5 AAC 01.244 - Minto Flats Northern Pike Management Plan

(a) Northern pike stocks in the lakes and flowing waters of the Minto Flats support both subsistence and sport fisheries. The purpose of this management plan is to provide the department with guidance to achieve the goals of managing these stocks consistent with sustained yield principles, providing a reasonable opportunity for the priority subsistence fishery, and providing a sport fishing opportunity. The Minto Flats northern pike management plan for the sport fishery is set out in 5 AAC 74.044.

(b) The department shall manage the Minto Flats northern pike subsistence fishery as follows:

(1) the maximum exploitation rate of northern pike in the lakes and flowing waters of the Minto Flats by all users may not exceed 20 percent annually;

(2) the following provisions apply to the harvest of northern pike in the Minto Flats area subsistence fishery:

(A) the open fishing season is from January 1 through December 31;

(B) there is no daily or annual bag limit, except that in the area described in (G) of this paragraph, the daily harvest limit per permit is 10 fish only two of which may be 30 inches or greater in length, and the possession limit per permit is 20 fish only four of which may be 30 inches or greater in length;

(C) a household subsistence harvest permit must be obtained before participating in the subsistence fishery and the permit must be in possession when participating in the fishery;

(D) gillnets may be used only from April 15 through October 14;

(E) a hook and line attached to a rod or pole may be used only when fishing through the ice;

(F) in the Chatanika River drainage, from the confluence of the Chatanika River and Goldstream Creek to an ADF& G regulatory marker approximately one river mile upstream of the confluence, subsistence fishing through the ice is closed;

(G) in the Chatanika River drainage, from an ADF& G regulatory marker approximately one river mile upstream of the confluence of the Chatanika River and Goldstream Creek to an ADF& G regulatory marker at the boundary of the Fairbanks Nonsubsistence Area (approximately one mile downstream from Murphy Dome Road):

(i) only single hooks may be used; and

(ii) if the subsistence harvest reports indicate that 1,500 or more northern pike have been harvested during the period from January 1 until these waters are free of ice, the commissioner shall close, by emergency order, these waters to fishing for northern pike through the ice.

Notes

5 AAC 01.244

Eff. 5/9/98, Register 146; am 6/17/2001, Register 158; am 3/14/2009, Register 189; am 5/19/2010, Register 194; am 5/22/2016, Register 218, July 2016; am 3/29/2018, Register 225, April 2018; am 6/28/2019, Register 230, May 2019

Authority:AS 16.05.060

AS 16.05.251

AS 16.05.258