Welcome to the BSAO website.

Contributions or gifts to BSAO are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

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Do I have to use this website to join the BSAO?

No. If you are new to the BSAO, please email Jake at boatsafety@gmail.com for a membership form.

Who should join the BSAO?

All holders of unaffiliated A-Share QS. You need not join if you only have CVC, CPO or CPC. If you belong to an affiliated coop but your entity itself is not affiliated, you are required to join BSAO. Coop membership is not applicable here. If your entity is affiliated, you must join the Alaska Affiliated Crab Harvesters Arbitration Organization.

What are the dues?

The BSAO Board of Directors considered requests by holders of small amounts of QS to have a reduced dues obligation. In response to those requests, the Board decided on the following dues schedule that is in effect for the 2024-25 fishing year:

• Entities holding less than 100,000 cumulative CVO QS units pay $10.
• Entities holding 100,000 to 500,000 cumulative CVO QS units pay $50.
• Entities holding 500,000 to 10,000,000 cumulative CVO QS units pay $100.
• Entities holding more than 10,000,000 cumulative CVO QS units pay $160.
• The membership dues for a cooperative are $160.

This schedule is based on the QS ownership for the current fishing year (2024-25). Dues are calculated only for CVO QS. If you also hold CVC, CPO or CPC QS units, those units have not been included in the dues calculation. If you create an online account, the dues will automatically be calculated for each entity, and totaled if you are responsible for paying for multiple entities.

QS Amounts

Why do I need to join an arbitration organization?

The regulations require all holders of CVO QS and IFQ to join an arbitration organization. If your CVO QS if affiliated, you must join the ACPAO. If your CVO QS is not affiliated, you must join the BSAO, even if you belong to an affiliated harvesting cooperative or do not belong to any cooperative. If you fail to join an arbitration organization, or fail to join the appropriate arbitration organization, you risk not having IFQ issued for your QS, or other actions such as NMFS enforcement may decide.

What if I belong to an affiliated cooperative?

The regulations clearly forbid holders of Arbitration QS from joining an Affiliated QS/IFQ Arbitration Organization.

See 50 CFR 680.20(d)(1)(i) and 50 CFR 680.20(d)(1)(iii)

Joining the wrong arbitration organization may result in IFQ not being issued for your QS, or other enforcement action as NMFS enforcement may decide.