Title 5 . Fish and Game

Chapter 2 . Transportation, Possession and Release of Live Fish; Aquatic Farming

Section 10. Methods, means, and general restrictions

5 AAC 02.010. Methods, means, and general restrictions

(a) Unless otherwise provided in this title, the following are legal types of gear for subsistence fishing:

(1) gear specified in 5 AAC 39.105, except that in the waters described in 5 AAC 38.140(k) (Southeastern Alaska) sea cucumbers may not be taken with the use of diving gear;

(2) jigging gear which consists of a line or lines with lures or baited hooks which are operated during periods of ice cover from holes cut in the ice and which are drawn through the water by hand;

(3) a spear which is a shaft with a sharp point or fork-like implement attached to one end, used to thrust through the water to impale or retrieve fish and which is operated by hand;

(4) a lead which is a length of net employed for guiding fish into a seine or a length of net or fencing employed for guiding fish into a fish wheel, fyke net, or dip net.

(b) It is unlawful to buy or sell subsistence-taken shellfish, their parts, or their eggs, unless otherwise specified in this chapter.

(c) The use of explosives and chemicals is prohibited, except that chemical baits or lures may be used to attract shellfish.

(d) Subsistence fishing by the use of a line attached to a rod or pole is prohibited except when fishing through the ice in the Bering Sea Area.

(e) Marking requirements for subsistence shellfish gear are as follows:

(1) a person who is subsistence fishing shall plainly and legibly inscribe that person's first initial, last name, and address on a keg or buoy attached to unattended subsistence fishing gear, except that if a person is fishing through ice, a stake inscribed with the first initial, last name, and address inserted in the ice near the hole may be substituted for the keg or buoy; subsistence fishing gear may not display a permanent ADF&G vessel license number;

(2) kegs or buoys attached to subsistence crab pots also must be inscribed with the name or the division of motor vehicles boat registration number, issued under 2 AAC 70, of the vessel used to operate the pots.

(f) Pots used for subsistence fishing must comply with the escape mechanism requirements in 5 AAC 39.145.

(g) No person may mutilate or otherwise disfigure a crab in any manner which would prevent determination of the minimum size restrictions in 5 AAC 02 until the crab has been processed or prepared for consumption.

(h) Repealed 5/15/93.

(i) Subsistence shellfish pot limits are as follows:

(1) no more than five pots per person and 10 pots per vessel may be used to take crab, except in the Saint Lawrence Island Section and when fishing through the ice in the Norton Sound Section;

(2) in the subsistence taking of shrimp in the Southeastern Alaska-Yakutat Area, no more than 10 pots per person, and no more than 20 pots per vessel, may be used; in the subsistence taking of shellfish other than shrimp in the Southeastern Alaska-Yakutat Area, no more than five pots of any type, per person, and no more than 10 pots of any type, per vessel, may be used.

(j) Effective July 1, 1986, shellfish may be taken only by residents.

(k) Repealed 5/15/93.

History: In effect before 1982; am 7/25/82, Register 83; am 4/16/83, Register 86; am 6/30/83, Register 86; am 7/14/85, Register 95; am 7/12/86, Register 99; am 2/27/91, Register 117; readopt 5/15/93, Register 126; am 8/14/96, Register 139; am 7/5/2000, Register 155; am 12/1/2004, Register 172

Authority: AS 16.05.251

AS 16.05.258

Editor's note: At its February 23 - 27, 1993 meeting, the Board of Fisheries readopted 5 AAC 02.010(a) - (d), (g), and (j) in their entirety without change, under ch. 1, SSSLA 1992 (the 1992 subsistence law), which repealed and reenacted AS 16.05.258 .