The Alaska Board of Fisheries adopted several proposals establishing new sport, personal use, and subsistence fishing regulations for shellfish in Cook Inlet, North Gulf Coast, and Prince William Sound salt waters at its March 2022 meeting. They include the following:
Prince William Sound Shrimp Fishery
- Adopted a reporting requirement on Prince William Sounds sport & subsistence shrimp permits.
- Individuals that fail to report harvest by October 15 will be denied a permit the following season unless they return harvest information and demonstrate that the failure to report was due to unavoidable circumstances.
Squid
- Adopted new statewide sport fishing regulations for fishing squid. In addition to taking squid with traditional sport gear, squid may be taken with up to two squid jigs attached to a single line. A squid jig is defined as an artificial lure that consists of barbless hook clusters. The jig configuration may not exceed 24 inches in total length.
Kachemak Bay, Cook Inlet, & North Gulf Coast Hardshell Clams
- In all Cook Inlet and North Gulf Coast waters including Kachemak Bay, the sport and personal use fisheries for hardshell clams (butter and littleneck clams) are now closed.
- In the Cook Inlet area, the bag and possession limits of hardshell clams in the subsistence fishery were reduced from 80 to 40 clams in combination.
West Cook Inlet & North Gulf Coast Razor Clams
- Established a bag and possession limit of 10 gallons in the sport and personal use fisheries.
- Clammers are also now required to keep all clams dug to prevent wastage.
East Cook Inlet Razor Clams
- Adopted a management plan for the sport and personal use fisheries, that included:
- Divided east Cook Inlet into two management areas with the northern area assessed with Clam Gulch abundance data and the southern area being assessed with Ninilchik data.
- Identified adult abundance thresholds necessary to open the new limited fishery and historical fishery in each management area.
- Created a limited fishery with a bag limit of 30, a season of May through October, and a total harvest identified as 10% of the adult abundance dependent on survey results.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will be conducting razor clam abundance surveys at Clam Gulch and Ninilchik from mid-April through mid-May and will announce later in May if adult abundances are sufficient to open the new limited fishery.
For more information, contact Homer Area Management Biologist Mike Booz (907) 235-8191 or Prince William Sound Area Management Biologist Jay Baumer at (907) 267-2265.