Current through August 30, 2024
(a) The purpose of
this management plan is to ensure biological spawning escapement requirements
of king salmon into the Nushagak-Mulchatna river systems. It is the intent of
the Alaska Board of Fisheries (board) that Nushagak-Mulchatna king salmon be
harvested in the fisheries that have historically harvested them. This
management plan provides guidelines to the department to preclude allocation
conflicts between the various users of this resource. The department shall
manage Nushagak-Mulchatna king salmon stocks in a conservative manner
consistent with sustained yield principles and the subsistence priority.
Additionally, the department shall manage the Nushagak fisheries for the
following management measures:
(1) to provide
consistent sport fishing opportunity within and among seasons, including a
level of inriver abundance as a given year's run timing allows, and a
predictably bpen season;
(2) to
provide a directed commercial king salmon fishery when surplus is
available;
(3) to minimize
disruptions to the commercial sockeye salmon fishery;
(4) to provide reasonable opportunity for
subsistence harvest of king salmon;
(5) to ensure the subsistence fishery is the
last fishery restricted or closed;
(6) to achieve escapement goals for all
species in the district;
(7) to
maintain a representation of age classes in the escapement similar to the
run.
(b) The department
shall manage the commercial and sport fisheries in the Nushagak District as
follows:
(1) to achieve an inriver goal of
95,000 king salmon present in the Nushagak River upstream from the department
sonar counter; the inriver goal provides for
(A) a biological escapement goal of 55,000 -
120,000 fish;
(B) reasonable
opportunity for subsistence harvest of king salmon; and
(C) a king salmon sport fishery guideline
harvest level of 5,000 fish, 20 inches or greater in length;
(2) in order to maintain a natural
representation of age classes in the escapement, the department shall attempt
to schedule commercial openings to provide pulses of fish into the river that
have not been subject to harvest by commercial gear;
(3) the department may close the commercial
drift or set gillnet fishery if the harvest in the directed commercial king
salmon fishery for either gear group is more than two sockeye salmon for every
one king salmon;
(4) consistent with
5
AAC 06.367 (Nushagak District Commercial Set and Drift
Gillnet Sockeye Salmon Fisheries Management and Allocation Plan), to conserve
king salmon the department shall manage for sockeye escapements in the Nushagak
District to fall within
(A) the lower half of
each river's sockeye salmon escapement goal range when the Wood River sockeye
salmon run is 5,000,000 fish or less and the Nushagak sockeye salmon run is
2,500,000 fish or less; or
(B) the
upper half of each river's sockeye salmon escapement goal range when the Wood
River sockeye salmon run is greater than 5,000,000 fish or the Nushagak sockeye
salmon run is greater than 2,500,000 fish based on the preseason forecast and
inseason assessment of run size;
(5) beginning June 25, the department shall
consider when evaluating the total run of sockeye salmon to the Nushagak
District all possible data sources including the preseason forecast, Port
Moller test fishery indices, including stock and age composition, total catch
and effort to date, age composition of catch and effort data, and district test
fishing;
(6) from June 1 through
June 30, the department shall, in an attempt to conserve king salmon and to the
extent practicable, conduct a gillnet test fishery to assess the abundance of
sockeye and king salmon before opening by emergency order a fishing period
directed at sockeye salmon.
(c) If the total inriver king salmon return
in the Nushagak River is projected to exceed 95,000 fish, the guideline harvest
level described in (b)(1)(C) of this section does not apply and the department
shall consider opening a directed commercial king salmon fishery.
(d) If the spawning escapement of king salmon
in the Nushagak River is projected to be more than 55,000 fish and the
projected inriver return is less than 95,000 fish, the commissioner
(1) shall close, by emergency order, the
directed king salmon commercial fishery in the Nushagak District; during a
closure under this paragraph, the use of a commercial gillnet with webbing
larger than five and one-half inches in another commercial salmon fishery is
prohibited;
(2) repealed
5/31/2019;
(3) repealed
5/31/2019;
(e) If the
spawning escapement of king salmon in the Nushagak River is projected to be
less than 55,000 fish, the commissioner
(1)
shall close, by emergency order, the sockeye salmon commercial fishery in the
Nushagak District until the projected sockeye salmon escapement into the Wood
River exceeds 100,000 fish;
(2)
shall restrict to catch-and-release, by emergency order, the sport fishery
directed for king salmon in the Nushagak River and prohibit the use of bait for
fishing for all species offish until the end of the king salmon season
specified in
5
AAC 67.020 and
5
AAC 67.022(g); and
(3) may establish, by emergency order,
fishing periods during which the time or area is reduced for the inriver king
salmon subsistence fishery in the Nushagak River.
(f) Notwithstanding
5
AAC 06.200, in a directed king salmon commercial
fishery, the southern boundary of the Nushagak District is a line from an
ADF&G regulatory marker located at Etolin Point at 58º 39.37' N. lat.,
158º 19.31' W. long., to 58º 33.92' N. lat., 158º 24.94' W.
long. to Protection Point at 58º 29.27' N. lat., 158º 41.78' W.
long.
(g) During a directed king
salmon commercial fishery in the Nushagak District, drift gillnet and set
gillnet fishing periods will be of equal length, but do not have to be open
concurrently.
Authority:AS
16.05.060
AS
16.05.251
