Emergency Orders and News Releases

Contact:
Bob Chadwick,
SE Regional Management Coordinator
Phone: (907) 747-5551

During their January 16-23 and February 17-26 meetings, the Alaska Board of Fisheries made the following changes to the Southeast Alaska sport fisheries. A detailed summary booklet for many regulations in effect for 2009-2010 will be published and made available by late April. The following changes will become effective this year following legal review.

At the January shellfish meeting the following changes were made that affect sport fishermen:

1. The Board reduced the sport bag limit of Dungeness and Tanner crab to three in combination, daily and in possession.
2. The Tanner crab season was shortened by 15 days; from July 1 through June 15.
3. Pots used to catch Tanner crab will now require use of two escape rings 4 ¾ inch inside diameter or larger.
4. The sport bag and possession limit for shrimp was reduced to three pounds or quarts, daily and in possession.

During the February finfish meeting held in Sitka the Board made a number of regional and local changes to sport finfish regulations for Southeast Alaska. These actions were:

5. The Board took action prohibiting all harvest of steelhead in known fall steelhead systems throughout Southeast Alaska where the use of bait was already prohibited year-round, as well as in several other high use steelhead drainages. These include:
• In the Ketchikan management area: Ella Creek drainage, Fish Creek, Gokachin Creek, Humpback Creek drainage, McDonald Lake drainage, Naha River drainage, Spit Creek, Steelhead Creek, and Ward Creek.
• In the Prince of Wales management area: 108 Creek, Dog Salmon Creek, Eagle Creek drainage, Hunter Bay Creek, Klakas Creek, Old Franks Creek, Salmon Bay Creek drainage, Sarkar River drainage, Staney Creek, Karta River drainage, and Thorne River drainage.
• In the Petersburg management area: Castle River and Hamilton Creek.
• In the Sitka management area: Port Banks Creek.
6. A new regulation established sport bag, possession, and annual limits for Sablefish (black cod). This region-wide regulation will allow sport anglers two (2) Sablefish of any size daily, four (4) in possession, and eight (8) annually. All resident and nonresident anglers will be required to immediately record harvests on their sport fishing licenses or harvest cards.
7. Bag, possession, annual limits and size limits for lingcod are now implemented for all nonresident anglers.
8. The Board changed lingcod regulations to allow nonresident anglers to retain one (1) lingcod over 55 inches length; from May 16–November 30. Nonresident anglers would have an annual limit of two (2) lingcod, of which only one (1) could be 55 inches or greater. The second fish harvested would have to be within the length limits established by emergency order for the area being fished.
9. Beginning January 1, 2011, felt-soles will be prohibited from use in the fresh waters of Southeast Alaska. Although not documented in Alaska, travelling anglers have been found to transmit fish diseases.
10. The Southeast Alaska King Salmon Management Plan was modified, with particular emphasis to periods of lower king salmon abundances. Under the modified plan:
• In years when the abundance index (AI) is less than or equal to 1.5, resident anglers may use two rods from October through the following March.
• In years when the AI is less than or equal to 1.1, the annual harvest limits for nonresident anglers will be as follows:
• From May 1 through June 30, a nonresident’s annual limit is three king salmon 28 inches or greater in length, and any king salmon 28 inches or greater harvested by the nonresident between January 1 and April 30 will apply toward the three fish annual harvest limit; and,
• From July 1 through December 31, a nonresident’s annual limit is one king salmon 28 inches or greater in length, and any king salmon 28 inches or greater harvested by the nonresident between January 1 and June 30 will apply toward the one fish annual harvest limit.
11. The Board slightly modified the District 8 (Stikine) king salmon management plan’s annual limit regulation for nonresident anglers to allow an annual harvest of six (6) king salmon 28 inches or greater, during times when the District 8 sport king salmon regulations have been liberalized.
12. In the Juneau area, steelhead regulations for all streams crossing the Juneau road system will be catch-and-release fishing for steelhead, prohibiting all sport harvest.
13. Also in the Juneau area, the Board prohibited snagging from May 1 through November 1 in the waters of Gastineau Channel within 150 feet of the City and Borough of Juneau’s Channel Wayside fishing dock located near the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery. In this area snagging or attempting to snag will be prohibited; a fish hooked anywhere other than in the mouth must be released immediately back into the water.
14. In the Yakutat area, sockeye salmon bag and possession limits were reduced to three (3) sockeye salmon per day and six (6) in possession for all fresh waters flowing into the Situk-Ahrnklin estuary.
15. In the Ketchikan area, anglers will be able to fish in Ketchikan Creek longer with an extension through to May 31.

For more information on the Board of Fish process, visit their website at: http://www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us

For further information, contact the nearest ADF&G office or visit: http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us

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