Current through August 30, 2024
(a) This management
plan governs the harvest of Pacific cod in the Aleutian Islands Subdistrict,
including the Adak Section. For the purposes of this section, the
(1) Aleutian Islands Subdistrict is comprised
of the state waters in the Aleutian Islands District west of 170° W. long.;
and
(2) Adak Section is comprised
of the state waters of the Aleutian Islands Subdistrict between 175° W.
long. and 178° W. long.
(b) Each year, the commissioner shall open
and close, by emergency order, a parallel season in the Aleutian Islands
Subdistrict, except the Adak Section, to coincide with the initial federal
season in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area. The commissioner shall open
and close, by emergency order, the parallel season during which the use of the
same gear allowed in the federal Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area Pacific
cod season is permitted, unless that gear is prohibited under
5
AAC 28.050.
(c) The commissioner shall open and close, by
emergency order, a state-waters season in the Aleutian Islands Subdistrict as
follows:
(1) the Adak Section shall open
January 1;
(2) all waters of the
Aleutian Islands Subdistrict shall open or close as follows:
(A) the fishing season for nonpelagic trawl
gear, pot gear, longline gear, hand troll gear, and mechanical jigging machines
shall open February 1 at noon Alaska Time or four days after the Bering Sea and
Aleutian Islands parallel "A" season for the catcher-vessel greater than or
equal to 60 feet in overall length pot gear fishery is closed, whichever occurs
first;
(B) the fishing season for
vessels over 60 feet in overall length using pot gear shall close when 25
percent of the guideline harvest level has been taken by those vessels or
December 31, whichever occurs first; the restrictions under this paragraph do
not apply to a season reopened under (k) of this section;
(C) except as otherwise specified in this
chapter, when a state-waters season is open, the parallel season for the
applicable gear type and vessel length is closed.
(3) the state-waters season shall close when
the guideline harvest level is taken or on December 31, whichever occurs first;
except as otherwise specified in this chapter; all parallel Pacific cod seasons
are closed during the state-waters season;
(d) During a state-waters season,
(1) the 2019 guideline harvest level for
Pacific cod in the Aleutian Islands Subdistrict is 31 percent of the estimated
total allowable harvest of Pacific cod for the federal Aleutian Islands
Subarea;
(A) if the guideline harvest level
established under this paragraph is achieved in a calendar year, the guideline
harvest level will increase by 4 percent of the estimated total allowable
harvest of Pacific cod for the federal Aleutian Islands Subarea beginning the
next calendar year, but may not exceed 39 percent of the estimated total
allowable harvest or 15 million pounds;
(B) if the guideline harvest level
established under this paragraph is not achieved during two consecutive
calendar years, the guideline harvest level will be reduced by 4 percent of the
estimated total allowable harvest of Pacific cod for the federal Aleutian
Islands Subarea beginning the next calendar year, but may not be reduced below
15 percent of the estimated total allowable harvest;
(C) a guideline harvest level is considered
to have been achieved under this subsection if, by November 15, 90 percent of
that guideline harvest level is projected to be harvested by the end of that
calendar year;
(2)
Pacific cod may be taken only with groundfish pots, mechanical jigging
machines, longline, nonpelagic trawl, and hand troll gear;
(3) a vessel used to harvest Pacific cod in
the Aleutian Islands Subdistrict with
(A)
longline gear, may not be more than 58 feet in overall length;
(B) nonpelagic trawl gear or mechanical
jigging machines may not be more than 60 feet in overall length;
(C) except as otherwise provided in (k) of
this section, pot gear may not be more than 100 feet in overall
length.
(4) a vessel
operator may be concurrently registered to harvest Pacific cod with mechanical
jigging machines and longline gear, but may not be concurrently registered to
harvest Pacific cod with any other gear types;
(5) a vessel's gear registration may be
changed during a state-waters season to a different gear registration if the
owner, or owner's agent, submits a written request for a change in registration
by mail, facsimile, or in person, to the department office in Dutch Harbor, or
other locations specified by the department for validation, and that
registration has been validated by the department; a vessel may not fish
outside of the designated registration area; a vessel may not change
registration while unprocessed fish are on board the vessel;
(6) a vessel may harvest up to 150,000 round
pounds of Pacific cod per day and may not have more than 150,000 round pounds
of unprocessed Pacific cod on board the vessel at any time; a vessel may not
have on board the vessel more processed fish than the round weight equivalent
of the fish reported on ADF&G fish tickets;
(7) all Pacific cod taken must be retained;
any overage of a limit specified in (6) of this subsection must be immediately
reported to the department by the vessel operator; all proceeds from the sale
of Pacific cod in excess of a limit specified in (6) of this subsection shall
be immediately surrendered to the state;
(8) once an offload begins, a vessel may not
operate groundfish gear until all Pacific cod onboard the vessel is delivered;
partial deliveries may occur as specified in
5
AAC 28.070, however, vessels may not operate
groundfish gear in between partial deliveries including partial deliveries to
shorebased processors, floating processors, tenders, transporters, or
motherships;
(9) during the
state-waters season, an owner or operator of a validly registered vessel must
report, as specified by the department
(A)
the amount of gear operated by the vessel during the designated
period;
(B) the number of round
pounds of Pacific cod retained during the designated period; and
(C) any other information that the
commissioner determines is necessary for the management and conservation of the
fishery.
