Alaska Admin. Code tit. 5, § 06.374 – Kvichak River Sockeye Salmon Special Harvest Area Management Plan

(a) The goal of the Kvichak River Sockeye Salmon Special Harvest Area Management Plan is to achieve the Naknek River sockeye salmon spawning escapement goal while providing opportunities to harvest Kvichak and Alagnak River salmon stocks that are in excess of spawning escapement goals. The intent of the Board of Fisheries is that salmon in the Naknek-Kvichak District be harvested in the fisheries that have historically harvested them, including the methods, means, times, and locations of those fisheries, using the best biological management techniques and practices. The plan has been adopted to provide management alternatives that the department may use if differences in salmon run strengths would preclude the achievement of the goal of the plan using only the fisheries that have historically harvested those salmon.
(b) The Kvichak River Sockeye Salmon Special Harvest Area consists of the waters of the Kvichak River upstream of a line from 58° 52.78' N. lat., 157° 00.63' W. long., to 58° 54.02' N. lat., 157° 03.99' W. long., to a line located below the mouth of the Alagnak River at 58° 59.84' N. lat., 156° 51.91' W. long., to 59° 00.26' N. lat., 156° 53.36' W. long.
(c) If the department projects that the sockeye salmon escapement into the Kvichak River will exceed 4,000,000 fish and the Naknek River escapement projection is one or more days behind the schedule determined by the department for reaching the lower bound of the escapement goal, the commissioner may open, by emergency order, the special harvest area to the drift gillnet and set gillnet fisheries. The department shall, to the extent practicable, manage the special harvest area to minimize the harvest of king salmon.
(d) The drift gillnet and set gillnet fisheries will open separately, with a seasonal ratio of three drift gillnet fishing periods to every one set gillnet fishing period. The first fishing period will open to set gillnets.
(e) The following provisions apply to set gillnet fishing in the special harvest area:
1. (1) not more than 37 and one-half fathoms of set gillnet may be used to take salmon;
2. (2) a set gillnet may not be set or operated within 150 feet of another set gillnet;
3. (3) beyond 500 feet from shore, gear associated with set gillnet fishing must be removed when the gear is not being used to fish in the special harvest area;
4. (4) a set gillnet running line may not be in the water during a drift gillnet fishing period;
5. (5) set gillnet fishing in the special harvest area is exempt from 5 AAC 06.331 (i), (m), (o), and (p);
6. (6) a set gillnet may be set and operated seaward of another set gillnet;
7. (7) a vessel may not have more than 75 fathoms of set gillnet on board the vessel.
(f) The following provisions apply to drift gillnet fishing in the special harvest area:
1. (1) not more than 75 fathoms of drift gillnet may be used to take salmon;
2. (2) a CFEC permit holder may not use more than one gillnet to take salmon at any time;
3. (3) a vessel may not have more than 150 fathoms of drift gillnet on board the vessel;
(g) Beginning July 17, 2025, when the Naknek-Kvichak District is open to commercial fishing in the special harvest area the commissioner may establish, by emergency order, new fishing periods other than the periods set out under 5 AAC 06.320(c), during which the requirements for reregistration and the 48-hour transfer notification period set out under 5 AAC 06.370 will apply.