5 AAC 28.640 - Aleutian Islands District and Western District of the South Alaska Peninsula Area Sablefish Management Plan
(a) The management
plan under this section governs the harvest of sablefish in the Aleutian
Islands District and the Western District of the South Alaska Peninsula Area
described in
5 AAC 28.555.
(b) The commercial fishing season for
sablefish in state waters will open and close concurrently with the federal IFQ
season for directed fishing for sablefish in the adjacent federal waters,
unless closed by emergency order. During a state-waters season, the combined
guideline harvest level for sablefish in the Aleutian Islands District and the
Western District of the South Alaska Peninsula is five percent of the federal
acceptable biological catch for sablefish in the combined federal Bering Sea
and Aleutian Islands Subareas.
(c)
Sablefish may be taken only with pots, longlines, mechanical jigging machines,
and hand troll gear. Pot gear may be longlined in the Aleutian Islands and
Western Districts.
(d) Before a
person uses a vessel to operate gear to take sablefish in the waters of the
Aleutian Islands District or the Western District, the vessel owner, the
owner's authorized agent, or the vessel operator shall validly register the
vessel with the department office in Dutch Harbor. A vessel that is registered
under this subsection shall be considered registered in the Aleutian Islands
District and the Western District.
(e) Notwithstanding
5 AAC 28.020(f), before departing from
the Aleutian Islands District and the Western District, the operator of a
vessel fishing for sablefish must notify a local representative of the
department to report the amount, by weight, of sablefish on board the vessel
and the location that the sablefish will be landed.
(f) Each processor of sablefish shall report
the amount, by weight, of sablefish received and processed to the department's
Dutch Harbor office each week or as otherwise directed by the
department.
(g) An operator of a
vessel fishing for sablefish in the Aleutian Islands District and the Western
District of the South Alaska Peninsula Area shall maintain an accurate logbook
of all fishing operations for each type of gear used. The following
requirements apply to a logbook under this subsection:
(1) a logbook must
(A) include the date, specific locations of
harvest by latitude and longitude, type and number of gear, average depth, and
hours fished for each set of
(B)
include the round weight of sablefish retained and discarded;
(C) be updated not later than 11:59 p.m.
local time on the day after the day of operation;
(D) be retained, with its original pages, for
a period of two years by the owner or operator of the vessel;
(E) be kept on board the vessel while
operating gear, during transits to or from a port of landing, and for 14 days
after landing sablefish;
(F) be
made available to a local representative of the department upon
request;
(2) a copy of
each logbook page described in this subsection corresponding with an ADF&G
fish ticket must be submitted to the department within seven days of the
landing;
(3) a person may not make
a false entry in the logbook described in this section.
(h) After 72 hours following the closure of a
directed sablefish season within the Aleutian Islands District and the Western
District of the South Alaska Peninsula Area, a vessel that participated in the
sablefish fishery may not have sablefish that was taken in state waters on
board the vessel, unless the vessel has been delayed due to extraordinary
circumstances beyond the control of the vessel operator, and the vessel
operator has contacted a local representative of the department within 72 hours
following the closure of the season and the representative of the department
has granted a reasonable amount of time for the vessel to reach the port of
delivery or a processing location. Any additional time shall be determined
based on the assumption that the vessel departed the fishing grounds
immediately after the fishery closure and proceeded directly to the port of
delivery or processing location.
(i) All waters within three nautical miles of
the Steller sea lion site on Kanaga Island/Ship Rock at 51° 46.70' N. lat.,
177° 20.72' W. long. are closed to the taking of sablefish.
(j) In this section, "acceptable biological
catch" means the annual acceptable biological catch (ABC) established by the
North Pacific Fishery Management Council for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands
sablefish, including the harvest of sablefish in a state-waters season under
the management plan as described in this section.
Notes
Authority:AS 16.05.060
AS 16.05.251
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