Bringin Fish Back to the Lower 48 from Alaska

We fished many years and never had a problem bringing them back we were told to leave the tail on one of the sides to show the type....

The customs agent did look in our freezer where the exotic meat was stored. Again, the focus was on produce. Nothing else.

I believe (don't have the text and won't take the time to look it up), that the sport fishing regulation(s) state that fish that are "processed for human consumption" do not count against the possession limit. Not sure if simply freezing them whole would trigger the exclusion.

In practice, I've never had a problem as long as the fish are either gutted and headed or filleted. Obviously applies primarily to salmon, but have been checked about 10 - 12 times (either me or my BIL is an ADF&G magnet) on multi-day fishing trips and never been challenged.

tonymull wrote:
Once preserved by freezing and canning the possession limit does not apply.

if true, that certainly negates any possession limit.
bumpy

Once preserved by freezing and canning the possession limit does not apply.

I fish in BC every fall and come home with a few fish. Never had any guff from an agent. They always spot me as a fisherman and ask if I have fish, but nothing other than that. A few times they just want a fishing report. Never had them look at the fish which are sometimes fillets and sometimes whole... This US customs as I return to WA.

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.

jnharley wrote:
We did not do anything special with our fish and we were not even asked about it when we re-entered the states at Oroville, WA. They were more interested in produce,. We also had some exotic meat in the freezer but no questions were asked about it either,

Whether or not you were asked is not the issue. The burden to "declare" all items purchased or acquired abroad is on you. Failure to declare (which means freely and first, without being asked) the exotic meat could have cost you anywhere from $300 to $5000 depending on the situation. You were very lucky. Count your good fortune for sure.

Lakeside

rockhillmanor wrote:


Ahh to be the one in every couple of hundred the border patrol doesn't bother! :C

make that 2 in a hundred we don't get hassled either.

OR.. use the marine highway.