At the March 16-20, 2009, meeting in Anchorage the Board of Fisheries approved a Pot Shrimp Management Plan for Prince William Sound that requires anglers to have a permit in their possession when fishing for shrimp. The plan relies on department surveys to determine the harvestable surplus of shrimp available in Prince William Sound each year. The Board allocated 40% of the allowable harvest to the commercial fishery and 60% to the non-commercial (sport, personal use, and subsistence) fisheries.

In addition, the Board established a threshold of 110,000 pounds necessary to open a commercial fishery. Data collected during the department’s surveys set the 2009 harvest level at 96,500 pounds. Therefore, a commercial pot shrimp fishery will not take place in 2009. 

To collect more timely data from the noncommercial fisheries, a permit will be required to participate in those fisheries. There is no fee for the permit and they should be available at ADF&G offices by April 2. The number of pots, seasons, and open waters remain unchanged from previous years. 

For more information on the noncommercial fisheries and the permit requirement, please contact Dan Bosch in Anchorage at (907) 267-2153. For questions on the Pot Shrimp Management Plan and regulations for the commercial fishery, please contact Charlie Trowbridge in Homer at (907) 235-8191

Issued Wednesday, March 10, 2010 FISHERY ANNOUNCEMENT PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND REGISTRATION AREA E COMMERCIAL SHRIMP POT FISHING SEASON OPENING E.O. 2-SF-E-01-10 The Prince William Sound (PWS) commercial shrimp pot fishing season will open at 8:00 a.m. April 15, 2010 with a 55,000 pound guideline harvest level. Individuals wishing to participate must possess a current P09E or P91E interim use permit card available from the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (ph:907-789-6150 or http://www.cfec.state.ak.us/mnu_Forms.htm#permitforms) and a superexclusive area vessel registration. Registrations and logbook pages will be available March 15 at ADF&G offices in Homer, Anchorage, and Cordova, and by appointment with the Alaska Wildlife Troopers in Seward and Valdez. Contact the ADF&G office in Cordova to register by fax. The registration deadline for the PWS pot spot shrimp fishery is 5:00 p.m. April 1, 2010. The department will announce on April 5, 2010 the number of shrimp pots that may be operated from a vessel registered for the fishery. The area open to harvest includes waters north of 60° 40.00' N. lat. and east of 148° 00.00' W. long. excluding areas closed to commercial shrimping with pot gear as indicated on the attached map. The PWS shrimp pot fishery was last open in 1991. In December 2008, the Board of Fisheries adopted new regulations for this fishery including, gear definitions and marking, as well as logbook and catch reporting requirements. These new regulations and other pertinent regulations are in Chapters 31 and 39 of the 2009-2012 Statewide Commercial Shrimp, Dungeness Crab, and Miscellaneous Shellfish Fishing Regulations book available at department offices in Anchorage, Cordova, and Homer or at http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/regs/cf_regs.php. Prospective fishery participants should thoroughly review the regulatory requirements for this fishery. On March 15, the department will post additional information specific to this fishery online at http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/region2/shellfsh/shelhom2.php. Contact the ADF&G Cordova office with questions.