Section 5 AAC 77.674 - Personal use bottomfish fisheryIn the personal use taking of bottomfish
(1) bottomfish may be taken at any time, except lingcod may not be taken from December 1 through May 15;(2) except sablefish, bottomfish may be taken for personal use only by longline or hand held line; for all bottomfish, unattended gear must be marked as described in 5 AAC 77.010(d);(3) there are no daily bag or possession limits, except that (A) in the Sitka vicinity: (i) in Sitka Sound Special Use Area, which is that area of Sitka Sound enclosed on the north by lines from Kruzof Island at 57º 20.50' N. lat., 135º 45.17' W. long. to Chichagof Island at 57º 22.05' N. lat., 135º 43' W. long., and from Chichagof Island at 57º 22.58' N. lat., 135º 41.30' W. long. to Baranof Island at 57º 22.28' N. lat., 135º 40.95' W. long., and on the south and west by a line running from the southernmost tip of Sitka Point at 56º 59.38' N. lat., 135º 49.57' W. long. to Hanus Point at 56º 51.92' N. lat., 135º 30.50' W. long. to the green day marker in Dorothy Narrows to Baranof Island at 56º 49.28' N. lat., 135º 22.60' W. long., the daily possession limit for rockfish is three fish, of which no more than one may be a yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes ruberrimus);(ii) the waters off Cape Edgecumbe enclosed by a box defined as 56º 55.5' N. lat. and 56º 57' N. lat., and 135º 54' W. long. and 135º 57' W. long., are closed to fishing for all species of bottomfish;(B) in the Ketchikan vicinity: in all waters of Section 1-E south of the latitude of Bushy Point Light and in the waters of Section 1-F north of lines from Point Alava to the southernmost tip of Ham Island, from Cedar Point to Dall Head, and from Dall Head to a point on the District 1 boundary in Clarence Strait at the latitude of Dall Head, the bag and possession limit for rockfish is three fish, no more than one of which may be yelloweye rockfish (Sebastes rubberrimus);(C) there is an annual limit for sablefish per household permit and a vessel limit as described in ( 6) of this section;(4) a person on board a vessel from which a longline was used to take bottomfish for personal use in the Northern Southeast Inside Subdistrict or the Southern Southeast Inside Subdistrict is subject to the restrictions in 5 AAC 28.180;(5) bottomfish taken under personal use regulations may not be used as bait in a commercial fishery;(6) sablefish may be taken for personal use only by pot, longline, or hand held line and only as follows: (A) a personal use fishing permit issued by the department under 5 AAC 77.015 is required to take sablefish; the department will issue only one sablefish personal use fishing permit per household per year; (B) a permit holder shall record sablefish harvest information on harvest recording forms provided by the department; there is an annual limit of 50 sablefish per household permit;(C) a permit holder's longline gear (i) may not have attached more than 350 hooks in the aggregate; and (ii) must be marked as specified in (2) of this section;(D) no more than 200 personal use sablefish may be retained on board a vessel when four or more sablefish personal use permit holders are present on board that vessel.(E) a permit holder's pot gear (i) may not exceed two pots per permit holder or eight pots per vessel when four or more permit holders are present;(ii) may not be longlined; and(iii) must have, for each pot, at least two circular escape rings with a minimum inside diameter of three and three-fourths inches installed on opposing vertical or sloping walls and must have individual tunnel eye openings with perimeters of 36 inches or less.Eff. 6/25/89, Register 110; am 4/23/98, Register 146; am 6/3/2000, Register 154; am 3/11/2001, Register 157; am 5/26/2006, Register 178; am 7/13/ 2012, Register 203; am 5/9/2015, Register 214, July 2015; am 6/17/2018, Register 226, July 2018; am 9/25/2022, Register 243, October 2022