Past three miles, Sitka residents fish under nonresident rules

A Sitka angler can legally keep a 45-inch lingcod inside three miles, and then, with that fish aboard, be barred from fishing at all in federal water the same day.

The reason is that residents fishing beyond three miles, in the federal Exclusive Economic Zone, have to follow nonresident rules. Nonresidents never notice the difference, because their limits are the same in both.

Inside three miles, a resident may keep one lingcod a day, two in possession, at any size, until the season closes Dec. 1. Past three miles, the nonresident rules take over: one fish a day, one in possession, and only between 30 and 35 inches or 55 inches and up, with a two-fish annual limit and a required harvest record. A 45-inch fish is not legal out there, and having one aboard ends the trip.

Pelagic rockfish work the same way, three a day inside, two outside.

Demersal shelf rockfish, the bottom-dwelling group that includes yelloweye and quillback, closed to nonresidents Aug. 26. Because residents past three miles are on nonresident rules, they can keep none out there either.

Residents in federal water also have to record any species carrying an annual limit, including king salmon, lingcod and nonpelagic rockfish.

The state's Southeast regulation summary maps the three-mile line, and the department says maps are posted at most Sitka harbors.