: extends the current salmon credit through 2020, expands it to include herring, expands beyond pop-top production to can sizes that will allow industry better compete in the world seafood market, and incentivize more byproduct use – incentivizing investments in equipment that would reduce the waste stream, alleviating pressures to comply with burdensome new EPA guidelines on waste discharge requirements.

HB 204 now moves to the Alaska Senate for consideration.