NOTICE OF PROPOSED CHANGES TO CORRECT ERRORS AND OMISSIONS IN THE REGULATIONS OF THE ALASKA BOARD OF FISHERIES AND OF THE ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH & GAME

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is proposing to adopt regulation changes to correct errors or omissions ambiguities, and technical deficiencies in Title 5 of the Alaska Administrative Code.

Subsistence, sport fishing, commercial and personal use regulations are proposed to be changed to clarify existing regulations and correct errors and omissions.

The commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game, under a delegation of authority issued by the Alaska Board of Fisheries under AS 16.05.270, proposes to adopt regulation changes in Title 5 of the Alaska Administrative Code (AAC) correcting errors and omissions, ambiguities, and technical deficiencies including the following:

(1)  5 AAC 01.650. Description of Yakutat Area.; 5 AAC 01.700. Description of the Southeastern Alaska Area.; 5 AAC 27.100. Description of Southeastern Alaska Area.; 5 AAC 27.185. Management plan for herring spawn on kelp in pounds fisheries in Sections 3-B, 12-A, and 13-C, and District 7.; 5 AAC 29.020. Description of fishing districts and winter boundary line.; 5 AAC 29.025. Waters of frequent high king salmon abundance.; 5 AAC 29.080. Management of the winter salmon troll fishery.; 5 AAC 29.090. Management of the spring salmon troll fisheries.;  5 AAC 29.095. District 8 King Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 29.097. District 11 King Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 29.100. Management of the summer salmon troll fishery.; 5 AAC 29.112. Management of chum salmon troll fishery.; 5 AAC 29.114. Districts 9, 10, 12 and 14 Enhanced Chum Salmon Troll Fisheries Management Plan.; 5 AAC 29.120. Gear specifications and operations.; 5 AAC 30.100.  Description of area.; 5 AAC 30.200.  Fishing districts.; 5 AAC 32.100.  Description of Registration Area A.; 5 AAC 33.100. Description of area.; 5 AAC 33.200. Fishing districts and sections.; 5 AAC 33.310. Fishing seasons and periods for net gear.; 5 AAC 33.369. District 1: Herring Bay Terminal Harvest Area Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 33.369. District 1: Herring Bay Terminal Harvest Area Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 33.370. District 1: Neets Bay Hatchery Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 33.375. District 13: Silver Bay (Medvejie Creek Hatchery) Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 33.376. District 13: Deep Inlet Terminal Harvest Area Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 33.381. District 6: Wrangell Narrows-Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 33.382. District 3: Port Saint Nicholas Terminal Harvest Area Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 33.384. Lynn Canal and Chilkat River King Salmon Fishery Management Plan.; 5 AAC 33.385. Mist Cove Terminal Harvest Area Salmon Management Plan.; 5 AAC 33.387. District 9: Southeast Cove Terminal Harvest Area Management Plan.; 5 AAC 38.100.  Description of Registration Area A.; 5 AAC 38.140. Southeastern Alaska Sea Cucumber Management Plan.; 5 AAC 40.030. District 13: Sheldon Jackson Special Harvest Areas.; 5 AAC 40.039. Burnett Inlet.; 5 AAC 40.042. Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association Special Harvest Areas.; 5 AAC 40.061. District 7: Anita Bay Special Harvest Area.; 5 AAC 40.071. District 9: Gunnuk Creek Special Harvest Area.; 5 AAC 40.073 . District 9: Southeast Cove Special Harvest Area.; 5 AAC 40.081. District 9: Port Armstrong Special Harvest Area.; 5 AAC 77.600. Description of Yakutat Area.; and 5 AAC 77.650. Description of Southeastern Alaska Area.; are proposed to be changed to clarify area descriptions by providing more precise area descriptions, ensure landmarks bearing the same name share the same GPS coordinates, adds GPS coordinates to existing landmarks or boundaries, correcting existing GPS coordinates and cardinal directions, more clearly describing closed waters, repealing erroneous area descriptions, correcting misspellings, correcting the direction qualifiers, restructuring the order of area descriptions and more accurately representing existing area descriptions of District and Subdistrict boundaries.  Descriptions of waters open to commercial fishing and closed water area descriptions in the subsistence and commercial southeast Alaska salmon, crab, herring and shellfish fisheries in are proposed to be changed to more accurately depict existing management practices as related to area descriptions and to aid in the Enforcement of the more clearly described boundaries.

(2)  5 AAC 06.331. Gillnet specifications and operations.; is proposed to be changed to align language with the original intent of Proposal 41 adopted by the Board of Fisheries at the 2022 meeting. The new area descriptions more clearly define the boundaries in the Nushagak District that a commercial set net permit holder may not set or operate a set gillnet seaward of set gillnets operated by another CFEC permit holder.

