Section 5 AAC 06.390 - Special drift gillnet commercial fishing periods in the Nushagak District(a) It is the intent of the Alaska Board of Fisheries (board) that special drift gillnet fishing periods within the Bristol Bay commercial drift gillnet fishery in the Nushagak District be available to promote the local economy by allowing drift gillnet permit holders to diversify operations and realize benefits from the short-term commercial fishing licenses provided for in AS 16.05.480(i).(b) From June 1 through September 30, the commissioner may, by emergency order, open and close special drift gillnet fishing periods in the waters of the Nushagak River downstream of a line from 58º 59.39' N. lat., 158º 32.08' W. long. to 58º 59.20' N. lat., 158º 28.54' W. long., and upstream of a line from 59º 02.18' N. lat., 158º 27.20' W. long. to 59º 02.00' N. lat., 158º 22.17' W. long.(c) In order to participate in a special drift gillnet fishing period (1) the drift gillnet vessel and permit holder must be registered for the Nushagak District under 5 AAC 06.370;(2) the permit holder must register in person with the department at the department office in Dillingham; and(3) there must be at least one paying client on board the vessel and all crewmembers on board the vessel must possess a commercial crewmember license issued under AS 16.05.480.(d) While participating in a special drift gillnet fishing period (1) only permit holders and crewmembers may be on board the vessel;(2) only a single gillnet may be used; the gillnet may not (A) be greater than five and one-half inches mesh size;(B) exceed 25 fathoms in length; and(C) be greater than 29 meshes in depth;(3) the vessel and drift gillnet must maintain a distance of at least 100 feet from the end of a set gillnet and at least 500 feet from either side of a set gillnet;(4) a vessel may not take more than 90 fish daily, of which no more than 15 may be king salmon; all fish harvested must be retained; fish harvested in excess of the limit of a daily limit shall be sold and the proceeds forfeited to the state; if no processor is available for the sale, the fish will be forfeited to the department and disposed of at the department's discretion;(5) the permit holder must keep a logbook, on a form provided or approved by the department, for each commercial fishing trip; the logbook shall be completed before the offloading of any crewmembers or any fish taken, and the logbook must include (A) the total harvest by species of fish retained for home use and sold commercially;(B) the name, address, license number, and number of fish retained by each crewmember or permit holder for home use; and(C) any other information the commissioner determines is necessary for conservation and management purposes;(6) a fish ticket must be generated for each trip in which the catch is sold commercially or when a king salmon or coho salmon is harvested.(e) During or after a special drift gillnet fishing period a permit holder must remove all fish harvested in the special drift gillnet fishing period from the vessel before participating in the regular commercial drift gillnet fishery.Eff. 3/30/2007, Register 181; am 4/9/2010, Register 194For the purposes of registration for the special drift gillnet commercial fishing periods, under 5 AAC 06.390, the department office in Dillingham is located at 546 Kenny Wren Road, Dillingham, Alaska.
Authority:AS 16.05.060
AS 16.05.251