Fishing for Pacific cod has opened to vessels with pot gear in state waters of Prince William Sound, with a 1,094,044-pound guideline harvest level.
Allocations are 929,937 pounds, or 85 percent, for vessels using longline gear, and 164,107 pounds, or 15 percent, for vessels with pot or jig gear.
For state waters fishery, which opened at noon on Jan. 23, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game notes that no more than 60 groundfish pots may be operated from a vessel and each pot must display a buoy identification tag.
The Prince William Sound area P-cod parallel season closed to vessels using pot gear on Jan. 22, coinciding with closure of the P-cod pot gear sector managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service in federal waters in the Center Gulf of Alaska.
