December rockfish opening set for Southeast inside waters as outer coast stays closed

Commercial fishermen in Southeast Alaska will get a short December window at yelloweye and other bottom-dwelling rockfish in the region's inside waters, but the outer coast will stay closed for the rest of the year.

The fall fishery for demersal shelf rockfish opens at 9 am Dec. 8 in parts of the Northern and Southern Southeast Inside subdistricts, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said in a notice Thursday. It closes when the quotas are caught or at 4 pm Dec. 31, whichever comes first. Besides yelloweye, the group includes quillback, canary, copper, China, tiger and rosethorn rockfish.

Each inside area has a 55,000-pound limit for the year, shared with a winter fishery that also opened parts of those waters. The department says it can't say how much is left, because fewer than three permit holders fished those areas, but that the catch in each is still below the limit.

On the outer coast, the winter fishery opened Feb. 5 in East Yakutat and Southern Southeast Outside, and both closed March 1. Northern and Central Southeast Outside stayed closed, and all four outer coast sections will stay closed through 2026.

The trip limit is 6,000 pounds per vessel or permit holder in any five-day period east of 137 degrees west longitude. Fishermen need a CFEC Y interim-use permit and a vessel registration. Keeping lingcod as bycatch is not allowed in Northern Southeast Inside or Southern Southeast Internal Waters, and is allowed only with longline gear in part of Southern Southeast Inside.

The department said the fishery could close on short notice. Closures will be announced by advisory, Coast Guard and National Weather Service broadcasts and the groundfish hotline at 907-747-4882.