(3)  5 AAC 15.200. Fishing districts, sections, and subsections.; is proposed to be changed to correct the misspelling of Cape Kumlik.

(4)  5 AAC 32.150. Closed waters in Registration Area A.; is proposed to be changed to correct the misspelling of Sukwaan Island.

(5) 5 AAC 28.577. South Alaska Peninsula Area Pacific Cod Management Plan.; 5 AAC 35.510. Fishing seasons for Registration Area J.; and 5 AAC 38.416. Kodiak District Sea Cucumber Management Plan in Registration Area J.; are proposed to be changed to correct the National Weather Service (NWS) marine forecast zones for commercial fisheries in the South Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak, Chignik and Registration Area J Areas to align with changes by the NWS for those areas.

(6) 5 AAC 24.350. Closed waters.; is proposed to be changed to correct the misspelling of Jonah Bay in Prince William Sound.

(7) 5 AAC 58.040. East Cook Inlet Razor Clam Sport Fishery Management Plan.; and 5 AAC 77.519. East Cook Inlet Razor Clam Personal Use Fishery Management Plan.; are proposed to be changed to correct an erroneous GPS coordinate describing boundaries in the Clam Gulch area.

(8) 5 AAC 77.540. Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use Salmon Fishery Management Plan.; is proposed to be changed to change the allowable mesh size and mesh depth to align with the newly adopted regulations in the Kenai River king salmon stock of concern management plan.

(9) 5 AAC 01.015. Subsistence fishing permits and reports.; 5 AAC 02.015. Subsistence fishing permits and reports.; and 5 AAC 77.015. Personal use fishing permits and reports and display of personal use fish.; are proposed to be changed to remove language specifying that subsistence fishing permits must be completed on paper forms and returned to the office from which they were requested from to accommodate online capabilities for submission of these documents.

You may comment on the proposed regulation changes, including the potential costs to private persons of complying with the proposed changes, by submitting written comments to Shellene L. Hutter, Regulations Program Coordinator, Department of Fish and Game, P.O. Box 115526, Juneau, AK 99811-5526.  Additionally, the Department of Fish and Game will accept comments by facsimile at (907) 465-2604 and by electronic mail at dfg.fish.regulations@alaska.gov

Comments may also be submitted through the Alaska Online Public Notice System by accessing this notice on the system and using the comment link.

The comments must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday August 30, 2024. 

You may submit written questions relevant to the proposed action to Shellene L. Hutter, Regulations Program Coordinator, Department of Fish and Game, P.O. Box 115526, Juneau, AK 99811-5526.  Additionally, the Department of Fish and Game will accept questions by facsimile at (907) 465-2604 and by electronic mail at dfg.fish.regulations@alaska.gov

The questions must be received at least 10 days before the end of the public comment period. The Department of Fish and Game will aggregate its response to substantially similar questions and make the questions and responses available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System.

If you are a person with a disability who needs a special accommodation in order to participate in this process, please contact Shellene L. Hutter at (907) 465-6124 no later than August 20, 2024 to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.

A copy of this notice of proposed regulation changes and the regulations proposed to be changed are available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System. For a copy of the proposed regulation changes contact Shellene L. Hutter, Regulations Program Coordinator at the mailing address, telephone number, or email address above or online on the department’s website at:

https://adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishregulations.main

After the public comment period ends, the commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game will either adopt the proposed regulation changes or other provisions dealing with the same subject, without further notice, or decide to take no action.  The language of the final regulations may be different from that of the proposed regulations.  You should comment during the time allowed if your interests could be affected. Written comments received are public records and are subject to public inspection.

Statutory Authority: AS 16.05.020; AS 16.05.092; AS 16.05.251; AS 16.05.258; AS 16.05.270

Statutes Being Implemented, Interpreted, or Made Specific:  AS 16.05.020; AS 16.05.251; AS 16.05.258; AS 16.05.270

Fiscal Information:  The proposed regulation changes are not expected to require an increased appropriation.

The Department of Fish and Game keeps a list of individuals and organizations interested in its regulations. Those on the list will automatically be sent a copy of all of the department’s notices of proposed regulation changes. To be added to or removed from the list, send a request to the Department of Fish and Game Boards Support Section at P O Box 115526 Juneau, AK 99811, by phone at (907) 465-4110, or via our website at:

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fisheriesboard.main

giving your name, and either your e-mail address or mailing address, as you prefer for receiving notices.

DATE: July 30, 2024                                                     Shellene L. Hutter

                                                                                    Regulations Program Coordinator

                                                                                    Department of Fish and Game