1. (a) The intent of this management plan is to distribute the harvest of hatchery-produced salmon in the area described in (b) of this section between the purse seine, drift gillnet, and troll fleets.

2. (b) The department, in consultation with the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association (NSRAA), shall open and close, by emergency order, fishing seasons and periods to manage the waters of Deep Inlet, Aleutkina Bay, and contiguous waters south of a line from a point west of Pirate Cove at 56° 59.35' N. lat., 135° 22.63' W. long., to the westernmost tip of Long Island at 56° 59.98' N. lat., 135° 21.93' W. long., to the easternmost tip of Long Island at 56° 59.95' N. lat., 135° 20.37' W. long., to the westernmost tip of Emgeten Island at 57° 00.08' N. lat., 135° 20.01' W. long., to the westernmost tip of Error Island at 57° 00.54' N. lat., 135° 19.50' W. long., to the westernmost tip of Berry Island at 57° 00.32' N. lat., 135° 18.68' W. long., to the southernmost tip of Berry Island at 57° 00.28' N. lat., 135° 18.52' W. long., to the westernmost tip of the southernmost island in the Kutchuma Island group at 57° 00.14' N. lat., 135° 18.27' W. long., to the easternmost tip of the southernmost island in the Kutchuma Island group at 57° 00.06' N. lat., 135° 17.95' W. long., to the westernmost tip of an unnamed island at 57° 00.29' N. lat., 135° 17.66' W. long., to a point on the southern side of the unnamed island at 57° 00.07' N. lat., 135° 16.80' W. long., and then to a point on the Baranof Island shore at 56° 59.93' N. lat., 135° 16.53' W. long., as follows:

   1. (1) salmon may be taken by purse seines and drift gillnets only during periods established by emergency order, as follows:

      1. (A) openings for seines and gillnets must be rotated between net gear groups; the department, in consultation with NSRAA, shall close fishing between openings;
      2. (B) the time ratio for gillnet openings to seine openings is one to one;
   2. (2) salmon may be taken by troll gear when the waters described in this subsection are closed to commercial net gear;
   3. (3) the commissioner may close the seasons in the waters described in this subsection to trolling during hatchery cost recovery periods;
   4. (4) before July 1, in order to protect local sockeye salmon stocks, the commissioner may, by emergency order, close the fishing season and immediately reopen the fishing season during which the minimum mesh size of a gillnet in the drift gillnet fishery is six inches.
3. (c) A drift gillnet operated in the terminal harvest area may not exceed 200 fathoms in length.
4. (d) The waters described in (b) of this section, west of 135° 20.75' W. long., will be closed to purse seine and drift gillnet gear beginning with the first emergency order of the season through the third Saturday in June.

(Eff. 4/30/91, Register 118; am 4/23/94, Register 130; am 6/28/97, Register 142; am 6/14/2000, Register 154; am 3/11/2001, Register 157; am 5/26/2006, Register 178; am 5/31/2009, Register 190; am 7/13/2012, Register 203; am 5/9/2015, Register 214; am 6/17/2018, Register 226; am 4/23/2021, Register 238; am 10/16/2022, Register 244; am 11/10/2024, Register 252)

Authority: AS 16.05.060, AS 16.05.251