(a) Before
operating during a calendar year, an individual, company, firm, or other
organization that is a first purchaser, catcher-exporter, catcher-processor, or
catcher-seller shall submit to the department a completed intent to operate
application provided by the department or available online. The individual,
company, firm, or other organization may begin to operate only after receiving
authorization from the department to begin operating, along with the
individual's or organization's processor code for the current year.
(b) An individual, company, firm, or other
organization described in (a) of this section that intends or is required to
use the eLandings Electronic Reporting System shall access the system by
completing an operator documentation and user agreement on the Interagency
eLandings Electronic Reporting System's website. In addition to the other
requirements of this section, an individual, company, firm, or other
organization described in (a) of this section that the commissioner determines
has submitted at least 2,000 salmon harvest fish tickets or bought more than 20
million pounds of salmon during any of the previous three calendar years shall
thereafter use the eLandings Electronic Reporting System for all salmon
delivered to a tender vessel, floating processor, or shorebased processor. In
addition to the other requirements of this section, a first purchaser shall use
the tLandings application for all groundfish delivered to a tender
vessel.
(c) An individual, company,
firm, or other organization described in (a) of this section shall record each
delivery on an ADF&G fish ticket. A fish ticket must be completed for all
fish or byproducts of fish harvested in the waters of Alaska and for all fish
or byproducts of fish harvested in waters outside of the waters of Alaska and
offloaded or processed in the waters of Alaska. Fish tickets for each fishery
must be finalized and submitted to a local representative of the department not
later than seven days after a delivery or partial delivery, or as otherwise
specified by the department, such as for each vessel trip. The operator of a
vessel that has harvested fish in the waters of Alaska and whose port of
delivery is outside this state, or who sells, transfers, receives, or delivers
fish in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), shall submit a completed hailed
weight fish ticket or a fish ticket to the department before the fish are
transported out of the jurisdiction of this state. At the time of delivery or
partial delivery, or as otherwise directed by the department, fish tickets must
include the following information:
(1) the
name and signature of the applicable individual, company, firm, or other
organization described in (a) of this section;
(2) the name and signature of the CFEC permit
holder that operated the unit of gear with which the fish were taken;
(3) the processor code imprinted
on the fish ticket from the code plate issued by the department, the processor
code handwritten on the fish ticket if instructed by an authorized
representative of the department, or the electronically captured information
from the eLandings Electronic Reporting System, except that if a catcher-seller
is shipping fish to a fisheries business, the fisheries business must imprint
the fish ticket, or electronically capture the information on the eLandings
Electronic Reporting System, with the processor code of the fisheries business;
in this paragraph, "fisheries business" has the meaning given in
AS
43.75.290;
(4) the name, or the United States Coast
Guard number or Department of Transportation number, of the vessel employed in
taking the fish, if applicable;
(5)
the date fishing gear was deployed and the date the delivery or partial
delivery of the fish is completed;
(6) the permanent ADF&G vessel license
plate number, if applicable;
(7)
the type of gear by which the fish were taken by the gear code number specified
by the department;
(8) the
statistical areas, districts, and subdistricts in which the fish were taken
and; if required by a local representative of the department, the nearest
headland or bay in which the fish were taken;
(9) the pounds, including any applicable
weight modifier such as with ice and slime, delivery condition code, and
disposition code, including any applicable overage code, of fish by species,
except that
(A) for salmon and crab, the
number is also required;
(B) for
herring, only the weight, in pounds or tons, and delivery condition are
required;
(10) an
indication of a partial delivery, including a partial delivery of groundfish as
specified in
5
AAC 28.070(f), if applicable;
(11) the CFEC permit number of the
operator of the unit of gear with which the fish were taken, imprinted on the
fish ticket from the valid permit card or electronically captured from the
valid permit card; the imprinting requirement under this paragraph may be
suspended by a local representative of the department after presentation by the
commercial fisherman of the operator's permit application validated by CFEC or
documentation from the department or CFEC that the permit card has been
damaged, lost, or stolen; if a suspension is granted, the buyer or commercial
fisherman must handwrite the name of the permit holder, the permit holder's
permit number, and, if applicable, the permanent ADF&G vessel license plate
number on the fish ticket, and attach a copy of the supporting documentation;
(12) the number or pounds of fish
by species retained by a commercial fisherman for that person's own use, if
applicable;
(13) the number of
licensed crewmembers, including the vessel operator, if applicable;
(14) the number of certified onboard
observers, if applicable;
(15) the
management program code, if using the eLandings Electronic Reporting System;
(16) the permanent ADF&G
vessel license plate number of the tender vessel, if applicable;
(17) for a dual permit, the second CFEC
permit number, if required by the department;
(18) any other information that the commissioner determines is
necessary.
(d) A person
may not possess a fish ticket that has been imprinted with a CFEC permit number
until the time of delivery or partial delivery.
(e) A buyer of fish harvested through a CDQ
program, as described in 6 AAC 93, shall electronically submit a fish ticket at
least one time per week. The buyer may use the consolidated fish ticket feature
in the eLandings Electronic Reporting System, including seaLandings, to
generate the fish ticket. In this subsection, "week" means a seven-day period
of time that begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday.
(f) An individual, company, firm, or other
organization described in (a) of this section shall furnish, verbally or in
writing, purchasing, production, or other information as required by the
commissioner.
(g) Not later than
April 1, a first purchaser, catcher-exporter, or catcher-processor that has
been assigned a processor code under (a) of this section shall submit a
Commercial Operator's Annual Report (COAR), which is an operator's accurate and
complete summary of activity for each intent to operate application approved by
the department for the previous year, or a signed statement of nonactivity for
the previous year, on a form provided by the department or available online.
The department will not authorize operations for the current year to an
applicant that has not submitted all COAR reports due under this section for
any previous year.
