Section 5 AAC 92.106 - Intensive management of identified big game prey populationsFor purposes of implementing AS 16.05.255(e) - (g), the Board of Game (board) will
(1) consider the following criteria when identifying big game prey populations that are important for providing high levels of human consumptive use: (A) harvest size: the average annual historic human harvest meets or exceeds values as follows: (B) accessibility to harvest;(C) utilization for meat: a population that is used primarily for food; and(D) level of hunter demand: as reflected by total hunter effort, number of applications for permits, or other indicators;(2) consider the following criteria when establishing population objectives and harvest objectives for each identified big game prey population consistent with maintaining near maximum sustainable yield from the population: (A) effects of weather, habitat capability, diseases, and parasites;(B) maintenance of viable predator populations;(C) maintenance of habitat conditions suitable for other species in the area;(D) effects on subsistence users;(E) cost, feasibility, and potential effectiveness of possible management actions;(F) land ownership patterns within the range of the population;(G) accessibility to harvest; and(H) other factors considered relevant by the board;(3) find that depletion of a big game prey population or reduction of the productivity of a big game prey population has occurred when (A) the number of animals, estimated by the department, that can be removed by human harvest from a population, or portion of a population, on an annual basis without reducing the population below the population objective, preventing growth of the population toward the population objective at a rate set by the board, or altering a composition of the population in a biologically unacceptable manner is less than the harvest objective for the population; and(B) the population size is less than the population objective for the population;(4) determine whether a finding made under (3) of this section may result in a significant reduction in the allowable human harvest of the population;(5) not consider as significant: (A) any reduction in taking that continues to allow a level of harvest equal to or greater than the minimum harvest objective established by the board; or(B) any reduction in taking that is intended or expected to be of a short-term and temporary nature and is necessary for the conservation of the population;(6) utilize active management of habitat and predation as the major tools to reverse any significant reduction in the allowable human harvest of the population.Eff. 7/1/98, Register 146; add'l am 7/1/98, Register 146Authority:AS 16.05.020
AS 16.05.050
AS 16.05.255