Alaska Administrative Code › Title 5 - Fish and Game › Part 1 - Commercial and Subsistence Fishing and Private Nonprofit Salmon Hatcheries › Chapter 39 - General Provisions › Article 1 - General › 5 AAC 39.105 - Types of legal gear

Current through May 31, 2024
(a) All gear shall be operated in a manner
				  conforming to its basic design.
(b)
				  The size of meshes of a gillnet shall be substantially consistent.
(c) All references to mesh size in the
				  regulations are considered to be "stretched measure."
(d) Unless otherwise provided in this title,
				  the following are legal types of gear:
(1) a
				  gillnet is a net primarily designed to catch fish by entanglement in the mesh
				  and consisting of a single sheet of webbing hung between cork line and lead
				  line, and fished from the surface of the water;
(2) a set gillnet is a gillnet that has been
				  intentionally set, staked, anchored, or otherwise fixed;
(3) a drift gillnet is a drifting gillnet
				  that has not been intentionally staked, anchored, or otherwise fixed;
(4) a purse seine is a floating net designed
				  to surround fish and which can be closed at the bottom by means of a
				  free-running line through one or more rings attached to the lead
				  line;
(5) a hand purse seine is a
				  floating net designed to surround fish and which can be closed at the bottom by
				  pursing the lead line; pursing may only be done by hand power, and a
				  free-running line through one or more rings attached to the lead line is not
				  allowed;
(6) a beach seine is a
				  floating net designed to surround fish which is set from and hauled to the
				  beach;
(7) power troll gear
				  consists of a line or lines with lures or baited hooks which are deployed,
				  drawn through the water, and retrieved by means of a power troll gurdy, for
				  which the power source may be hydraulic, electrical or mechanical; power troll
				  gear does not include hand troll gear;
(8) hand troll gear consists of a line or
				  lines with lures or baited hooks which are drawn through the water from a
				  vessel by hand trolling, strip fishing or other types of trolling, and which
				  are retrieved by hand power or hand-powered crank and not by any type of
				  electrical, hydraulic, mechanical or other assisting device or
				  attachment;
(9) a fish wheel is a
				  fixed, rotating device, with no more than four baskets on a single axle, for
				  catching fish which is driven by river current or other means;
(10) a trawl is a bag-shaped net towed
				  through the water to capture fish or shellfish;
(A) a beam trawl is a trawl with a fixed net
				  opening utilizing a wood or metal beam;
(B) an otter trawl is a trawl with a net
				  opening controlled by devices commonly called otter doors;
(C) a pelagic trawl is a trawl where the net,
				  or the trawl doors or other trawl-spreading device, do not operate in contact
				  with the seabed, and which does not have attached to it any protective device,
				  such as chafing gear, rollers, or bobbins, that would make it suitable for
				  fishing in contact with the seabed;
(11) a pot is a portable structure designed
				  and constructed to capture and retain fish and shellfish alive in the
				  water;
(12) a ring net is a
				  bag-shaped net suspended between no more than two frames; the bottom frame may
				  not be larger in perimeter than the top frame; the gear must be non-rigid and
				  collapsible so that when fishing it does not prohibit free movement of fish or
				  shellfish across the top of the net;
(13) a longline is a stationary buoyed or
				  anchored line or a floating, free drifting line with lures or baited hooks
				  attached;
(14) a shovel is a
				  hand-operated implement for digging clams or cockles;
(15) a mechanical clam digger is a mechanical
				  device used or capable of being used for the taking of clams;
(16) a scallop dredge is a dredge-like device
				  designed specifically for and capable of taking scallops by being towed along
				  the ocean floor;
(17) a fyke net is
				  a fixed, funneling (fyke) device used to entrap fish;
(18) a lead is a length of net employed for
				  guiding fish into a seine or set gillnet;
(19) an anchor is a device used to hold a
				  salmon fishing vessel or net in a fixed position relative to the beach; this
				  includes using part of the seine or lead, a ship's anchor or being secured to
				  another vessel or net that is anchored;
(20) a herring pound is an enclosure used
				  primarily to retain herring alive over extended periods of time;
(21) diving gear is any type of hard hat or
				  skin diving equipment including scuba, a tethered, umbilical, surface-supplied
				  system, and a snorkel;
(22) a
				  hydraulic clam digger is a device using water or a combination of air and water
				  to remove clams from their environment;
(23) a grappling hook is a hooked device with
				  flukes or claws and attached to a line and operated by hand;
(24) a dip net is a bag-shaped net supported
				  on all sides by a rigid frame; the maximum straight-line distance between any
				  two points on the net frame, as measured through the net opening, may not
				  exceed five feet; the depth of the bag must be at least one-half of the
				  greatest straight-line distance, as measured through the net opening; no
				  portion of the bag may be constructed of webbing that exceeds a stretched
				  measurement of 4.5 inches; the frame must be attached to a single rigid handle
				  and be operated by hand;
(25) a
				  mechanical jigging machine is a device that deploys a line with lures or baited
				  hooks and retrieves that line with electrical, hydraulic, or mechanically
				  powered assistance; a mechanical jigging machine allows the line to be fished
				  only in the water column; a mechanical jigging machine must be attached to a
				  vessel registered to fish with a mechanical jigging machine; the mechanical
				  jigging machine may not be anchored or operated unattached from the
				  vessel;
(26) an abalone iron is a
				  flat device used for taking abalone and which is more than one inch (24 mm) in
				  width and less than 24 inches (61 cm) in length and with all prying edges
				  rounded and smooth;
(27) a handline
				  is a hand-held line, with one or more hooks attached, which may only be
				  operated manually; a handline is legal gear only for smelt in the Bristol Bay
				  Area, described in
				  5 AAC 06.100;
(28) dinglebar troll gear consists of one or
				  more lines, retrieved and set with a troll gurdy or hand troll gurdy, with a
				  terminally attached weight from which one or more leaders with one or more
				  lures or baited hooks are pulled through the water while a vessel is making
				  way;
(29) a sea urchin rake is a
				  hand-held implement, no longer than four feet, equipped with projecting prongs
				  used to gather sea urchins;
(30) a
				  cast net is a circular net with a mesh size of no more than one and one-half
				  inches and weights attached to the perimeter which, when thrown, surrounds the
				  fish and closes at the bottom when retrieved;
(31) an eel stick consists of a single
				  straight or bent pole, equipped with notches or projecting tines, used to take
				  lamprey through the ice.