5 AAC 77.662 - Personal use Dungeness crab fishery

In the personal use taking of Dungeness crab

(1) there is no closed season;

(2) the daily bag and possession limit is 20 male Dungeness crab except that, in waters of Thorne Bay west of the longitude of the southernmost tip of Thorne Head, the daily bag and possession limit is five male Dungeness crab;

(3) the minimum legal size for male Dungeness crab is six and one-half inches in shoulder width; male Dungeness crab less than the minimum legal size and female Dungeness crab that have been taken must be immediately returned to the water unharmed; for the purposes of this paragraph, the shoulder width measurement of Dungeness crab is the straight-line distance across the carapace immediately anterior to the tenth anterolateral spine, not including the spines;

(4) live holding facilities utilized to accumulate or pool multiple bag limits by an individual or individuals are not allowed;

(5) a pot used to take Dungeness crab under this chapter must have at least two escape rings that each are not less than four and three-eighths inches, inside diameter; the rings must be located on opposite sides of the pot and the upper half of the vertical plane of the pot;

(6) no more than five pots per person, with a maximum of 10 pots per vessel, or 10 ring nets per person, with a maximum of 20 ring nets per vessel, may be used to take Dungeness crab, except that in Section 11-A, as described in 5 AAC 33.200, if the pot and ring net limits for red and blue king crab are reduced under 5 AAC 77.664(e)(2)(C), the pot and ring net limits for Dungeness crab will also be reduced to the same pot and ring net limits established for red and blue king crab under 5 AAC 77.664(e)(2)(C).

Notes

5 AAC 77.662

Eff. 7/1/86, Register 99; am 6/3/2000, Register 154; am 7/18/2003, Register 167; am 7/29/2009, Register 191; am 5/11/2012, Register 202; am 8/27/2016, Register 219, October 2016; am 9/19/2019,Register 231, August 2019

Authority:AS 16.05.251