(a) Following the establishment of the maximum number of units of gear for a particular fishery under AS 16.43.240, the commission shall adopt regulations establishing qualifications for ranking applicants for entry permits according to the degree of hardship that they would suffer by exclusion from the fishery. The regulations shall define priority classifications of similarly situated applicants based upon a reasonable balance of the following hardship standards:

(1) degree of economic dependence upon the fishery, including, when reasonable for the fishery, the percentage of income derived from the fishery, reliance on alternative occupations, availability of alternative occupations, investment in vessels and gear;

(2) extent of past participation in the fishery, including, when reasonable for the fishery, the number of years of participation in the fishery, and the consistency of participation during each year.

(b) The commission shall designate in the regulations those priority classifications of applicants who would suffer significant economic hardship by exclusion from the fishery.

(c) The commission shall designate in the regulations those priority classifications of applicants who would suffer only minor economic hardship by exclusion from the fishery.

(d) If an individual eligible to apply under AS 16.43.260(a) has applied during application periods established under AS 16.43.260(b) for two or more entry permits under AS 16.43.260(d) or (e) for the same specific fishery resource and the same specific type of gear in different administrative areas, but has failed to qualify for an entry permit for that type of fishery resource and gear, the individual's cumulative qualifications may be credited to the fishery for which the individual is most qualified. The commission shall issue an entry permit to the individual for the fishery if the individual's cumulative qualifications result in placing the individual in a category designated in (b) of this section. The qualifications credited to a fishery under this subsection may not be considered for the purpose of ranking the applicant under (a)-(c) of this section for any other fishery. The commission may not revoke any permit previously issued notwithstanding the issuance of permits in excess of the maximum number established under AS 16.43.230 - 16.43.240 as a result of this subsection. In this subsection, “fishery” includes all salmon fisheries of the state for which a maximum number of entry permits has been established by the commission under AS 16.43.240(b).

(e) If the cumulative qualifications of an individual under (d) of this section include points granted by the commission under (a) of this section for more than one fishery and the number of points required to place an applicant in the priority classification under (b) of this section is not the same for each of the fisheries, the commission shall obtain a quotient for the individual by dividing the number of points the individual has been granted for each fishery by the number of points needed to place an applicant in a priority classification under (b) of this section for that fishery. If the sum of the quotients obtained under this subsection equals or exceeds 1.00, the individual is entitled to a permit under (d) of this section.