Section 5 AAC 21.359 - Kenai River Late-Run King Salmon Management Plan(a) The purposes of this management plan are to ensure an adequate escapement of late-run king salmon into the Kenai River system and to provide management guidelines to the department. The department shall manage the late-run Kenai River king salmon stocks primarily for sport and guided sport uses in order to provide the sport and guided sport fishermen with a reasonable opportunity to harvest these salmon resources over the entire run, as measured by the frequency of inriver restrictions. The provisions of this management plan are in effect from June 20 through August 15.(b) The department shall manage the late run of Kenai River king salmon to achieve an optimal escapement goal of 15,000 - 30,000 king almon 75 cm mid eye to tail fork and longer as described in this section. (c) In the sport fishery, (1) if the optimal escapement goal is projected to be exceeded, the commissioner may, by emergency order, extend the sport fishing season up to seven days during the first week of August;(2) from July 1 through July 31, a person may not use more than one single hook in the Kenai River downstream from an ADF&G regulatory marker located at the outlet of Skilak Lake;(3) that portion of the Kenai River downstream from an ADF&G regulatory marker located at the outlet of Skilak Lake is open to unguided sport fishing from a non-motorized vessel on Mondays in July; for purposes of this paragraph, a non-motorized vessel is one that does not have a motor on board;(d) If the projected late-run king salmon escapement is less than 15,000 king salmon 75 cm mid eye to tail fork and longer, the department shall (1) close the sport fisheries in the Kenai River and in the salt waters of Cook Inlet north of the latitude of Bluff Point to the taking of king salmon;(2) close the commercial drift gillnet fishery in the Central District within one mile of the Kenai Peninsula shoreline north of the Kenai River and within one and one-half miles of the Kenai Peninsula shoreline south of the Kenai River; and(3) close the commercial set gillnet fishery in the Upper Subdistrict of the Central District.(e) In order to achieve the optimal escapement goal and provide reasonable harvest opportunity, the commissioner may, by emergency order, establish fishing seasons as follows: (1) in the Kenai River sport fishery, (A) the use of bait is prohibited; (B) the use of bait is prohibited and retention of king salmon 34 inches or greater in length as defined in 5 AAC 75.995(a) is prohibited; or(C) the use of bait and retention of king salmon are prohibited;(2) in the Kenai River personal use fishery, if the use of bait is prohibited in the Kenai River sport fishery under (1) of this subsection, the retention of king salmon is prohibited in the personal use fishery;(3) in the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet commercial fishery, notwithstanding the provisions of 5 AAC 21.360(c)(1)(B), (2)(B), and (3)(B), based on the abundance of sockeye salmon returning to the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers, (A) if the use of bait is prohibited in the Kenai River sport fishery under (1)(A) of this subsection, commercial fishing periods are open for no more than 48 hours per week, with a 36-hour continuous closure per week beginning between 7:00 p.m. Thursday and 7:00 a.m. Friday; (B) if the use of bait and the retention of king salmon greater than 34 inches in length as defined in 5 AAC 75.995(a) are prohibited in the Kenai River sport fishery under (1)(B) of this subsection, commercial fishing periods are open for no more than 36 hours per week, with a 36-hour continuous closure per week beginning between 7:00 p.m. Thursday and 7:00 a.m. Friday:(C) if the use of bait and the retention of king salmon are prohibited in the Kenai River sport fishery under (1)(C) of this subsection, commercial fishing periods are open for no more than 24 hours per week, with a 36-hour continuous closure per week beginning between 7:00 p.m. Thursday and 7:00 a.m. Friday(D) if preseason restrictions are issued for the late-run Kenai River king salmon sport fishery, then all Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fisheries are restricted;(E) if restrictions for the late-mn Kenai River king salmon sport fishery are in effect on July 31, then, beginning August I, Upper Subdistrict set gillnet commercial fishing periods arc open for no more than 36 hours per week; if the Kenai River late-run king salmon sport fishery is not restricted under the provisions of this section, or, after August 1, if the Kenai River late-run king salmon PEG is achieved, the Upper Subdistrict set gillnet fishery will be managed under the provisions of 5 AAC 21.360, Kenai River Late-Run Sockeve Salmon Management Plan;(F) Upper Subdistrict set gillnet commercial fishing periods that are limited under this section may he limited to fishing within 600 feet of the mean high tide mark and are exempt from hour and gear limitations identified under (e)(3)(A)-(E) of this section;(G) if commercial fishing is limited under (e)(3) of this section, the operation of set nets operated by a CFEC permit holder shall be restricted to: (i) up to four set gillnets that are each not more than 35 fathoms in length., 105 fathoms in aggregate length, ;nul 29 meshes in depth, or two set gillnets that are each not more than 35 fathoms in length and 45 meshes in depth; set gillnets used that are not more than 29 meshes hi depth must be identified at the end of the gillnet with an attached hlue buoy that is not less than nine and one-half inches in diameter; or(ii) up to two set gillnets that are each not more than 35 fathoms in length and 29 meshes in depth or one set gillnct that is not more than 35 fathoms in length and 45 meshes in depth; set gillnets used that are not more than 29 meshes in depth must be identified at the end of the gillnet with an attached blue biiov that is not less than nine and one-half inches in diameter.(h) The provisions of (e)(3)(G) of this section do not apply to provisions of the Kasilof River Salmon Management Plan contained in 5 AAC 21.365(f) that pertain to the Kasilof Special Harvest Area. The provisions of (e)(3)(A) - (C) of this section apply to provisions of the Kasilof River Salmon Management Plan contained in 5 AAC 21.365(f) that pertain to the Kasilof River Special Harvest Area.(i) The department will, to the extent practicable, conduct habitat assessments on a schedule that conforms to the Board of Fisheries (board) triennial meeting cycle. If the assessments demonstrate a net loss of riparian habitat caused by noncommercial fishermen, the department is requested to report those findings to the board and submit proposals to the board for appropriate modification of this plan.(j) The commissioner may depart from the provisions of the management plan under this section as provided in 5 AAC 21.363(e).Eff. 6/10/89, Register 110; em am 4/30/91 - 5/30/91, Register 118 [not printed]; am 7/21/91, Register 119; am 5/31/96, Register 138; am 5/14/97, Register 142; am 2/25/98, Register 145; am 6/13/99, Register 150; am 6/22/2002, Register 162; am 6/30/2002, Register 162; am 6/11/2005, Register 174; am 6/4/2008, Register 186; am 6/1/2013, Register 206; am 5/18/2014, Register 210, July 2014; am 6/8/2017,Register 222, July 2017; am 6/21/2020, Register 234, July 2020Authority:AS 16.05.060
AS 16.05.251