5 AAC 33.370 - District 1: Neets Bay Hatchery Salmon Management Plan
(a) The intent of
the Board of Fisheries in adopting this management plan is to distribute the
harvest of hatchery-produced fall chum and coho salmon in Neets Bay between the
purse seine, troll, and drift gillnet fleets. In addition to that goal, the
board and the public would like to have a fishery in Neets Bay that produces a
quality product that will allow the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture
Association (SSRAA) to meet its corporation escapement goal with the least
number of fish and provide the highest possible price to the
fishermen.
(b) The department, in
consultation with SSRAA, shall manage Neets Bay east of the longitude of the
easternmost tip of Bug Island to the closed waters area at the head of the bay
to distribute the harvest of Neets Bay hatchery-produced salmon between the
purse seine, troll, and drift gillnet fleets by setting the fishing times for
those fleets as follows:
(1) salmon may be
taken by troll gear only during periods established by emergency
order;
(2) salmon may be taken by
purse seines and drift gillnets only during periods established by emergency
order as follows:
(A) openings for seines and
gillnets must be rotated between net gear groups with a closure of at least 24
hours between openings; after July 4, the first opening will start with the
gear group furthest below the gear group's enhanced allocation under
5
AAC 33.364, based on the most recent five-year rolling
average data available;
(B) a
gillnet opening must be no less than 24 hours in duration and a seine opening
must be no less than 12 hours in duration, except that after June 20 the time
ratio for gillnet openings to seine openings is one to one;
(3) repealed 6/25/89;
(4) repealed 6/25/89;
(5) from the second Sunday in June through
August 1, the area described in (b) of this section shall be expanded to Neets
Bay east of the longitude of Chin Point to the closed waters area at the head
of the bay.
(c) A drift
gillnet operated in the harvest area may not exceed 200 fathoms in
length.
(d) Personal use and sport
fishing will be allowed in the harvest area whenever SSRAA is not harvesting
salmon for its corporation escapement goal and so long as the personal use and
sport fishery do not jeopardize the attainment of that goal.
(e) Gear for the personal use fishery is
drift gillnets with a maximum length of 50 fathoms. The annual bag and
possession limit is 25 salmon.
(f)
Waters of Neets Bay east of a line between ADF&G regulatory markers located
approximately one mile from the head of the bay are closed to commercial,
sport, and personal use salmon fishing from June 15 through November
15.
(g) Instead of allowing the
harvest of hatchery-produced king salmon for cost recovery by the hatchery
permit holder, the commissioner may, after consultation with the hatchery
operator, by emergency order, open a joint common property and cost recovery
assessment fishery for king salmon as specified in
AS
16.10.455 to occur only in the waters as
described in (b) of this section.
Notes
Authority:AS 16.05.060
AS 16.05.251
AS 16.10.455
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