5 AAC 27.409. Central District Herring Management Plan

(a) The purpose of this management plan is to foster the complete recovery of the herring fisheries of the Central District of the Cook Inlet Area. This plan sets out interim strategies for managing all Central District herring fisheries in order to develop biologically sound and sustainable herring fisheries while minimizing the bycatch of salmon and char.

(b) Herring fishing in the Central District will occur only in the waters of Upper Subdistrict, Kalgin Island Subdistrict, Western Subdistrict, and Chinitna Bay Subdistrict as described in 5 AAC 21.200(b) .

(c) To participate in a Central District herring fishery, a person must register with the department's Soldotna Office no later than April 10 of the year in which the person intends to participate. A person shall report fishing time and herring harvested, whether sold or retained for personal use, to that office within 12 hours of the closure of a fishing period during which the person participated or harvested herring in the Central District, or as otherwise specified by the department.

(d) In the Upper Subdistrict:

(1) the department will monitor the catch per unit effort, age composition, bycatch, and other aspects that are necessary to conduct a conservative, low-level fishery;

(2) the department will perform assessment studies of age composition in order to monitor future recruitment, and it will make necessary adjustments to the fishery based upon stock trends;

(3) from April 20 through May 31, the commissioner may open, by emergency order, herring fishing periods as described in (4) of this subsection;

(4) the commissioner may open and close, by emergency order, a herring fishery for one fishing period per week, beginning on Monday 6:00 a.m. and closing Friday 6:00 p.m.; a fishing period may not last longer than 108 hours; a fishing period may extend beyond May 31 if it begins before that date and is not longer than 108 hours in length;

(5) the guideline harvest range is 0 - 40 tons of herring;

(6) a person may not fish for herring closer than 600 feet of the mean high tide mark on the Kenai Peninsula; the department may expand, by emergency order, this closed area in order to decrease the emergency order to minimize the bycatch of salmon and char.

(e) In the Chinitna Bay, Kalgin Island, and Western Subdistricts:

(1) the department shall allow a herring fishery if it has assessed the age composition of herring stocks where the fishery will occur and if it has determined that a healthy stock structure exists;

(2) the department will manage the fisheries in Tuxedni Bay and Chinitna Bay in order to assure sustained yield, and will take into account the stock status and assessments of the herring stock landed;

(3) from April 20 through May 31, the commissioner may open, by emergency order, herring fishing periods as described in (4) of this subsection;

(4) the commissioner may open, by emergency order, the fishery for two fishing periods per week, one beginning on Monday and one beginning on Thursday; each fishing period may not last longer than 30 hours; a fishing period may extend beyond May 31 if it begins before that date and is not longer than 30 hours in length;

(5) the guideline harvest range for the

(A) Chinitna Bay Subdistrict is 0 - 40 tons of herring;

(B) Western Subdistrict is 0 - 50 tons of herring.

(f) Repealed 3/8/2002.

History: Eff. 4/22/99, Register 150; am 3/8/2002, Register 161; am 6/11/2005, Register 174

Authority: AS 16.05.060

AS 16.05.251

The Alaska Administrative Code was automatically converted to HTML from a plain text format. Every effort has been made to ensure its accuracy, but neither Touch N' Go Systems nor the Law Offices of James B. Gottstein can be held responsible for any possible errors. This version of the Alaska Administrative Code is current through June, 2006.

If it is critical that the precise terms of the Alaska Administrative Code be known, it is recommended that more formal sources be consulted. Recent editions of the Alaska Administrative Journal may be obtained from the Alaska Lieutenant Governor's Office on the world wide web. If any errors are found, please e-mail Touch N' Go systems at E-mail. We hope you find this information useful. Copyright 2006. Touch N' Go Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.