Title 16, Fish and Game

(a) Licenses, permits, and tags required under AS 16.05.330 — 16.05.430, except biennial licenses, triennial licenses, the nonresident sport fishing licenses, the resident trapping license, the nonresident anadromous king salmon tags, the waterfowl conservation tag, and permits h…

The department shall annually produce and make available to the public fish and game conservation decals. The department shall, by appropriate means, provide for the selection of designs for fish and game conservation decals and for the production and sale of the decals. The depa…

(a) The commissioner or an authorized deputy shall issue each license and tag to a qualified person under written application containing such reasonable information as required by the commissioner. The commissioner shall designate the license and tag form or type. The form or typ…

(a) The commissioner may require a report to be made by each licensee concerning the time, manner, and place of taking fish and game, the kinds and quantity taken, and other information helpful in administering the fish and game resources of the state. (b) [Repealed, § 18 ch 37 S…

The commissioner may appoint state employees or other persons to take applications, issue licenses, permits, and tags, and collect fees. The commissioner is not liable for defalcation or failure to account for the fees collected by any person so appointed, but the commissioner sh…

(a) Except as provided in (e) of this section, an agent appointed by the commissioner under AS 16.05.380 to sell licenses, permits, and tags is entitled to (1) retain five percent of the fee that is charged for a license, permit, or tag or 25 cents for each license, permit, or ta…

A person may not use a vessel to provide sport fishing services unless the vessel is registered with the department and proof of registration is attached to and clearly visible on the vessel while the vessel is used to provide sport fishing services. The department shall register…

(a) A license is not required of a resident under 18 years of age or a nonresident under 16 years of age for sport fishing nor is a license required of a resident under 18 years of age for hunting or trapping. (b) Upon request, and without charge, the commissioner shall issue a p…

(a) A resident hunting license, a resident sport fishing license, a resident subsistence fishing permit, or a resident personal use fishing permit indicating that the purchaser is blind may be obtained from the department upon payment of the fee prescribed in AS 16.05.330 — 16.05…

(a) The department may transfer or reissue a hunting permit for a hunt that was originally awarded to a resident by drawing established by the Board of Game under AS 16.05.255(a) to a qualified substitute, if the person to whom the hunting permit was originally awarded has died a…

(a) Subject to regulations adopted by the Board of Fisheries or the Board of Game to implement this section, including regulations relating to or restricting seasons, areas, methods and means, and species, a resident may take fish or game harvested primarily for food on behalf of…

(a) It is unlawful for a nonresident to hunt, pursue, or take brown bear, grizzly bear, mountain goat, or sheep in this state, unless personally accompanied by (1) a person who is licensed as (A) a registered guide-outfitter or a master guide-outfitter under AS 08.54 and who is p…

(a) It is a class A misdemeanor for a nonresident alien to hunt, pursue, or take a big game animal as defined by the Board of Game unless personally accompanied by (1) a registered guide-outfitter or a master guide-outfitter licensed under AS 08.54 who is providing big game hunti…

(a) Upon conviction of a person of a first violation of AS 16.05.330 — 16.05.430 or of a federal or state law or regulation for the protection of the sport fish and game of the state, the court may, in addition to the penalty imposed by law, revoke the person's license. (b) Upon …

(a) In AS 16.05.330 — 16.05.430, a person, except as provided in (c) — (f) of this section, is a resident if the person (1) is physically present in the state with the intent to remain in the state indefinitely and to make a home in the state; (2) has maintained the person's domi…

(a) A false statement of a material fact in an application for a license, tag, permit, and sport fishing vessel registration issued under AS 16.05.330 — 16.05.430 voids the license, tag, permit, or registration for which the application is made. (b) A person may not make a false …

(a) Except as provided in AS 16.05.330(f),16.05.407(b) and (d), 16.05.408(b), and 16.05.420(b), a person who violates AS 16.05.330 — 16.05.420 or a regulation adopted under AS 16.05.330 — 16.05.420 is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not more…

Licenses issued under AS 16.05.440 — 16.05.723 expire at the close of December 31 following their issuance or, for licenses that are valid for two years, after December 31 of the year after the year of issuance, and shall be renewed upon application and payment of the license fee…

(a) The commissioner or an authorized agent shall issue a crewmember fishing license under AS 16.05.480 to each qualified person who files a written application at a place in the state designated by the commissioner, containing the reasonable information required by the commissio…

The commissioner may appoint qualified persons as agents to receive applications, issue licenses, and collect license fees under AS 16.05.440 — 16.05.480.

