Alaska Admin. Code tit. 5, § 28.230 – Lawful gear for Prince William Sound Area

(a) Repealed 4/7/93.
(b) Groundfish taken incidentally by drift gillnet gear operated for salmon consistent with applicable state laws and regulations are legally taken and possessed.
(c) A groundfish pot may be attached to a line connected to another groundfish pot. Groundfish pots may be connected if each end of the buoy line is marked as specified in 5 AAC 28.050.
(d) Repealed 6/25/2023.
(e) Repealed 4/4/97.
(f) In the Prince William Sound Area, nonpelagic trawl gear may not be used to take groundfish, except that sablefish may be taken with shrimp trawl gear operated as specified in 5 AAC 31.225(b).
(g) Notwithstanding (f) of this section, a person operating a vessel that is validly registered to fish for shrimp with trawls may retain a bycatch limit of groundfish taken during the shrimp fishing season. The bycatch limit that may be retained under this subsection may not exceed 10 percent of the gross weight of the shrimp landed.
(h) In the Prince William Sound Area, a mechanical jigging machine used to take groundfish may not have more than
1. (1) five lines; and
2. (2) 30 hooks per line.
(i) In the Prince William Sound Area, the holder of a CFEC permit in a fixed gear or net gear sablefish fishery may use groundfish pots only if two or more pots are connected as specified in (c) of this section.
(j) Except as provided in (k) and (l) of this section, in a ground fish fishery, a person may only have one type of legal gear on board the vessel.
(k) In a groundfish fishery, mechanical jigging machines and hand troll gear may be used at the same time. If mechanical jigging machines and hand troll gear are being used under this subsection, only that gear may be on board the vessel.
(l) In the Prince William Sound sablefish and IFQ halibut fisheries, longlines and pots may be used at the same time. If either longlines or pots are used under this subsection, only longline and pot gear may be on board the vessel.
(m) To conserve groundfish species, the commissioner may close waters of the Prince William Sound area to commercial fishing with specific gear types by emergency order.

(Eff. 7/30/89, Register 111; am 4/7/93, Register 126; am 5/22/94, Register 130; am 4/4/97, Register 142; am 5/31/98, Register 146; am 7/5/2000, Register 155; am 7/1/2006, Register 178; am 7/20/2006, Register 179; am 3/24/2012, Register 201; am 3/29/2015, Register 213; am 3/29/2018, Register 225; am 3/26/2023, Register 245; am 6/25/2023, Register 246; am 6/7/2025, Register 254)

Authority: AS 16.05.060, AS 16.05.251