Region 2-Southcentral News Release
(Released: March 11, 2009)
Contact:
Matt G. Miller
Regional Management Biologist
Phone: (907) 267-2415
March 11, 2009
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announces that salt water sport fishing charter guides and crew members are prohibited from retaining any fish species while paying clients are on board the vessel. In addition, the maximum number of lines that may be fished from a vessel engaged in guided sport fishing in salt waters may not exceed the number of paying clients on board the vessel. These restrictions go into effect at 12:01 a.m., Saturday, May 23, 2009, and will remain in effect through Tuesday, September 1, 2009.
This prohibition applies to the salt waters of Southcentral Alaska, which are those waters from Cape Suckling east to the southern end of Kodiak Island, specifically:
- All salt waters west of the longitude of Cape Suckling, including Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet, and waters of the Kodiak Island area north of a line running from Cape Aklek on the Alaska Peninsula to Cape Ikolik on the western shore of Kodiak Island; and north and east of a line running from Cape Trinity to Cape Sitkinak.
The specific prohibition is:
- A sport fishing guide and sport fishing crew member working on a charter vessel in the salt waters of Southcentral Alaska may not retain fish while clients are on board the vessel. The maximum number of lines that may be fished from a vessel engaged in guided sport fishing in salt waters may not exceed the number of paying clients on board the vessel. A fish when landed and killed becomes a part of the bag limit of the person originally hooking it.
The Pacific halibut Guideline Harvest Level (GHL) for charter boat anglers within Southcentral Alaska was exceeded each of the years 2004-2007. The 2008 charter harvest in Area 3A (Kodiak to Cape Spencer) was projected to be less than the 3.65 million-pound GHL, due in part to a Department emergency order issued in 2008 prohibiting retention of halibut and other fish by guides and crew members in Southcentral Alaska during a portion of the season.
In October 2008 the North Pacific Fishery Management Council approved a catch-sharing plan to allocate halibut between charter and commercial fisheries. This catch-sharing plan will eventually replace the current GHL management. In the meantime, the Council chose not to take action to implement additional management measures in Area 3A to keep charter harvest within the GHL, conditional on a commitment from the Department to continue to prohibit guide and crew harvest. This action to prohibit retention of fish by guide and crew is issued under the authority granted to the Department by the Board of Fisheries to regulate harvests within established allocation guidelines (5 AAC 75.003(4)).
For more information about the sport fisheries in Southcentral Alaska, contact your local ADF&G office or visit: http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us For additional information contact Matt G Miller or Tom Vania, Regional Management Coordinators, (907) 267-2415 or 2131.
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