Alaska Administrative Code › Title 5 - Fish and Game › Part 1 - Commercial and Subsistence Fishing and Private Nonprofit Salmon Hatcheries › Chapter 39 - General Provisions › Article 6 - Shellfish Fishery › 5 AAC 39.645 - Shellfish onboard observer program

Current through May 31, 2024
(a) The Board of
				  Fisheries (board) finds that onboard observers provide the only effective means
				  of collecting essential biological and management data from catcher-processor
				  and floating processor vessels that process shellfish, and from an adequate
				  number of catcher vessels that take shellfish in the commercial fisheries
				  described in (d) of this section. These data are necessary to achieve the
				  requirements set out in (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the federal Fisheries
				  Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crab, dated
				  July 18, 1998, including the sustained yield of the shellfish resource without
				  overfishing. The department has traditionally collected essential biological
				  and management data at the point of shoreside landing immediately before
				  processing. The evolution to processing by catcher-processor and floating
				  processor vessels in particular fisheries, and the lack of an adequate number
				  of catcher-processor vessels in particular Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands crab
				  fisheries that are required by this section to have an on board observer on
				  board the vessel, has seriously eroded the department's ability to adequately
				  monitor harvests, assess the amount and type of by catch occurring in the
				  fisheries, and collect biological data for inseason management. Onboard
				  observers are the only practical data-gathering mechanism for these fisheries
				  without unduly disrupting the operation of these fisheries.
(b) Further, the board finds that, in
				  particular shellfish fisheries, onboard observers provide the only effective
				  means to enforce regulations that protect the shellfish resource. The board
				  finds that catcher-processor catch statistics have clearly demonstrated that
				  some operators of these vessels have routinely failed to comply with king and
				  Tanner crab size limit regulations. Without onboard observer coverage, sublegal
				  and female crab might be taken and processed immediately, making enforcement of
				  size and sex regulations impossible.
(c) The cost of providing these onboard
				  observers for catcher vessels and at-sea processors in the commercial Bering
				  Sea and Aleutian Islands registration areas crab and special permit fisheries,
				  excluding the Norton Sound and Kotzebue Sound Sections, will be borne by the
				  department through the harvest and sale of crab or will be borne directly by
				  the vessel. The costs of the observer requirements for catcher-processor
				  vessels that retain processed crab after the close of a fishery, under
				  5 AAC 34.031(e) (4) and
				  5 AAC 35.031(c) (4), shall be borne by
				  the vessel. In those cases, the cost for the department-approved observer shall
				  be borne by the vessel. The department will have full authority and
				  responsibility for deploying onboard observers on any vessel participating in
				  the commercial Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Area crab fisheries, or any
				  fisheries conducted under a commissioner's permit, as necessary for fishery
				  management and data-gathering needs. No acceptable management alternatives
				  exist other than disallowing operation of a vessel that is required, but
				  refuses to cooperate with an onboard observer program. The onboard observer
				  program set out in this section is compatible with and complementary to the
				  existing observer programs of other agencies.
(d) Based on the findings in (a) - (c) of
				  this section, the department shall institute a mandatory onboard observer
				  program, as follows:
(1) for all vessels that
				  process Tanner crab, red king crab, blue king crab, or golden king crab, a
				  department approved crab fishery onboard observer must be on board the vessel
				  and acting in the capacity of a crab fishery onboard observer for 100 percent
				  of the time that the vessel is acting in the capacity of a catcher-processor or
				  a floating processor;
(2) the
				  department shall require onboard observers for an adequate number of catcher
				  vessels, or during the harvest of a percentage of the total harvest weight of
				  each catcher vessel, participating in the rationalized Bering Sea/Aleutian
				  Islands commercial crab fisheries harvesting IFQ, CDQ, or the Adak community
				  allocation;
(3) the Bering
				  Sea/Aleutian Islands rationalized crab fisheries where IFQ, CDQ, or the Adak
				  community allocation are established include
(A) Registration Area O (Aleutian Islands)
				  golden king crab, Registration Area O red king crab (west of 179° W.
				  long.), Registration Area T (Bristol Bay) red king crab, Registration Area Q
				  (Bering Sea) Pribil of District red and blue king crab, Registration Area Q St.
