• Catalog of Waters Important for the Spawning Rearing or Migration of Anadromous Fishes
• Blasting Standards(PDF 2.1MB)
• Fish Habitat Permit Information
• Fish Habitat Permit Application(PDF 56KB)

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
• U.S. Forest Service Land
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
• Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Mining Land and Water
• Special Areas
• Kenai Peninsula Multi Agency Permitting

These activities may require a Fish Habitat Permit.

Explosives used for construction purposes, for seismic exploration, or for other projects create seismic waves when they are detonated. These waves vary in magnitude and form depending on the type of explosive used and the size of the charge. The area of impact depends on the size of the blast and the medium through which the energy dissipates. Shock waves of sufficient size and strength traveling through the water column (either from underwater blasts or from waves transmitted from on-shore blasts) can have a wide range of effects on fish. Larger fish may be startled by the waves, smaller fish can be injured or killed when their internal swim bladder is ruptured, small fish can also be stunned by the waves making them more susceptible to predation.

A Fish Habitat permit may be required for any blasting operation that occurs either in, or near the banks of, a fish bearing waterbody. This permit may be obtained from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Habitat office located closest to your proposed project location. You may determine whether a waterbody is designated as important for anadromous fish by calling or visiting any Habitat office and looking at the map catalog and atlas that legally identify designated anadromous fish streams.

The following standards will be used in developing permit conditions:

Explosives shall not be detonated within, beneath or adjacent to any stream specified as being important for the spawning, rearing, or migration of anadromous fishes unless the detonation of the explosive produces an instantaneous pressure rise in the water body of no more than 2.7 psi and a peak particle velocity of no more than 0.5 inches per second, or unless the water body, including the substrate, is frozen.

Please see the Rationale for Blasting Standards(PDF 2.1MB) developed by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game for information and equations to calculated acceptable offset distances and charge sizes.

Blasting activities and related drilling and plugging of shot holes, vegetation clearing, construction, or land access may require authorization from the Alaska Coastal Management Program, the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the effected land manager or owner.