(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) –Today kicked off the 2019 Prince William Sound sport and subsistence shrimp pot fishery. Alaska Wildlife Troopers will be out patrolling and checking buoys and pots through September 15, when the fishery closes. Last month, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game released an emergency order limiting the number of allowable pots to three this year for the fishery.

Common violations that Troopers write tickets for during the shrimp pot fishery are failing to have a proper biodegradable escape mechanism and improperly marked buoys. In addition to checking licenses of fishermen, Troopers do pull pots to check that everything meets the requirements.

“In years past, we have had reports of people pulling pots that don’t belong to them and taking the shrimp,” said Col. Doug Massie, Director of the Alaska Wildlife Troopers. “This is so frustrating for the owners of the pots. We are doing what we can to mitigate this by being out there and meeting with people recreating on the water. We hope that our visibility will deter this illegal behavior.”

AWT would also like to remind fishermen that, if they are shrimping, all people in the boat are required to have a shrimp permit in addition to their regular fishing license. Permits are available online at https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/Store/. 

This fishery does require fishermen to report their harvest by October 15. Harvest reporting can be done online at https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/PU/.

  checking, department, fishery, opening, pots, public, regulations, safety, season, shrimp, subsistence, wildlife