Unless otherwise specified in 5 AAC 31 - 5 AAC 38,

1. (1) in a Tanner crab registration area, or with respect to Registration Area J, in a district of Registration Area J,

   1. (A) a person or vessel that operates commercial, subsistence, sport, or personal use pots, during the 14 days immediately before the opening of the commercial Tanner crab season may not participate in the commercial Tanner crab fishery in the Tanner crab registration area where the fishing with pots occurred, except that a person or vessel is not disqualified from the commercial Tanner crab fishery by placing the vessel's Tanner crab pots in storage, as specified in 5 AAC 35.052;

   2. (B) a person or vessel that participates in a commercial Tanner crab fishery may not operate commercial, subsistence, sport, or personal use pots in that registration area during the 14 days after the close of the commercial Tanner crab season, except a vessel or person may operate other commercial pots in that registration area after

      1. (i) placing the vessel's Tanner crab pots in storage, as specified in 5 AAC 35.052; and
      2. (ii) the vessel owner, or the owner's agent, contacts a representative of the department, in person, and requests that the Tanner crab registration be invalidated; unless the registration is already invalidated under 5 AAC 35.020(k).

2. (2) during a commercial Tanner crab fishery, a person or vessel validly registered for that fishery may not operate commercial, subsistence, sport, or personal use pots other than commercial Tanner crab pots, except that a person or vessel may stop participating in the commercial Tanner crab fishery and instead operate commercial pots other than Tanner crab pots if

   1. (A) the vessel's Tanner crab pots are put in storage as specified in 5 AAC 35.052; and
   2. (B) the vessel owner, or the owner's agent, contacts a representative of the department, in person, and requests that the Tanner crab registration be invalidated.

(Eff. 9/29/96, Register 139; am 9/30/99, Register 151; am 8/24/2002, Register 163; am 9/19/2019, Register 231)