Bringin Fish Back to the Lower 48 from Alaska
I am planning on bringing a freezer full of fish (Salmon, Halibut, Scallops .etc..) back down to AZ from Alaska through Canada in my car trailer. I know people have brought freezers of fish and Game (...
Forum Discussion
You'll have to follow up with someone else if you're bringing game back. As far as fish do an on line search for USFWS Form 3-177. It'll download as a PDF that you can fill out on the computer (or by pen and ink) and print it. When you get to US Alaskan customs outbound stop and they will make sure it's right then stamp it and make you a number of copies. I present a copy with my passport at each customs stop thereafter and they do little more than glance at it. I have met one or two people who have had fish confiscated by Canadian LEO's or fish and game folks. They've used the reason as not being able to prove if fish were obtained in US or Canada. This takes care of that. Read the form closely as it asks for the number of each fish species and the number of packages, very different numbers.
Also I do NOT recommend you keep the fish whole, even if you gut and freeze them. I believe that a whole fish, even if frozen in the freezer counts as a fish IN YOUR POSESSION under Alaska rules and generally, that number equals the daily catch limit and you can't have more than that. You can check with the fish cops on that one to get the fine points.
We catch, filet, cut into meal size portions and vacuum pack each day. We bring down a 4' chest freezer (17 cu ft) a basement freezer (3 cu ft) and everything we can stuff into the household refrigerator freezer. We've done this 4 times, every 2 years, and are scheduled up again in 2015. It takes us that long to eat it. If you want, there are places who will cut, vacuum pack and freeze (any or all) easily accessible to most fishing areas.
Also I do NOT recommend you keep the fish whole, even if you gut and freeze them. I believe that a whole fish, even if frozen in the freezer counts as a fish IN YOUR POSESSION under Alaska rules and generally, that number equals the daily catch limit and you can't have more than that. You can check with the fish cops on that one to get the fine points.
We catch, filet, cut into meal size portions and vacuum pack each day. We bring down a 4' chest freezer (17 cu ft) a basement freezer (3 cu ft) and everything we can stuff into the household refrigerator freezer. We've done this 4 times, every 2 years, and are scheduled up again in 2015. It takes us that long to eat it. If you want, there are places who will cut, vacuum pack and freeze (any or all) easily accessible to most fishing areas.
