Section 5 AAC 28.640 - Aleutian Islands District and Western District of the South Alaska Peninsula Area Sablefish Management Plan(a) The management plan under this section governs the harvest of sablefish in the Aleutian Islands District and the Western District of the South Alaska Peninsula Area described in 5 AAC 28.555.(b) The commercial fishing season for sablefish in state waters will open and close concurrently with the federal IFQ season for directed fishing for sablefish in the adjacent federal waters, unless closed by emergency order. During a state-waters season, the combined guideline harvest level for sablefish in the Aleutian Islands District and the Western District of the South Alaska Peninsula is five percent of the federal acceptable biological catch for sablefish in the combined federal Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Subareas.(c) Sablefish may be taken only with pots, longlines, mechanical jigging machines, and hand troll gear. Pot gear may be longlined in the Aleutian Islands and Western Districts.(d) Before a person uses a vessel to operate gear to take sablefish in the waters of the Aleutian Islands District or the Western District, the vessel owner, the owner's authorized agent, or the vessel operator shall validly register the vessel with the department office in Dutch Harbor. A vessel that is registered under this subsection shall be considered registered in the Aleutian Islands District and the Western District.(e) Notwithstanding 5 AAC 28.020(f), before departing from the Aleutian Islands District and the Western District, the operator of a vessel fishing for sablefish must notify a local representative of the department to report the amount, by weight, of sablefish on board the vessel and the location that the sablefish will be landed.(f) Each processor of sablefish shall report the amount, by weight, of sablefish received and processed to the department's Dutch Harbor office each week or as otherwise directed by the department.(g) An operator of a vessel fishing for sablefish in the Aleutian Islands District and the Western District of the South Alaska Peninsula Area shall maintain an accurate logbook of all fishing operations for each type of gear used. The following requirements apply to a logbook under this subsection: (1) a logbook must (A) include the date, specific locations of harvest by latitude and longitude, type and number of gear, average depth, and hours fished for each set of(B) include the round weight of sablefish retained and discarded;(C) be updated not later than 11:59 p.m. local time on the day after the day of operation;(D) be retained, with its original pages, for a period of two years by the owner or operator of the vessel;(E) be kept on board the vessel while operating gear, during transits to or from a port of landing, and for 14 days after landing sablefish;(F) be made available to a local representative of the department upon request;(2) a copy of each logbook page described in this subsection corresponding with an ADF&G fish ticket must be submitted to the department within seven days of the landing;(3) a person may not make a false entry in the logbook described in this section.(h) After 72 hours following the closure of a directed sablefish season within the Aleutian Islands District and the Western District of the South Alaska Peninsula Area, a vessel that participated in the sablefish fishery may not have sablefish that was taken in state waters on board the vessel, unless the vessel has been delayed due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the vessel operator, and the vessel operator has contacted a local representative of the department within 72 hours following the closure of the season and the representative of the department has granted a reasonable amount of time for the vessel to reach the port of delivery or a processing location. Any additional time shall be determined based on the assumption that the vessel departed the fishing grounds immediately after the fishery closure and proceeded directly to the port of delivery or processing location.(i) All waters within three nautical miles of the Steller sea lion site on Kanaga Island/Ship Rock at 51° 46.70' N. lat., 177° 20.72' W. long. are closed to the taking of sablefish.(j) In this section, "acceptable biological catch" means the annual acceptable biological catch (ABC) established by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council for Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands sablefish, including the harvest of sablefish in a state-waters season under the management plan as described in this section.Eff. 5/31/2001, Register 158; am 5/15/2004, Register 170; am 5/16/2010, Register 194; am 5/1/2011, Register 198; am 6/1/2013, Register 206; am 6/5/2016, Register 218, July 2016; am 5/31/2019, Register 230, May 2019; am 3/26/2023, Register 245, April 2023Authority:AS 16.05.060
AS 16.05.251