PWS state waters P-cod season opens Feb. 24

Harvesting in the Prince William Sound state-waters Pacific cod fishery opens today, Feb. 24, with a guidelines harvest level of 4,338,141 pounds, down from 4,841,902 pounds a year ago.

The GHL allocation includes 15 percent, or 650,721 pounds for the combined pot and jig gear, and 85 percent, or 3.7 million pounds, for longline gear.

The Prince William Sound Area E parallel Pacific cod season closed at noon on Feb. 23, coinciding with the National Marine Fisheries Service closure of the Pacific cod pot gear sector in the Central Gulf of Alaska. Parallel seasons for jig and longline gear were to remain open until closed by emergency order.

Area management biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said that last year just a little over one million pounds of the 4.8 million pound GHL was harvested, with one reason being a lot of buyers stop purchasing at the end of March as they begin to move on to the halibut harvest and gear up for salmon.

Also last year, the longline Pacific cod vessels caught their annual bycatch limit of halibut in the spring and the B season did not open.

For the state waters Pacific cod season, area registration for pot gear is exclusive. Gear is limited to 60 pots and each pot must display a buoy identification bag. Buoy tags and vessel registrations may be obtained from ADF&G offices in Cordova or Homer or from the Department of Public Safety in Seward. A vessel may not simultaneously participate in a state-waters season and any other concurrent Pacific cod season.

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There is a 24-hour delivery time requirement following closure of a groundfish fishery. Groundfish pot storage for Prince William Sound requires all groundfish pots be removed from the water following closure of a parallel fishery, unless the vessel is registered for the state waters season.

For additional information call ADF&G in Cordova at 1-907-424-3212.

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