Personal use permits now available online

MAT-SU — Upper Cook Inlet and Chitina personal use salmon dipnet permits are now available through the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s newly-expanded online store at: adfg.alaska.gov/Store. In addition, anglers can report personal use harvest online at fish.alaska.gov/PU.

Anglers can purchase a sport fishing license and obtain personal use permits in the same transaction. Personal use permits are free to Alaska residents and will display as a $0.00 product in a participant’s shopping cart in the online store.

Only one permit is allowed per household, and all members in the household must be listed on the permit. All members of a household 16 years old and older must possess a valid resident sport fishing license, permanent ID card, or Disabled Veteran’s license while fishing on this permit.

Participants applying for a personal use permit through the online store must provide a valid and current email address. Upon completion of the store transaction, a PDF file of the permit will be emailed to the applicant. This permit must be printed and taken to the fishery to record harvest onsite. Failure to have this permit in possession is against regulation and subject to citations.

Personal use permits for Upper Cook Inlet and Chitina can be obtained at department offices and at license-selling vendors in Anchorage, the Mat-Su Valley, Kenai Peninsula, Fairbanks, and Glennallen.

All participants are encouraged to report their harvest information online, whether they obtained an electronic or paper permit. The deadline to report harvest for Upper Cook Inlet is Aug. 15 and for Chitina is Oct. 15.

The harvest reporting website can be easily accessed by scanning the QR code on the permit using a smart phone or tablet device. The harvest reporting process is quickest for participants who obtained their permits electronically. Participants with paper permits will have to enter their license numbers and household information before reporting harvest data — this information will populate automatically for participants with electronic permits.

Once a participant submits harvest data online they cannot go back and edit their previous records. However, they can log back into their permit and add additional harvest data. Once harvest data have been submitted, a confirmation email will be sent to the participant. Though online harvest reporting is encouraged, participants can also mail or hand-deliver their completed permits to department offices.

For more information, contact the Anchorage Sport Fish Information Center at 907-267-2218; Kristine Dunker, Fisheries Biologist in Anchorage at 907-267-2889 (Permitting Lead for Upper Cook Inlet) or Tim Viavant, Fisheries Biologist in Fairbanks at 907-459-7266 (Permitting Lead for Chitina).