Title 5 . Fish and Game

Chapter 21 . Transportation, Possession and Release of Live Fish; Aquatic Farming

Section 363. Upper Cook Inlet Salmon Management Plan

5 AAC 21.363. Upper Cook Inlet Salmon Management Plan

(a) The department should receive long-term direction in management of upper Cook Inlet salmon stocks and salmon species. Divisions within the department must receive long-term direction in order to accomplish their missions and plan management, research, administrative, and other programs. Upper Cook Inlet stakeholders should be informed of the long-term management objectives of the Board of Fisheries (board). Therefore, the board establishes the following provisions for the management and conservation of upper Cook Inlet salmon stocks:

(1) consistent with the statutory priority for subsistence, the harvest of upper Cook Inlet salmon for customary and traditional subsistence uses will be provided for specific species in appropriate areas, seasons, and periods to satisfy subsistence needs; other beneficial uses, to the extent they are consistent with the public interest and overall benefit of the people of Alaska, will be allowed in order to maximize the benefits of these resources;

(2) to provide for the management and allocation of the upper Cook Inlet salmon resources, the harvest of the upper Cook Inlet salmon will be governed by specific and comprehensive management plans adopted by the board for salmon stocks and species, on a Cook Inlet basin wide basis, for different areas, and drainages and for different types of fisheries;

(3) in adopting the specific management plans described in (2) of this subsection the board will consider:

(A) the need for sustainable fisheries for all salmon stocks and salmon species throughout the Cook Inlet basin;

(B) the protection of the fisheries habitat both in the fresh water and the marine environment throughout the Cook Inlet basin; and

(C) the various needs and demands of the user groups of the salmon resources of upper Cook Inlet;

(4) in these management plans, the board may, as appropriate, address the following considerations:

(A) the need to allocate the harvestable surplus among commercial, sport, guided sport and personal use fisheries; and

(B) the need to allocate the harvestable surplus within user groups;

(5) in the absence of a specific management plan, it is the intent of the board that salmon be harvested in the fisheries that have historically harvested them, according to the methods, means, times, and locations of those fisheries;

(6) consistent with 5 AAC 39.220(b) , it is the intent of the board that, in the absence of a specific management plan, where there are known conservation problems, the burden of conservation shall, to the extent practicable, be shared among all user groups in close proportion to their respective harvest on the stock of concern.

(b) Repealed 6/13/99.

(c) In this section "upper Cook Inlet salmon stocks" means those salmon that move through the Northern and Central Districts as defined in 5 AAC 21.200(a) and (b) and spawn in waters draining into those districts.

(d) Repealed 6/11/2005.

(e) It is the intent of the board that, while in most circumstances the department will adhere to the management plans in this chapter, nothing in the management plans is intended to override the commissioner's emergency order authority under AS 16.05.060 should significant new information arise that, in the commissioner's judgment, warrants departure from the provisions in the management plans.

History: Eff. 5/17/81, Register 78; am 3/29/87, Register 101; am 4/7/93, Register 126; am 5/31/96, Register 138; am 5/14/97, Register 142; am 6/13/99, Register 150; am 6/11/2005, Register 174

Authority: AS 16.05.251

Editor's note: As of Register 142, July 1997, the substance of 5 AAC 21.363(b) (5) appears in 5 AAC 21.358.