Subsistence Fishing Regulations

The regulations adopted by the Board of Fisheries during the 2022-2023 cycle will all be effective by 6/25/2023. The official regulations on file with the Lieutenant Governor are included in the recently updated publications on this page. This includes the regulations resulting from the Bristol Bay Finfish; Arctic, Yukon, Kuskokwim Finfish; Alaska Peninsula, Chignik, Aleutian Islands Finfish and Statewide Finfish meetings. Please refer to the "Electronic version current through date" on the inside cover of the regulation to be sure of the most recent update.

Silhouette of a subsistence fisherman carrying two fish.
Photo courtesy of Lindsey Aspelund.

Editor's note: These statutes and administrative regulations were excerpted from the official codes on file with the Lieutenant Governor. There may be errors or omissions that have not been identified and changes that occurred after this publication. These documents are intended as informational guides only.

The regulations as outlined in these documents may be changed by emergency regulations or emergency orders at any time. Please see the Advisory Announcement page for the most current Regulation Announcements, Advisory Announcements and Emergency Orders. Please contact the local area offices local area offices for the most current information regarding Regulation Announcements, Advisory Announcements and Emergency Orders. Please contact the Fisheries Regulations Coordinator at dfg.fish.regulations@alaska.gov or 907-465-6124 for questions regarding the most current regulations on file with the Lt. Governor.

Please refer to the most recent copy of the Alaska Administrative Code (and its appendices) for the most current and accurate regulations. The following chapters are linked to the state's Alaska Administrative Code (AAC) database (in Folio). To return to Fish and Game you will have to use your browser-s BACK button/command. The AAC database is updated on a quarterly basis by the Legislative Affairs Agency, and because of this, links can become invalid without our knowledge. Occasionally, you may receive a "could not connect to pipe" message. This may indicate a congestion or failure of their database connections. We do not have any control over their database site or programs and there is nothing we can do to directly remedy this situation for you. Generally, if you retry to connect in a few minutes, things will have returned to normal. If any of our links to that database, found on this page, should fail for other reasons or seem inaccurate, however, please feel free to contact us.

CHAPTER

01. Subsistence Finfish Fishery (5 AAC 01.001 - 5 AAC 01.750)
02. Subsistence Shellfish Fishery (5 AAC 02.001 - 5 AAC 02.625)
77. Personal Use Fishery (5 AAC 77.001 - 5 AAC 77.695)
99.
 Boards of Fisheries and Game Subsistence Procedures (5 AAC 99.010 - 5 AAC 99.25)

Federal subsistence fishing is managed by the Office of Subsistence Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The following is a link to the current federal regulations and requirements.

Subsistence Management Regulations for Public Lands in Alaska

Visit the subistence section of our website for more information