Section 5 AAC 28.087 - Management measures in parallel groundfish fisheries for protection of Steller sea lions(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, in managing the parallel groundfish fisheries, the commissioner may open and close, by emergency order, fishing seasons during which area closures, gear restrictions, vessel size limits, reporting, monitoring, and enforcement requirements may be imposed to match federal fishery management measures for the protection of Steller sea lions.(b) Notwithstanding (a) of this section, during a parallel season for Pacific cod (1) in the Kodiak Area, the waters within three nautical miles of the Steller sea lion haul out at Cape Barnabas (57º 10.20' N. lat., 152º 53.05' W. long.) shall be open to pot and mechanical jigging machine gear;(2) in the South Alaska Peninsula Area, the waters within three nautical miles of the Steller sea lion haul out at Caton Island (54º 22.70' N. lat., 162º 21.30' W. long.) shall be open to pot and mechanical jigging machine gear; and(3) in the Bering Sea - Aleutian Islands Area, the state waters between 175º W. long. and 178º W. long. shall be open to fishing with trawl, pot, mechanical jigging machine, and hand troll gear by vessels that are no more than 60 feet in overall length, and to fishing with longline gear by vessels that are no more than 58 feet in overall length, of which the Steller sea lion protection measures found in Table 5 to 50 C.F.R. 679, (69 Federal Register 75865, December 20, 2004) apply, except that all waters within three nautical miles of the Steller sea lion site at Kanaga Island/Ship Rock at 51º 46.70' N. lat., 177º 20.72' W. long. are closed to the taking of Pacific cod; for the purposes of this paragraph, "overall length" means the straight line length between extremities of the vessel, excluding anchor rollers.(4) in the Chignik Area, the state waters within 20 nautical miles of the Steller sea lion haul out at Sutwik Island (56° 31.05' N. lat., 157° 20.47' W. long.) shall be open to pot gear, except for waters within three nautical miles of the Steller sea lion haul out at Sutwik Island (56° 31.05' N. lat., 157° 20.47' W. long.).(c) In state waters west of 144º W. long., a vessel participating in a parallel groundfish fishery must have on board the vessel an activated vessel monitoring system (VMS) approved by the National Marine Fisheries Service. A vessel using only mechanical jigging machines, hand troll gear, or dinglebar troll gear is not required to have a VMS on board the vessel.(d) For the purposes of this section, "parallel groundfish fisheries" means the Pacific cod, walleye pollock, and Atka mackerel fisheries in state waters opened by the commissioner, under emergency order authority, to correspond with the times, area, and unless otherwise specified, the gear of the federal season in adjacent federal waters.Eff. 1/3/2002, Register 161; am 8/18/2002, Register 163; am 12/29/2002, Register 164; am 4/24/2009, Register 190; am 5/31/2009, Register 190; am 1/20/2011, Register 197; am 6/17/2011, Register 198; am 7/22/2017,Register 223, October 2017As of Register 190, April 24, 2009, the section heading for 5 AAC 28.087 was changed to more accurately reflect the majority of the substance of the section. Concurrently, a new section 5 AAC 28.086, was enacted that took the previous section heading for 5 AAC 28.087 and those portions that related to the management of parallel groundfish fisheries.
Authority:AS 16.05.060
AS 16.05.251