5 AAC 06.358. Wood River Sockeye Salmon Special Harvest Area Management Plan

(a) The goal of this plan is to achieve Nushagak River coho salmon spawning escapement, while providing opportunities to harvest Wood River sockeye salmon stocks that are in excess of spawning goals. It is the intent of the Board of Fisheries (board) that salmon in the Nushagak District should be harvested in the fisheries that have historically harvested them, including the methods, means, times, and locations of those fisheries, using the best biological management techniques and practices. This plan has been adopted to provide management alternatives that may be used by the department when differences in salmon run strengths would otherwise preclude the achievement of the goal of this plan.

(b) The Wood River Special Harvest Area consists of the waters of the Wood River from a line between ADF&G regulatory markers located at 59ø 06.05' N. lat., 158ø 29.30' W. long. (Hansen Point) and 59ø 06.29' N. lat., 158ø 28.84' W. long. (across from Hansen Point), upstream to a line between ADF&G regulatory markers located at 59ø 09.71' N. lat., 158ø 32.61' W. long. (on the west shore downstream of the Muklung River) and 59ø 09.78' N. lat., 158ø 31.99' W. long. (on the east shore downstream of the Muklung River), and from a line between ADF&G regulatory markers located at 59ø 10.44' N. lat., 158ø 31.73' W. long. (west shore upstream of the Muklung River) and 59ø 10.23' N. lat., 158ø 31.43' W. long. (east shore upstream of the Muklung River), upstream to a line between ADF&G regulatory markers located at 59ø 12.26' N. lat., 158ø 33.34' W. long. (west shore downstream of Silver Salmon Creek) and 59ø 12.20' N. lat., 158ø 33.12' W. long. (east shore downstream of Silver Salmon Creek).

(1) when the department projects that the sockeye salmon escapement into the Wood River will exceed 700,000 fish and as follows:

(A) if the preseason forecast for the Nushagak River sockeye salmon run is at least 1,000,000 fish, the department shall manage the Nushagak District to exceed a minimum biological escapement goal of 340,000 sockeye salmon to the Nushagak River, and the commissioner may open the Wood River Special Harvest Area only when department projections indicate the Nushagak River sockeye salmon escapement will not exceed 340,000 fish;

(B) if the preseason forecast for the Nushagak River sockeye salmon run is less than 1,000,000 fish and the ratio of Wood River to Nushagak River sockeye salmon is projected to be greater than three to one, the department shall manage the Nushagak District for an optimal escapement goal of at least 235,000 sockeye salmon to the Nushagak River, and the commissioner may open the Wood River Special Harvest Area only when department projections indicate the Nushagak River sockeye salmon escapement will be less than 235,000 fish;

(C) if the inseason forecast prepared by the department during the first week of July for the Nushagak River sockeye salmon run is at least 1,000,000 fish, the department shall manage the Nushagak District to exceed a minimum biological escapement goal of 340,000 sockeye salmon to the Nushagak River, and the commissioner may open the Wood River Special Harvest Area only when department projections indicate the Nushagak River sockeye salmon escapement will be less than 340,000 fish;

(D) if the inseason forecast prepared by the department during the first week of July for the Nushagak River sockeye salmon run is less than 1,000,000 fish, the department shall manage the Nushagak District for an optimal escapement goal of at least 235,000 sockeye salmon to the Nushagak River, and the commissioner may open the Wood River Special Harvest Area only when department projections indicate the Nushagak River sockeye salmon escapement will be less than 235,000 fish;

(2) when the escapement goal for Wood River sockeye salmon has been achieved and commercial fishing in the Nushagak Section of the Nushagak District is closed to conserve coho salmon in the Nushagak River as specified in 06.368(d).

(d) When the Wood River Special Harvest Area is open under this section, the following apply within the open waters:

(1) set gillnets may be operated only as follows:

(A) a set gillnet may not exceed 25 fathoms in length;

(B) a set gillnet may not be set or operated within 150 feet of another set gillnet;

(C) a person may not place any part of a set gillnet, anchor, peg, stake, buoy, or other device to set the gillnet, more than 250 feet from the terrestrial vegetation line of a bank of the Wood River, during the operation of the set gillnet; for purposes of this section "a bank of the Wood River" does not include the banks of any island of the Wood River;

(D) a set gillnet must be operated in a substantially straight line perpendicular to the nearest bank of the Wood River;

(E) a person may not have more than 50 fathoms of set gillnet on board a vessel;

(2) drift gillnets may be operated only as follows:

(A) no more than 75 fathoms of drift gillnet may be used to take salmon;

(B) a drift gillnet may not be operated shoreward of the offshore end of a set gillnet;

(D) a person may not have more than 150 fathoms of drift gillnet on board a vessel;

(3) a CFEC setnet permit holder may not use more than one site to take salmon at any one time.

(4) notwithstanding 5 AAC 39.240, a person operating a commercial salmon fishing vessel in the Wood River Sockeye Salmon Special Harvest Area may carry additional drift or set gillnet gear onboard the fishing vessel if the additional gear is stored in a net bag or in a brailer bag; for the purposes of this paragraph a "brailer bag" means a bag-shaped net on board a drift gillnet vessel used to lift fish from the hold of the vessel into a tender vessel, processing vessel, or processing facility.

(e) The commercial salmon fishery in the Wood River Special Harvest Area may be opened only during closures of the subsistence salmon fisheries within the Wood River Special Harvest Area.

History: Eff. 5/24/96, Register 138; am 5/14/98, Register 146; am 6/23/99, Register 150; am 6/22/2001, Register 158; am 12/29/2002, Register 164

Authority: AS 16.05.060

AS 16.05.251

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