				  Matthew Island Section of the Northern District blue king crab; and
(B) Registration Area J (Westward), Bering
				  Sea District C. opilio (snow crab) and C. bairdi Tanner crab, excluding the
				  Norton Sound Section;
(4) to meet catcher vessel observer coverage
				  requirements, a department approved crab fishery onboard observer must be on
				  board the catcher vessel and acting in the capacity of a crab onboard observer
				  in the following registration areas during the following prescribed time
				  periods:
(A) for Registration Area O
				  (Aleutian Islands),
(i) repealed
				  6/17/2018;
(ii) during harvest of
				  50 percent of the total golden king crab weight harvested by each catcher
				  vessel while operating fishing gear east of 174° W. long., through May 15,
				  2015, during each of the three trimesters dated August 15 through November 15,
				  November 16 through February 15, and February 16 through May 15, during each
				  registration year, and beginning August 1, 2015, during each of the three
				  trimesters dated August 1 through October 31, November 1 through January 31,
				  and February 1 through April 30, during each registration year; and
(iii) repealed 6/17/2018;
(iv) during harvest of 50 percent of the
				  total golden king crab weight harvested by each catcher vessel while operating
				  fishing gear east of 174° w. long., during each of three trimesters dated
				  August 1 through October 31, November 1 through January 31, and February 1
				  through April 30, during each registration year; and
(v) during harvest of 50 percent of the total
				  golden king crab weight harvested by each catcher vessel while operating
				  fishing gear west of 174° W. long., during each of three trimesters dated
				  August 1 through October 31, November 1 through January 31, and February 1
				  through April 30, during each registration year;
(B) for Registration Area Q (Bering Sea),
(i) during harvest of 100 percent of the
				  total red and blue king crab weight harvested by each catcher vessel while
				  operating fishing gear in the Pribilof District, during each registration year;
				  and
(ii) during harvest of 100
				  percent of the total blue king crab weight harvested by each catcher vessel
				  while operating fishing gear in the St. Matthew Island Section of the Northern
				  District, during each registration year;
(C) for Registration Area T (Bristol Bay),
				  during harvest of 20 percent of the total red king crab weight harvested by
				  each catcher vessel while operating fishing gear, during each registration
				  year, or the department may randomly select 20 percent of the catcher vessels
				  harvesting Bristol Bay red king crab to carry onboard observers for 100 percent
				  of the fishing time of each selected catcher vessel;
(D) for Tanner crab Registration Area J
				  (Westward), Bering Sea District,
(i) during
				  harvest of 30 percent of the total
C. opilio
(snow crab)
				  weight harvested by each catcher vessel while operating fishing gear, during
				  each registration year, or during a period when the department randomly selects
				  between 30 percent and 100 percent of the catcher vessels harvesting Bering Sea
				  C. opilio (snow crab) to carry onboard observers for 100 percent of the fishing
				  time of each selected catcher vessel; and
(ii) during harvest of 30 percent of the
				  total
C. bairdi
Tanner crab weight harvested on each catcher
				  vessel while operating fishing gear during each registration year or during a
				  period when the department randomly selects between 30 percent and 100 percent
				  of the catcher vessels engaged in directed harvest of
C.
				  bairdi
Tanner crab to carry onboard observers for 100 percent of the
				  fishing time of each selected catcher vessel, unless a catcher vessel harvests
				  C. bairdi Tanner crab as incidental catch during directed fishing for either
				  Bristol Bay red king crab or Bering Sea snow crab, where observer coverage
				  requirements for those directed fisheries would apply to the Tanner crab
				  incidental harvest;
(5) onboard observers are required for the
				  number of catcher vessels that the department determines are adequate to
				  participate in the non-IFQ, non-CDQ, or non-Adak community allocation
				  commercial crab fisheries that take shellfish in the following Bering
				  Sea/Aleutian Islands shellfish fisheries:
(A)
				  Registration Area O (Aleutian Islands), red king crab fishery east of 179°
				  W. long.;
(B) Registration Area J
				  (Eastern Aleutian and Western Aleutian Districts), Tanner crab fishery;
(C) Registration Area J
				  (Westward), hair crab, snails, or other miscellaneous shellfish commercial
				  fisheries that require a permit issued by the commissioner under
				  5 AAC 38.062;
(6) for vessels that take red or blue king
				  crab in the Norton Sound Section of Registration Area Q, the department may
				  require onboard observers on selected vessels;
(7) for vessels that take red or blue king
				  crab in the Kotzebue Sound Section of Registration Area Q, the department may
				  require onboard observers on selected vessels;
(8) the department may waive the onboard
				  observer requirement for a vessel that processes crab at a place where a
				  department sampler is located, if the sampler has reasonable access to the
				  vessel and if the vessel is tied to a dock; all other vessel requirements
				  remain in effect; the department may also waive the onboard observer
				  requirement when an observer is taken ill or is injured while on board the
				  vessel and is unable to function, or when in the judgment of the department the
				  observer is unavailable despite the good faith effort of the vessel operator
				  and for a reason that is beyond the control of the vessel operator; a request
				  for a waiver and all supporting documentation must be submitted in writing;
(9) the department may place a
				  representative of the department on board a processing vessel to perform tank
				  inspections, or to verify the performance of an observer, without waiving the
				  observer requirement.