(a) A person who
owns a commercial fishing vessel or that person's authorized agent shall
register that vessel by completing a vessel license application or renewal form
and submitting it to the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, unless the
vessel is not required to be licensed under
AS
16.05.495. Vessel registration is required
before fishing or transporting unprocessed fish in any waters of Alaska. A
vessel, if it is in compliance with all regulations governing registration and
if it displays a license issued under
AS
16.05.530, unless the vessel is not required
to be licensed under
AS
16.05.495, is considered to be registered
under the laws of the state and may take or transport unprocessed fish. It is
unlawful to take, attempt to take, or possess unprocessed fish aboard a vessel
in the waters of Alaska unless the vessel is registered under the laws of the
state. For purposes of this subsection,
(1)
"employ," as used in
AS
16.05.475, means taking or attempting to take
fish, or transporting fish which have been taken or any operation of a vessel
aiding or assisting in the taking or transporting of unprocessed
fish;
(2) "in compliance with all
regulations governing registration" includes vessel registration required by
5
AAC 28.020,
5
AAC 31.020,
5
AAC 31.030,
5
AAC 32.020,
5
AAC 32.030,
5
AAC 34.020,
5
AAC 34.030,
5
AAC 35.020,
5
AAC 35.030,
5
AAC 38.020, and 5 AAC 38.030, and includes district or
subdistrict registration requirements of 5 AAC 03 - 5 AAC 38, and includes the
provisions of this section;
(3)
"registered under the laws of the state" means that a vessel displays a license
described in
20 AAC 05.1958 and issued under
AS
16.05.530, unless the vessel is not required
to be licensed under
AS
16.05.495, and that the registration
provisions of 5 AAC 03 - 5 AAC 39 have been complied with and evidence of
compliance is immediately available at all times during fishing or transporting
operations, and can be shown upon request to an authorized representative of
the department.
(b) Area
registration requirements for shellfish vessels are as specified in the
registration regulations in 5 AAC 31 - 5 AAC 38.
(c) Area registration requirements for salmon
net fishing vessels are as follows:
(1) a
person who owns a fishing vessel to be used to take salmon with net gear, or
his authorized agent, shall register for an area by designating on the vessel
license application or renewal form the vessel's one area of intended salmon
net gear operation for the year; it is unlawful for a vessel to engage in
salmon net fishing in an area other than the single area selected;
(2) in this section the term "area" means any
registration area listed in (d) of this section, except that
(A) in salmon net Registration Area T, a
vessel must also be registered by the department for a fishing district as
required by
5
AAC 06.370;
(B) in salmon net Registration Area Y, a
vessel must also be registered by the department for a fishing district as
required by
5
AAC 05.370;
(C) a purse seine vessel registered for
salmon net Registration Area M is also registered to operate purse seine gear
in Registration Area F during the same registration year;
(3) a vessel registered for an area of salmon
net fishing in compliance with (c)(1) of this section will be issued, by the
Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, a vessel license area tab for that year;
it is unlawful for a vessel to fish in the area of registration unless the
vessel displays the area tab on the vessel license number plate; no vessel
owner or operator may possess for each vessel, or no vessel may display, more
than one vessel license area tab;
(4) a person who owns a fishing vessel
registered for an area of intended operation in compliance with (c)(1) of this
section or his authorized agent may register it for a different salmon net
registration area under the following conditions:
(A) the reregistration of a salmon net
fishing vessel shall be authorized by the
(i)
commissioner upon receipt of proof in writing that the vessel has been lost
through sinking, destruction, or extensive mechanical breakdown, or that the
vessel operator has suffered serious injury, sickness or death during the open
season; or
(ii) Commercial
Fisheries Entry Commission upon receipt of a written certification or personal
affidavit stating that the vessel has not been used for salmon net fishing in
the original area of registration during the current registration
year;
(B) a person
authorized to reregister a vessel must complete a reregistration form issued by
the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission and submit it to the commissioner
together with any previously issued vessel license area tab;
(C) it is unlawful for a vessel to fish in
the area of reregistration unless the vessel displays the appropriate area tab
on the vessel license number plate;
(D) area reregistration under this section
shall supersede the original area registration as if the original area
registration had never been made;
(E) once a vessel has reregistered for
another net registration area to replace a lost vessel, that vessel can not
transfer back to its original net registration area during that
season;
(d) Salmon net
gear registration areas are as follows:
Code
Letter Area (A) - Southeastern Alaska Area (5 AAC
33.100)(D) - Yakutat Area (5 AAC
30.100)(E) - Prince William Sound Area (5 AAC
24.100) and the Yakataga District of the Yakutat Area
(5 AAC
30.200(a))(F) - Atka-Amlia Islands
Area (5 AAC 11.101)(H) - Cook Inlet Area
(5 AAC 21.100)(K) - Kodiak Area
(5 AAC 18.100)(L) - Chignik Area
(5 AAC 15.100)(M) - Aleutian Islands
and Alaska Peninsula Areas (5 AAC 12.100 and
5
AAC 09.100) and, from August 1 through August 31, the
Atka-Amlia Islands Area (5 AAC
11.101) for purse seine gear only(T) - Bristol Bay
Area (5 AAC 06.100) and January 1 through
December 31, the Cinder River and Inner Port Heiden Sec- tions of the Alaska
Peninsula Area and August 1 through December 31, that portion of the Ilnik
Section within Ilnik Lagoon and all waters inside the Seal Islands of the
Alaska Peninsula Area (5 AAC
09.200(a)(1) - (3))(W) - Kuskokwim
Area (5 AAC 07.100)(X) - Arctic-Kotzebue
Area (5 AAC 03.100)(Y) - Yukon Area
(5 AAC 05.100)(Z) - Norton
Sound-Port Clarence Area (5 AAC 04.100)
(e) Evidence of proper
registration or licensing must be kept immediately available at all times
during fishing operations and must be shown upon request to any peace officer
of the state.
(f) The provisions of
this section do not apply to halibut fishing.
As of Register 147, Oct. 1998, the substance of former 5
AAC 39.120(g) appears in
5
AAC 29.115.