Section 5 AAC 39.670 - Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) Crab Fisheries Management Plan(a) This management plan applies to the management of the nine crab fisheries rationalized by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), including the Community Development Quota and the Adak community allocation, with management authority deferred to the Department of Fish and Game as referenced in the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/ Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs.(b) The following fisheries are covered under the management plan in this section: (1) Bristol Bay red king crab (BBR);(2) Aleutian Islands red king crab (west of 179º W. long.) (WAI);(3) Aleutian Islands golden king crab (east of 174º W. long.) (EAG);(4) Aleutian Islands golden king crab (west of 174º W. long.) (WAG);(5) Saint Matthew Island Section blue king crab (SMB);(6) Pribilof District red and blue king crab (PIK);(7) Bering Sea snow crab (BSS);(8) Bering Sea Tanner crab (east of 166º W. long.) (EBT);(9) Bering Sea Tanner crab (west of 166º W. long.) (WBT).(c) The following provisions apply to the fisheries specified in this section: (1) a vessel participating in an Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ), Community Development Quota (CDQ), or the Adak community allocation crab fishery must have on board the vessel an activated vessel monitoring system (VMS) approved by NMFS;(2) a vessel operator who is registered for one of the fisheries listed in (b) of this section may (A) authorize other vessel operators who are registered for the same fishery to operate crab pot gear registered to that vessel; before a vessel operator may operate crab pot gear registered to another vessel, the registered operator of the pot gear must file a cooperative gear authorization form with the department authorizing other vessels to operate the crab pot gear;(B) transfer gear operation rights and responsibilities to only one other vessel operator who is registered for that fishery and only under the following conditions: (i) both the operator of the vessel relinquishing gear operation rights and responsibilities (relinquisher) and the vessel operator receiving those rights and responsibilities (recipient) must sign a gear operation transfer form or notify the department by electronic mail giving the effective date and time of the transfer and the number of pots being transferred;(ii) the gear operation transfer form must also be signed by a department representative before the pot gear transfer is valid and a copy of the gear operation transfer form bearing the original signatures of both the relinquisher and recipient vessel operator must be received by the department within 30 days of the effective date of the department signature; for the purposes of this subparagraph, the form must be submitted in person at the department's Dutch Harbor office, or by mail, or by facsimile; or both the relinquisher and the recipient shall notify the department by electronic mail, from the electronic mail address provided on the registration form, of the effective date and time of the transfer, and receive a reply electronic mail from the department validating the transfer within seven days of the effective date: (iii) the transfer of gear operation rights and responsibilities must occur and be validated within 14 days of the relinquishing vessel being active in the registration area where the pot gear is located;(iv) the pot gear transfer must include all of the pot gear registered to the relinquishing vessel and that vessel's pot gear may not be split among more than one recipient vessel;(v) except as specified in (c)(2)(C) of this section, gear operation rights and responsibilities revert to the relinquisher at the regulatory closure of the fishery in which the gear is registered to operate;(C) gear operation rights and responsibilities may be restored to the relinquishing vessel if the relinquisher and recipient notify the department as specified in (c)(2)(B) of this section;(3) each crab pot deployed must bear the ADF&G number of the vessel that initially registers the crab pot, and if deployed in a fishery with a crab pot limit, each pot must bear a buoy tag registered to the vessel registering that pot; in addition, (A) an active vessel may collectively operate and transport crab pot gear of another registered and active vessel;(B) when a vessel transports and deploys crab pot gear to the fishing grounds for another vessel, the vessel registered with the crab pot gear must be active in the registration area where the crab pot gear is deployed within seven days of the initial deployment;(D) a vessel's crab pot gear may not be deployed unless the vessel is actively participating in harvesting the species in the applicable area, except for when a vessel h as checked out of a fishery under 5 AAC 39.670(c)(3)(G) and has notified the department of its intent to deploy gear consistent with 5 AAC 39.670(c)(3)(E);(E) for the purposes of this paragraph, a vessel is considered active in an area by becoming validly registered with the department and by VMS verification of the vessel in the registration area;(F) a vessel that has completed fishing operations as specified in 5 AAC 39.675(b) (1) and (2) is not considered active in a registration area;(G) a vessel operator who is registered for one of the fisheries listed in (b) of this section must check out with the department in Dutch Harbor or Kodiak by telephone, facsimile transmission, or electronic mail within 72 hours of operating the vessel's last pot in the registration area.(4) no provision in this section allows an individual vessel operator to use a greater quantity of crab pot gear than otherwise authorized in the applicable provisions of 5 AAC 34 or 5 AAC 35;(5) a vessel operator may harvest EBT and BBR, or WBT and BSS, or EBT and BSS, concunently; as follows: (A) a vessel operator participating in the BBR fishery may retain EBT as incidental harvest as specified in 5 AAC 35.506(i) (2);(B) a vessel operator participating in the BSS fishery may retain WBT as incidental harvest as specified in 5 AAC 35.506(i) (1);(C) a vessel operator participating in the WBT fishery may retain BSS as incidental harvest as specified in 5 AAC 35.506(j);(D) a vessel operator participating in the BSS fishery may retain EBT as incidental harvest as specified in 5 AAC 35.506(i)(1);(6) a vessel operator may have a species of king or Tanner crab from an IFQ fishery and king crab from an Adak community allocation fishery or a species of king or Tanner crab from a CDQ fishery on board the vessel at the same time; a vessel operator may not have a species of king or Tanner crab from an IFQ fishery and a species of king or Tanner crab from a non-CDQ or non-IFQ fishery on board the vessel at the same time;(7) an operator of a vessel participating in an IFQ, CDQ, or Adak community allocation crab fishery in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands area must notify the United States Coast Guard at least 24 hours before departing port when carrying crab pot gear;(8) in addition to the registration requirements specified in 5 AAC 34 and 5 AAC 35, a vessel owner, or owner's agent, shall provide satisfactory proof of a current valid United States Coast Guard Commercial Fisheries Vessel Safety Decal before a registration certificate is issued;(9) the operator of a vessel designated at the time of registration to operate the crab pot gear of another vessel shall be considered the agent of the vessel registered to operate the crab pot gear.Eff. 8/14/2005, Register 175; am 8/28/2005, Register 175; am 9/12/2008, Register 187; am 6/27/2014, Register 210, July 2014; am 8/27/2016, Register 219, October 2016; am 7/22/2017,Register 223, October 2017; am 6/21/2020, Register 234, July 2020The contact phone number for the United States Coast Guard for Kodiak, Alaska is (907) 654-5588; Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Alaska is (907) 581-6738; Anchorage, Alaska is (907) 229-8203; and Kenai, Alaska is (907) 398-6220.
The gear operation transfer form specified in 5 AAC 39.670(c) (2) may be sent to the department office in Dutch Harbor at Department of Fish and Game, P.O. Box 920587, Dutch Harbor, AK 99692-0587; Fax (907) 581-1579;email: dig.dutchharbor@alaska.gov.