Past three miles, Alaskans fish like nonresidents

Alaska residency stops paying off three miles offshore. Cross into the Exclusive Economic Zone — federal water from three to 200 nautical miles out — and nonresident rules take over for king salmon, lingcod, and nonpelagic rockfish.

The trap is fishing inshore first. State regulations bar anyone from taking a resident limit in state waters and then fishing the EEZ at all, for any species. Keep a 45-inch lingcod close to shore, legal for a resident, and your day offshore is done — nonresident rules cap lingcod at one fish between 30 and 35 inches. Nonresidents are unaffected; their limits don't change between state and federal water.

Residents in the EEZ also have to record any species with an annual limit, including kings, lingcod, rockfish, steelhead, and sharks. Boundary maps are in the 2026 regulatory summary and posted at most harbors.

Everywhere, every vessel needs a working deepwater release device, and any rockfish you don't keep goes back at the depth it came from, or 100 feet, whichever is shallower.