Section 5 AAC 77.171 - Lawful gear for personal use finfish fishing(a) In Subdistrict 6-C, finfish may be taken for personal use only by set gillnets and fish wheels as follows: (1) a person may not operate more than one type of gear at the same time for commercial, personal use, and subsistence purposes;(2) the aggregate length of a set gillnet may not exceed 150 fathoms;(3) a person may not set or operate personal use fishing gear within 200 feet of other operating commercial, personal use, or subsistence fishing gear;(4) a gillnet or fish wheel may not obstruct more than one-half the width of any fish stream and any channel or side channel of a fish stream;(5) a household may not operate more than one fish wheel;(6) after August 15, a person may not take salmon with a gillnet that has a mesh size greater than six inches;(7) unless a person is fishing under the ice, gillnets in operation sunk below the surface must have a keg, buoy, or cluster of floats visible on the surface of the water at each end of the submerged net, and for submerged gillnets over 60 feet in length, a third keg, buoy, or cluster of floats must be attached to the middle of the net.(b) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, during times when the commissioner determines it to be necessary for the conservation of salmon, other than king salmon, the commissioner may, by emergency order, close the Yukon Area Subdistrict 6-C personal use salmon fishing season and immediately reopen the season during which the following gear limitations apply: (1) a gillnet used to take salmon (A) must be four inches or less mesh or seven and one-half inches in mesh size;(B) that is four inches or less in mesh size, may not exceed the length and depth specified by the commissioner; and the gillnet may only be operated as a set gillnet; no part of a set gillnet may be more than 100 feet from the ordinary high water mark;(C) that is seven and one-half inches in mesh size, may not exceed the length and depth specified by the commissioner; and the gillnet may only be operated as a set gillnet; no part of a set gillnet may be more than 100 feet from the ordinary high water mark;(2) for fish wheels: (A) the operator must closely attend the fish wheel while it is in operation, and all salmon, other than king salmon, must be immediately released to the water alive and must bypass any livebox, unless retention is allowed by emergency order;(3) dip nets may be used, however all salmon, other than king salmon, caught must be released to the water alive, unless retention is allowed by emergency order; notwithstanding (a)(3) of this section, a person may operate a dip net within 200 feet of another person operating a dip net.(c) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, during times when the commissioner determines it to be necessary for the conservation of king salmon, the commissioner may, by emergency order, close the Yukon Area Subdistrict 6-C personal use salmon fishing season and immediately reopen the season during which the following gear limitations apply: (1) a gillnet used to take salmon (A) must be six inches or less in mesh size; and the gillnet may only be operated as a set gillnet; no part of a set gillnet may be more than 100 feet from the ordinary high water mark;(B) may not exceed the length and depth specified by the commissioner;(C) that is four inches or less in mesh size, may not exceed the length and depth specified by the commissioner; and the gillnet may only be operated as a set gillnet; no part of a set gillnet may be more than 100 feet from the ordinary high water mark;(2) for fish wheels: (A) he operator must closely attend the fish wheel while it is in operation, and all king salmon must be immediately released to the water alive and must bypass any livebox, unless retention is allowed by emergency order;(C) repealed 6/28/2019; (i) the fish wheel is equipped with a chute that returns fish captured by the fish wheel to the water alive;(ii) the person closely attends the fish wheel while it is in operation; and(iii) the person returns all king salmon caught to the water alive;(3) dip nets may be used, however all king salmon caught must be released to the water alive; notwithstanding (a)(3) of this section, a person may operate a dip net within 200 feet of another person operating a dip net.(d) For the purposes of this section, "livebox" means a submerged container attached to a fish wheel that will keep fish caught by the fish wheel alive.(e) In Subdistrict 6-C, notwithstanding any other provision of this section that allows a person to take salmon with a gillnet that has a mesh size greater than seven and one-half inches, a person may not take salmon with a gill net that has a mesh size greater than seven and one-half inches.Eff. 6/10/98, Register 146; am 6/17/2001, Register 158; am 8/24/2002, Register 163; am 8/23/2009, Register 191; am 5/19/2010, Register 194; am 7/13/2012, Register 203; am 5/22/2016, Register 218, July 2016; am 6/28/2019, Register 230, May 2019; am 9/19/2019, Register 231, August 2019; am 5/24/2023, Register 246, July 2023; am 6/25/2023, Register 246, July 2023