(h) A
commercial fisherman shall furnish to the buyer information necessary for
completion of reports required by the commissioner.
(i) An individual, company, firm, or other
organization described in (a) of this section using the eLandings Electronic
Reporting System must electronically submit the initial landing report at the
completion of a delivery or partial delivery, and submit to the department the
final landing report and a copy of the fish ticket generated and printed from
the eLandings Electronic Reporting System not later than seven days after the
delivery or partial delivery.
(j)
A commercial fisherman shall submit to the department verbally, in writing, or
electronically through the eLandings Electronic Reporting System, directly or
through the buyer, information necessary for reports required by the
commissioner.
(k) Unless otherwise
specified in this chapter, in addition to other requirements of this section,
each person that is the first purchaser of or that first processes raw
groundfish or halibut shall comply with the record keeping and electronic
reporting requirements through the eLandings Electronic Reporting System and
any other reporting requirements in
50 C.F.R.
679.5, revised as of October 1, 2013.
(l) The commissioner may, by
emergency order, close a fishing season and immediately reopen a fishing season
during which a different reporting requirement is in effect.
(m) In addition to the other provisions of
this section, if the commissioner determines it is necessary, the following
information regarding the transporting, delivery, or shipping of unprocessed
fish must be transmitted to an authorized local representative of the
department either in person, in writing, by radio or telephone, or by other
means specified by the department:
(1) the
number and species of salmon taken in a regulatory area must be reported before
being transported to any other area or out of this state;
(2) the number or pounds, by species, of all
other fish must be reported before being transported out of this
state;
(3) the number or pounds, by
species, of fish taken by a catcher-seller must be reported upon delivery or
before shipping the fish within the state.
(n) A floating processor shall report in
person, by radio or telephone, or by other means specified by the department,
to the local representative of the department located within the management
area of intended operation before the start of processing operations. The
report must include the initial processing location by district or subdistrict
and latitude and longitude, and the date of intended operation. Before moving
the operation and upon arriving at a new location, the operator shall notify
the local representative of the department in person, by radio or telephone, or
by other means specified by the department, of the new location of operation by
district or subdistrict and latitude and longitude. A local representative of
the department may waive all or part of the requirements of this subsection
upon determining that the requirements are not necessary for the conservation
or management of the fishery in that area.
(o) In this section,
(1) "buyer-exporter" means the first
purchaser of unprocessed fish that exports or attempts to export out of this
state the fish either unprocessed or custom processed;
(2) "catcher-exporter" means a commercial
fisherman who exports or attempts to export out of this state unprocessed or
custom processed fish that were legally taken by the
catcher-exporter;
(3)
"catcher-processor" means a commercial fisherman who sells or attempts to sell
processed or unprocessed fish that were legally taken by the catcher-processor
in or out of this state;
(4)
"catcher-seller" means a commercial fisherman who sells or attempts to sell
unprocessed fish that were legally taken by the catcher-seller
(A) to the general public for use for
noncommercial purposes;
(B) for
use as bait for commercial or noncommercial purposes;
(C) to restaurants, grocery stores, and
established fish markets;
(D) by
shipping the fish to a licensed buyer, processor, or exporter within this
state;
(5) "commercial
fish transporter" means those individuals whose activities require a permit
under AS
16.05.671;
(6) "custom processed" means that the fish is
processed by a person that does not own the fish;
(7) "delivery" means offloading fish for sale
or for transport to a buyer for later sale;
(8) "dual permit" means the use of additional
fishing gear on board a vessel or at a set gillnet site under a second CFEC
permit as allowed under the applicable provisions in this title;
(9) "eLandings Electronic Reporting System"
(A) means the electronic and Internet based
reporting system maintained by the department, the National Marine Fisheries
Service, Alaska Region, and the International Pacific Halibut Commission to
provide an alternative to paper fish tickets;
(B) includes the following:
(i) eLandings, which is a web application
for shore side and Internet capable vessels;
(ii) seaLandings, which is a desktop application for sea vessels
without Internet ~apability;
(iii)
tLandings, which is a portable data storage application for tender and other
operations;
(10) "first purchaser"
(A) means
the person that first purchases unprocessed fish directly from the commercial
fisherman for the purchaser's own business and does not act as a buying agent
for another business;
(B) includes
a
(i) buyer-exporter;
(ii) floating processor;
(iii) independent buyer;
(iv) shorebased processor;
(11) "fish
ticket" includes
(A) a department issued
paper copy form for recording harvest; and
(B) an electronically generated record of harvest from the
eLandings Electronic Reporting System;
(12) "floating processor" includes the
operator of a vessel who
(A) operates as a
catcher-processor;
(B) is the
first purchaser of unprocessed fish and sells or attempts to sell processed or
unprocessed fish in or out of this state;
(13) "independent buyer" means the first
purchaser of unprocessed fish for sale unprocessed within this state to a
shorebased processor, floating processor, or buyer-exporter;
(14) "partial delivery" means the offloading
of fish for sale or for transport to a buyer of only a portion of the total
harvest from one vessel's trip, excluding catch retained for
(B) bait under applicable provisions of this
title;
(15) "shorebased
processor" means a land-based first purchaser that purchases unprocessed fish
and sells or attempts to sell that fish, processed or unprocessed, in or out of
this state;
(16) "trip" means
(A) for a vessel on which fish are harvested
but not processed, the period of time from when the vessel commences fishing
until completion of the final delivery; a trip may include one or more partial
deliveries; or
(B) a period of
time designated by the department, such as every seven
days.
(17) "tender
vessel" means a vessel whose operator acts as an agent for a processor and
accepts delivery of fish from a commercial fisherman or another tender vessel
for transport to a shore-based or floating processor.
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