(a) A person appointed by the commissioner to sell licenses under AS 16.05.440 — 16.05.480, except salaried employees of the state, shall retain the sum of 10 percent of the fee for the issuance of a license. An agent shall transmit monthly to the commissioner all license fees co…

(a) A person may not employ a fishing vessel in the water of this state unless it is registered under the laws of the state. Vessels registered under the laws of another state, and persons residing in another state, are not excused from this provision. (b) The term “employ”, as u…

(a) A person engaged in commercial fishing shall obtain a commercial fishing license and shall retain the license in possession and readily available for inspection during fishing operations. An entry permit or interim-use permit entitles the holder to participate as a gear opera…

(a) As a condition to delivery or landing of fish or engaging in commercial fishing in the state, a license is required for a commercial vessel. (b) [Repealed, § 19 ch 105 SLA 1977.] (c) [Repealed, § 19 ch 105 SLA 1977.] (d) [Repealed, § 19 ch 105 SLA 1977.] (e) [Repealed, § 19 c…

A vessel used exclusively for the commercial capture of salmon in commercial salmon administrative management areas that include state water between the latitude of Point Romanof and the latitude of Cape Newenham, and state water surrounding Nunivak Island, or at a set net site, …

A person may not operate a vessel to which AS 16.05.490 — 16.05.530 apply without a vessel license, whether the absence of a vessel license results from initial failure to purchase or from another reason.

(a) The vessel license includes a permanent number plate. The number plate shall be accompanied by a tab affixed to the number plate designating the year to be fished. A number plate is not transferable, and the number plate shall be considered a permanent fixture upon the vessel…

(a) Upon payment of the vessel license fee and filing of the name and address of the owner of the vessel or the owner's authorized agent, the name and number of the vessel, a description of the vessel, the vessel license number, if any, the area to be fished, and other reasonable…

(a) Registration tags for the identification of shellfish pots or buoys, or both, used in the taking of king crab are required in areas in which the board has regulations limiting the total amount of shellfish pots allowed per vessel. Registration tags shall (1) be issued by the …

A person may, by complying with the $5 license requirement of AS 16.05.340(a)(6), take not more than 2,000 pounds each of tom cod, blue cod, smelt, pickerel, white fish, and spider crab a year from waters of the state.

(a) The commissioner may issue without cost a permit to a fishing derby association that has complied with the provisions of AS 05.15.100 — 05.15.180 to sell or offer for sale sport caught fish obtained as a direct result of a fishing derby. (b) In this section “fishing derby ass…

(a) A person who knowingly makes a false statement as to a material fact on an application for a license under AS 16.05.440 — 16.05.660 is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than six months,…

(a) A person may transport and sell commercially taken fish as the agent of the commercial fisherman who caught the fish if the person holds a fish transporter permit issued by the commissioner under this section. (b) The commissioner may issue a fish transporter permit to a natu…

(a) A person who does not hold a limited entry permit or interim-use permit issued under AS 16.43 or a fish transporter permit issued under AS 16.05.671 may not deliver or land fish in the state unless the person (1) holds a valid federal permit to operate commercial fishing gear…

(a) It is unlawful for a person, or an agent or representative of the person, (1) to employ, in the harvesting, transporting, or purchasing of fish, a fisherman who neither is licensed under AS 16.05.480 nor is the holder of a permit issued under AS 16.43; (2) to purchase fish fr…

(a) Crab of any species may not be processed on a commercial crab fishing vessel unless (1) the vessel remains within one registration area from the time the crab is caught to the time of dock delivery; (2) the operator of the vessel notifies the department of proposed changes in…

(a) Each buyer of fish shall keep a record of each purchase showing the name or number of the vessel from which the catch involved is taken, the date of landing, vessel license number, pounds purchased of each species, number of each species, and the Department of Fish and Game s…

(a) Upon the conviction of a person for a misdemeanor or felony violation of a commercial fishing law of this state, in a fishery other than a commercial salmon fishery, the court, in addition to other penalties imposed by law, (1) may suspend one or more of the person's commerci…

(a) A person who without any culpable mental state violates AS 16.05.440 — 16.05.690, or a regulation of the Board of Fisheries or the department governing commercial fishing, is guilty of a violation and upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not more than (1) $3,000 for a f…

(a) A person who negligently violates AS 16.05.440 — 16.05.690, or a regulation of the Board of Fisheries or the department governing commercial fishing, is guilty of a misdemeanor and in addition to punishment under other provisions in this title, including AS 16.05.195 and 16.0…

(a) Fish stocks in the state shall be managed consistent with sustained yield of wild fish stocks and may be managed consistent with sustained yield of enhanced fish stocks. (b) In allocating enhanced fish stocks, the board shall consider the need of fish enhancement projects to …

Fish health inspections determined to be necessary by the department shall be performed by a professional fish health specialist certified by the fish health section of the American Fisheries Society.

The state may assume management of a fishery in offshore water adjacent to the state in the absence of a federal fishery management plan for the fishery or in the event that a federal fishery management plan for the fishery delegates authority to the state to manage the fishery i…

(a) The taking of antlerless moose in any game management unit or subunit or a portion of a unit or subunit is prohibited except that antlerless moose may be taken only under regulations adopted under (b) of this section after (1) the department recommends the season be opened in…

(a) Except as provided in (d) of this section, a person who with criminal negligence takes a brown or grizzly bear within one-half mile of a solid waste disposal facility is guilty of a class A misdemeanor. (b) In addition to the penalty imposed by law under (a) of this section, …

(a) A person may not shoot or assist in shooting a free-ranging wolf or wolverine the same day that a person has been airborne. However, the Board of Game may authorize a predator control program as part of a game management plan that involves airborne or same day airborne shooti…