5 AAC 77.591. Copper River Personal Use Dip Net Salmon Fishery Management Plan

(a) Salmon may be taken in the Chitina Subdistrict only under the authority of a Chitina Subdistrict personal use salmon fishing permit. Only one Chitina Subdistrict personal use salmon fishing permit may be issued to a household per calendar year. A household may not be issued both a Copper River subsistence salmon fishing permit and a Chitina Subdistrict personal use salmon fishing permit.

(b) Salmon may be taken from June 1 through September 30. The commissioner shall establish a preseason schedule, including fishing times, for the period June 1 through August 31 based on daily projected sonar counts at the sonar counter located near Miles Lake. This abundance-based preseason schedule will distribute the harvest throughout the season. The commissioner may close, by an emergency order effective June 1, the Chitina Subdistrict personal use salmon fishing season and shall reopen the season, by emergency order, on or before June 11 depending on the run strength and timing of the sockeye salmon run. Adjustments shall be made to the preseason schedule based on actual sonar counts compared to projected counts. If the actual sonar count at Miles Lake is more than the projected sonar count, the commissioner shall close, by emergency order, the season and immediately reopen it during which additional fishing times will be allowed. If the actual sonar count at Miles Lake is less than the projected sonar count, the commissioner shall close, by emergency order, the season and immediately reopen it during which fishing times will be reduced by a corresponding amount of time.

(d) A personal use salmon fishing permit holder shall record all harvested salmon on the permit, in ink, before concealing the salmon from plain view or transporting the salmon from the fishing site. Permits must be returned to the department and the conditions specified in 5 AAC 77.015(c) must be met. For the purposes of this subsection, "fishing site" means the location where the salmon is removed from the water and becomes part of the permit holder's bag limit.

(e) The annual limit for a personal use salmon fishing permit is 15 salmon for a household of one person and 30 salmon for a household of two or more persons, of which no more than one may be a king salmon. However, when the department determines that a weekly harvestable surplus of 50,000 or more salmon will be present in the Chitina Subdistrict, the commissioner shall establish, by emergency order, weekly periods during which the department shall issue a supplemental permit for 10 additional sockeye salmon to a permit applicant who has met the annual limit. King salmon may not be taken under the authority of a supplemental permit. A supplemental permit will be valid from Monday to the following Sunday of the week in which the surplus salmon are expected to be present in the Chitina Subdistrict. The department may specify other conditions in a supplemental permit. The department may issue an additional supplemental permit to a permittee who has met the limits of a previously issued supplemental permit.

(f) The maximum harvest level for the Chitina Subdistrict personal use salmon fishery is 100,000 - 150,000 salmon, not including any salmon in excess of the inriver goal or salmon taken after August 31. If the Copper River District commercial salmon fishery is closed for 13 or more consecutive days, the maximum harvest level in the Chitina Subdistrict is reduced to 50,000 salmon.

(g) Rainbow or steelhead trout incidentally taken may not be retained and must be released immediately and returned to the water unharmed.

(h) For the purposes of this section, the Chitina Subdistrict consists of all waters of the mainstem Copper River from the downstream edge of the Chitina-McCarthy Road Bridge downstream to an east-west line crossing the Copper River as designated by ADF&G regulatory markers located approximately 200 yards upstream of Haley Creek.

History: Eff. 6/12/2003, Register 166

Authority: AS 16.05.060

AS 16.05.251

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