Southeast Alaska Personal Use Dungeness Crab Fishery
Permits & Regulations

Southeast Alaska Personal Use Dungeness Crab Fisheries

This fishery is managed by emergency order, the fishery may not open or may close at any time, or the bag limits may be reduced at any time.  Always check with your local ADF&G office before going crabbing.

Remember that all Shellfish may be exposed to the algae that causes Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning. For more information, see the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning document (PDF - ADEC) .

Remember, bag, possession, and pot limits for shellfish allowed under personal use MAY NOT be added to bag, possession, and pot limits under sport or subsistence fishing regulations.

There is no closed season.

No permit is required.

The daily bag and possession limit is 20 male crab, except;
In waters of Thorne Bay west of the longitude of the southwestern most tip of Thorne Head, the daily bag and possession limit is 5 male crab.

The minimum legal size for male Dungeness crab is six and one-half inches in shoulder width; male Dungeness crab less than the minimum legal size and all female Dungeness crab that have been taken must be immediately returned to the water unharmed;

The shoulder width measurement of Dungeness crab is the straight-line distance across the carapace immediately anterior to the tenth anterolateral spine, not including the spines;

Only 5 pots are allowed per person with a maximum of 10 pots allowed per vessel.

All pots to take shellfish must be plainly and legibly labelled with the angler’s first initial, last name, home address, and the name or the Division of Motor Vehicles registration number (AK number) of the vessel used to operate the pot on a keg or buoy attached to each pot.

Pots used to take Dungeness crab must have at least two escape rings that each are not less than four and three-eighths inches, inside diameter; the rings must be located on opposite sides of the pot and the upper half of the vertical plane of the pot.

Live holding facilities utilized to accumulate or pool multiple bag limits by an individual or individuals are not allowed;

All pots used must meet the following gear requirements