(e)
The commissioner may open and close, by emergency order, fishing seasons at
times other than those specified in this section if the commissioner determines
it is necessary to
(1) adapt to unanticipated
openings and closures of federal seasons;
(2) provide for maximum fishing
opportunity;
(3) maintain sustained
yield management; or
(4) provide
for orderly fisheries.
(f) The Aleutian Islands Subdistrict is an
exclusive registration area for Pacific cod during a state-waters
season.
(g) The commissioner may,
by emergency order, impose by catch limitations and retention requirements
based on conservation of the resource, to avoid waste of a bycatch species, to
prevent overharvest of bycatch species, or to facilitate consistency of state
and federal regulations for a species.
(h) The following closures apply during a
state-waters season:
(1) Seguam foraging area
for Steller sea lions as specified in
50 C.F.R.
679.22(a)(8)(i), updated
March 9, 2012, as defined in 68 Federal Register 204, January 2,
2003;
(2) groundfish closures
within three nautical miles of Steller sea lion sites of the Aleutian Islands
District west of 170° W. long. as specified in
50 C.F.R.
679.22(a)(8)(iii), updated
March 9, 2012, found in Table 12 of 50 C.F.R. 679, as defined in 75 Federal
Register 81921 - 81941, December 29, 2010;
(3) all Steller sea lion protection measures
for Pacific cod found in Table 5 of 50 C.F.R. 679, as defined in 79 Federal
Register 70286 - 70338, November 25, 2014, except that the 10 nautical mile
closure around the Steller sea lion site at Kanaga Island/Ship Rock at 51 °
46.70' N. lat., 177° 20.72' W. long. shall be closed to the taking of
Pacific cod only within three nautical miles;
(4) all habitat closures specified in 5 AAC 3
9 .167 that are located in the Aleutian Islands District west of 170° W.
long.
(i) If a
state-waters season and federal season for Pacific cod are open concurrently
for the same gear type,
(1) a vessel may not
participate in a state-waters season and any other Pacific cod season at the
same time;
(2) before entering or
exiting a state-waters fishery, a vessel operator must
(A) check in and check out by contacting a
local representative of the department in person, or by telephone, facsimile
transmission, electronic mail, or radio; and
(B) deliver all unprocessed Pacific cod on
board the vessel;
(3) the
commissioner may close, by emergency order, the state-waters season and
immediately reopen a state-Waters season during which there are modified
landing requirements and check-in and check-out requirements based on effort,
harvest rate, or remaining quota.
(j) The board intends that a vessel operator
generally harvest less than the vessel's allowable harvest limit, possess less
than the vessel's allowable possession limit, and limit the vessel's fishing
activities if there is a possibility of exceeding those limits. A vessel
operator of a vessel harvesting more than an allowable harvest limit or that is
in possession of more than the allowable possession limit is considered to have
engaged in improper operation of gear. Nothing in this section is intended to
preclude or discourage additional enforcement action under
AS
16.05.722,
AS
16.05.723, or any other applicable law for
any violation of this section.
(k)
If at any time after March 15, the commissioner determines that the guideline
harvest level for Pacific cod will not be achieved by December 31, the
commissioner may close the fishing season by emergency order and immediately
reopen a state-waters season during which the following may be implemented to
increase the harvest rate in an attempt to reach the guideline harvest level:
(1) removal of the 150,000 round pound daily
harvest limit;
(2) designation as a
nonexclusive registration area;
(3)
removal of the 25 percent harvest limit for pot gear vessels greater than 60
feet in overall length;
(4)
allowance for nonpelagic trawl gear up to 100 feet in overall length;
(5) allowance for pot gear vessels up to 125
feet in overall length;
(6) if the
season is closed and immediately reopened under this subsection, a vessel
participating in the state-waters season when it was closed will not be
required to comply with landing requirements until the season is closed
again.
(l) At the closure
of the state-waters season, all fishing gear must be removed from the water,
except that pot gear may be stored in the water with all bait and bait
containers removed and doors secured fully open. Pot gear stored in the water
after closure of the state-waters season may not be retrieved until all Pacific
cod onboard the vessel is delivered.
(m) For the purposes of this section,
(1) "day" means the 24-hour period of time
between 12:00 midnight and 11:59 p.m. of the same calendar day;
(2) "harvest" means the total weight of fish
or number of shellfish removed from the water by commercial fishing
operations.
Authority:AS
16.05.060
AS 16.05.251
