Section 5 AAC 01.170 - Lawful gear and gear specifications(a) Salmon may be taken only by (4) a hook and line attached to a rod or pole, as specified in (h) of this section;(5) dip net and cast net; during times when the commissioner determines that it is necessary for the conservation of specific salmon species, the commissioner may, by emergency order, close the season and immediately reopen the season during which specific salmon species caught with a dip net and cast net must be returned immediately to the water alive.(b) Fish other than salmon may be taken only by set gillnet, drift gillnet, beach seine, fish wheel, pot, longline, fyke net, dip net, cast net, jigging gear, spear, and lead, or, as specified in (h) of this section, by a hook and line attached to a rod or pole.(c) A gillnet may not obstruct more than one-half the width of any fish stream and any channel or side channel of a fish stream. A stationary fishing device may not obstruct more than one-half the width of any salmon stream and any channel or side channel of a salmon stream.(d) In the Norton Sound District, kegs or buoys attached to subsistence gillnets may be any color except red.(e) In Subdistrict 1, only set gillnets may be used, except that beach seines may also be used only during subsistence set gillnet openings from June 15 through August 15.(f) In Subdistrict 1, no person may operate in the aggregate more than (1) 50 feet of gillnet in fresh water as described in 5 AAC 01.160(b) (1)(C); and(2) 300 feet of gillnet in marine waters.(g) In the Unalakleet River from June 1 - July 15, no person may operate more than 25 fathoms of gillnet in the aggregate and no person may operate an unanchored fishing net.(h) A person may use a hook and line attached to a rod or a pole when subsistence fishing only (1) in the state waters of, and all flowing waters that drain into, the Bering Sea or Norton Sound from Cape Prince of Wales to Bald Point (between Elim and Koyuk); or(i) Notwithstanding (a) - (h) of this section, during times when the commissioner determines that it is necessary for the conservation of chum salmon, the commissioner may, by emergency order, close the fishing season in any portion of the Norton Sound-Port Clarence Area and immediately reopen the season in any portion of the Norton Sound-Port Clarence Area during which gillnets (1) must have a mesh size of four and one-half inches or less; and(2) may not exceed the length specified by the commissioner.(j) Notwithstanding (a) - (h) of this section, during times when the commissioner determines that it is necessary for the conservation of king salmon, the commissioner may, by emergency order, close the fishing season in any portion of the Norton Sound-Port Clarence Area and immediately reopen the season in any portion of the Norton Sound-Port Clarence Area during which gillnets (1) must have a mesh size of (A) four and one-half inches or less;(B) six inches or less; or(C) seven inches or less; and(2) may not exceed the length specified by the commissioner.(m) During times when the commissioner determines that it is necessary for the conservation of specific salmon species, the commissioner may, by emergency order, close the fishing season in any portion of the Norton Sound-Port Clarence Area and immediately reopen the season in any portion of the Norton Sound-Port Clarence Area to subsistence fishing with beach seines and require that specific salmon species caught with a beach seine be returned immediately to the water alive.In effect before 1988; am 4/2/88, Register 105; am 7/16/92, Register 123; am/readopt 5/15/93, Register 126; am 7/3/94, Register 130; am 3/24/95, Register 133; am 6/17/2001, Register 158; am 5/19/2004, Register 170; am 6/7/2007, Register 182; am 8/23/2009, Register 191; am 5/19/2010, Register 194; am 4/13/2013, Register 206; am 5/22/2016, Register 218, July 2016Before Register 218, July 2016, a portion of the substance of 5 AAC 01.170(a)(5) was contained in former 5 AAC 01.170(l).
At its February 23 - 27, 1993 meeting, the Board of Fisheries readopted 5 AAC 01.170(a) - (f) in their entirety without change, under ch. 1, SSSLA 1992 (the 1992 subsistence law), which repealed and reenacted AS 16.05.258.
Authority:AS 16.05.060
AS 16.05.251
AS 16.05.258