5 AAC 35.180. Lawful gear for Registration Area D

(a) Tanner crab may be taken only with Tanner crab pots and ring nets. Tanner crab taken by other means must be returned to the water without further harm.

(b) The following Tanner crab gear limits are in effect in Registration Area D:

(1) an aggregate of no more than 100 Tanner crab pots and ring nets may be operated from a vessel registered to fish for Tanner crab; or

(2) when both the commercial king and Tanner crab seasons are open in Registration Area D at the same time, an aggregate of no more than 100 king or Tanner crab pots and ring nets may be operated from a vessel registered to fish for both king and Tanner crab;

(3) Tanner crab may not be taken with pots that have tunnel eye openings located on the vertical plane of the pot;

(4) Tanner crab ring nets may not be longlined.

(c) In Registration Area D, a Tanner crab ring net is a bag-shaped net suspended between no more than two frames. The bottom frame may not be larger in perimeter than the top frame and the maximum diameter of the ring net may not exceed six feet for a round ring net. For a ring net with a frame that is not round, the area encompassed by the larger frame may not exceed 29 square feet. The ring net web must be non-rigid and collapsible, and must lay flat so that when fishing it does not prohibit free movement of fish or shellfish across the net.

(d) Beginning January 15, 2006, in Registration Area D, a pot used to take Tanner crab must be rigged to permit escapement of undersize Tanner crab as follows:

(1) at least one third of one vertical surface of a square pot, or sloping surface of a conical or pyramid pot, must be composed of not less than seven-inch stretched mesh webbing, placed on the bottom one-third of the vertical or sloping sidewall surface of the pot; or

(2) no less than four circular escape rings of four and three-quarters inch minimum inside diameter must be installed on the vertical plane of a square pot, or the sloping sidewall surface of a conical or pyramid pot; the lowest edge of each escape ring must be within eight inches of the top of the bottom web bar on the pot; one ring must be installed in each quadrant of the pot.

History: Eff. 12/14/86, Register 100; am 3/15/96, Register 137; am 9/29/96, Register 139; am 8/14/2005, Register 175

Authority: AS 16.05.251

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