NEW SE shellfish regs

[SEOceanking]

Its looking like we are going to be limited to 3 quarts (less than 1 gal.) Of shrimp for our limit in SE this year?? and 3 dungies per trip??? Anyone else here that?? Maybe I heard wrong and this is bogus or for nonresidents only? Anyone know anything?? 3 quarts of shrimp with heads on is not a lot of shrimp A beer or two's worth at most!

[270ti]

Oh man I hope that's not true! I'll make a few calls.

[martenpine]

I hadn't heard that but if you are a resident of Klawock; Federal subsistence regs should cover you for your personel needs. Like I said I haven't heard of this but it probably is derived from the "grumble" locals have from charters, transporters & guides harvesting with their clients. I'm sure the rest will comment with more facts.

[270ti]

Just got off the phone with fish and game. It's true. Sucks to be a resident sportfisherman, eh?

They also admitted the comm shrimping has been open ALL winter (oct -now) on the inside waters, and several shrimpers have been hitting it hard with over 100 pots each. hmmm... that doesn't make much sense!

I'll go in tomorrow and complain in person.

[270ti]

I hadn't heard that but if you are a resident of Klawock; Federal subsistence regs should cover you for your personel needs. Like I said I haven't heard of this but it probably is derived from the "grumble" locals have from charters, transporters & guides harvesting with their clients. I'm sure the rest will comment with more facts.

I've never heard of "Subsistence Shellfish" for SE AK. I just looked in the 2008-2009 Shellfish Subsistence regulations for South East Alaska and it says "No marine waters are currently identified for Federal Subsistence management jurisdiction".

I hope I'm wrong..

[270ti]

Ok, after being transferred 5 times by the fish and game and finally working my way to the top of the F&G food chain, I found out that Alaska Residents are safe.

The "Sport Fish" regs have been changed to 3 quarts of shrimp and 3 crabs.

"Personal Use" is remaining the same. (You must be a AK resident to be entitled to "Personal Use".

Nothing changes for the residents, non residents are cut back.

[Larsenvega]

How long until the new regs are released? I know that they'll take effect on the 15th of April, but don't remember how early they hit the stands. :confused:

[Dr.No]

My understanding is that the regulation changes concerning crab only apply to non-resident sport. I'm not sure about about shrimping...

I would like to point out that the sponsor of these regulations were sponsored by your friendly regional commfish special interest group: SEAFA (Southeast Alaska Fisherman's Alliance)

To get an idea of some of the regulations they thought were a good idea for the rest of us, check out their website...

http://www.seafa.org/

[CanCanCase]

Come on Kathy... give us your comments about why this is necessary...!!!

(For those of you who don't know, Kathy Hansen is (or was?) the president and "ring leader" of SEAFA. Kathy Hansen is also a halibut IFQ holder who leases much of her quota to others to fish - she's the one who authored most of the current charter catch sharing plan... (sure, she'll lease her IFQ to the sportsmen and charters!)

Kathy also regularly posts here, so I'd like to hear directly from her why SEAFA felt limiting sport fish shrimp and crab so much was necessary to protect the resource when the comfish crews have been working so hard and open so long...

-Case

[DRIFTER_016]

As an ousidr the more I hear about how the commercial fishermen in Alaska are, the more disappointed I get. It seems to me that they have huge MINE MINE MINE attitude like a bunch of little kids that don't want to share their toys. How many shrimp and crab can the sport fishers take, enough to thrash the fishery...........................NOT!!!! The commercial fishermen are coming off as greedy tyrants and need to learn to share the resource with ALL STAKEHOLDERS!!!!

Rant Over :rolleyes:

For Now

[Gundog]

This is really bad news for me as a non resident who travels to Alaska to fish, crab & shrimp as a sportsman I spend a lot of money while I am there much more per pound for the amount of take for the residents of Alaska than the commercials generate from the same amount of take.

The 4 of us will spend between $6000 - $8000 most of it inside Alaska for our trip our take is not very big and yet they want to make it even smaller soon it will not be worth the trip if they keep this up. I wonder how long before they go after the residents sport take also?

I am not against commercial fishing at all but I really think they are responsible for the over fishing with their huge takes. The more technology they use in their fishing makes them more proficient and removes more of the resource something will need to change soon. Going after meager takes of sport fisherman is not the answer especially with today’s economy.
Mike

[ak_powder_monkey]

a 10 fold increase in charter boats and a decrease is commercial fishermen doesn't lend to the theory of commerical overfishing

[270ti]

a 10 fold increase in charter boats and a decrease is commercial fishermen doesn't lend to the theory of commercial overfishing

10 fold increase? Since when? 1990? I have seen the number of charter boats decline over the last 5 years. (It seemed they peaked in 2004. Wait and see what happens to the charter industry with these economic times. It's gonna look like a ghost town out there on the grounds.

In my area, I'm not aware of any lodges that target shrimp with clients. I do know of some non-residents who come up and have summer homes who do some shrimping. **** shame that they are getting cut back like that. As I said before, the commercial guys have had a very long season on the inside waters this year, as most of them chose to not participate because the price was so low.

[DRIFTER_016]

a 10 fold increase in charter boats and a decrease is commercial fishermen doesn't lend to the theory of commerical overfishing

HMMMMMMMMMMM..............I wasn't aware that you could go out on Shrimp Charters in Alaska. That must be like watching paint dry. :rolleyes:

[270ti]

The charter fishermen in Sitka in 2008 averaged 1.1 fish boxes per person. (it's taxed, so it's counted) Not the "raping" that some are claiming...