- (a) A person or vessel that operates commercial, subsistence, sport, or personal use pots or ring nets, other than commercial shrimp pots or Dungeness crab pots, during the 30 days immediately before the scheduled opening date of the commercial Tanner crab season in Registration Area A may not participate in that Tanner crab fishery.
- (b) Notwithstanding 5 AAC 31.053(d), 5 AAC 32.053(d), and 5 AAC 35.053(2), a person or vessel may operate commercial shrimp pots or Dungeness crab pots during an open Tanner crab season in Registration Area A if the commercial shrimp or Dungeness crab season is open in Registration Area A at the same time as the commercial Tanner crab season.
(c) Notwithstanding 5 AAC 35.053(1), during the 14 days after the close of any portion of the commercial Tanner crab season in Registration Area A, a person or vessel that participated in a commercial Tanner crab fishery may operate commercial, subsistence, sport, or personal use pots in Tanner crab Registration Area A after the person or vessel
- (1) puts Tanner crab pots in storage, as set out under 5 AAC 35.052; and
- (2) invalidates the vessel's Tanner crab registration by contacting, in person, a local representative of the department, unless the registration is already invalid under 5 AAC 35.020(k).
- (d) During the commercial Tanner crab fishery, the operator of a vessel that is validly registered for the commercial Tanner crab fishery may have on board the vessel, or in the water in fishing condition, no more than 30 groundfish pots as defined in 5 AAC 28.050(e) and 5 AAC 39.145(5), to harvest bait as described in 5 AAC 28.190. Tanner crab may not be retained while the vessel is fishing for bait and must be immediately returned to the water unharmed. Buoys attached to the pots must have the word "LP-BAIT" on the top half of the buoy and be marked as set out under 5 AAC 28.050(b)(2). Pots used to harvest bait may be longlined and are exempt from the provisions of 5 AAC 28.050(f)(1).
- (e) Fish retained for use as bait must be recorded on fish tickets as set out under 5 AAC 28.190(5).
(Eff. 9/29/96, Register 139; am 5/8/98, Register 146; am 8/8/99, Register 151; am 6/17/2018, Register 226; am 6/27/2025, Register 254)