00SENATE BILL NO. 77                                                                                                      
01 "An Act relating to the powers of the Board of Game and to intensive game                                               
02 management to achieve higher sustained yield for human harvest."                                                        
03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
04    * Section 1.  AS 16.05.255(a) is amended to read:                                                                    
05  (a)  The Board of Game shall [MAY] adopt regulations it considers advisable                                         
06 in accordance with AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act) to provide for the                                          
07 management of game, and for intensive management of identified game species                                             
08 to maintain or restore high levels of game populations to achieve higher sustained                                      
09 yield for human harvest where the board has determined that consumptive use                                             
10 of those game species is the preferred use, by [FOR]                                                                   
11   (1)  setting apart game reserve areas, refuges, and sanctuaries in the                                             
12 water or on the land of the state over which it has jurisdiction, subject to the approval                               
13 of the legislature;                                                                                                     
14   (2)  establishing open and closed seasons and areas for the taking of                                                

01 game;                                                                                                                   
02   (3)  establishing the means and methods employed in the pursuit,                                                     
03 capture, and transport of game, including regulations, consistent with resource                                         
04 conservation and development goals, establishing means and methods that may be                                          
05 employed by persons with physical disabilities;                                                                         
06   (4)  setting quotas, bag limits, harvest levels, and sex, age, and size                                              
07 limitations on the taking of game;                                                                                      
08   (5)  classifying game as game birds, song birds, big game animals, fur                                               
09 bearing animals, predators, or other categories;                                                                        
10   (6)  methods, means, and harvest levels necessary to control predation                                               
11 and competition among game in the state;                                                                                
12   (7)  watershed and habitat improvement, and management, conservation,                                                
13 protection, use, disposal, propagation, and stocking of game;                                                           
14   (8)  prohibiting the live capture, possession, transport, or release of                                              
15 native or exotic game or their eggs;                                                                                    
16   (9)  establishing the times and dates during which the issuance of game                                              
17 licenses, permits, and registrations and the transfer of permits and registrations between                              
18 registration areas and game management units or subunits is allowed;                                                    
19   (10)  regulating sport hunting and subsistence hunting as needed for the                                             
20 conservation, development, and utilization of game;                                                                    
21   (11)  requiring the department, within the department's ability, to                                                  
22 conduct intensive management programs to restore the abundance or productivity                                          
23 of a game population as necessary to achieve human consumptive use goals of the                                         
24 board in an area where the board has determined that                                                                    
25   (A)  depletion of the game population or reduction of the                                                           
26 productivity of the game population has occurred and may result in a                                                    
27 significant reduction in the allowable human harvest of the game                                                        
28 population;                                                                                                             
29   (B)  enhancement of abundance or productivity of the game                                                           
30 population is feasible; and                                                                                             
31   (C)  the expected benefits to human consumptive use of the                                                          

01 game population justify intensive management.                                                                          
02    * Sec. 2.  AS 16.05.255 is amended by adding new subsections to read:                                                
03  (e)  The Board of Game may not significantly reduce the taking of a game                                              
04 population under this section unless the board has previously adopted regulations                                       
05 providing for the use of intensive management to increase the take of the game                                          
06 population for human harvest.  After adopting regulations providing for intensive                                       
07 management of a game population subject to this subsection, the board may consider                                      
08 and adopt regulations relating to development or regulation of access to the population                                 
09 and to management of the population by customary adjustments in seasons, bag limits,                                    
10 open and closed areas, methods and means, or by other customary means authorized                                        
11 under (a) of this section.                                                                                              
12  (f)  In this section, "intensive management" means management of a game                                               
13 population to enhance, extend, and develop the game population to maintain high                                         
14 levels or provide for higher levels of human harvest in accordance with the sustained                                   
15 yield principle, including control of predation and prescribed or planned use of fire and                               
16 other habitat improvement techniques.