PDFWAC 220-330-060

Personal-use shrimp pot gear requirements.

(1) All buoys attached to shrimp gear must be yellow or fluorescent yellow in color. Flags and staff, if attached, may be any color.
(2) It is unlawful to take, fish for, or possess shrimp taken for personal use with shellfish pot gear unless the gear meets the following requirements:
(a) A shrimp pot may not exceed 10 feet in perimeter and 1-1/2 feet in height.
(b) The entire top, bottom, and sides of the shrimp pot must be constructed of mesh material (no liners allowed), except the entrance tunnels must have the minimum mesh opening size specified in subsection (2)(g) of this section.
(c) All entrance tunnels must open into the pot from the side.
(d) The sum of the maximum widths of all entrance tunnels must not exceed half of the perimeter of the bottom of the pot.
(e) Half-inch mesh is defined as mesh that a 3/8-inch square peg will pass through each mesh opening (except for the entrance tunnels which can be any size mesh material); flexible (web) mesh pots must have mesh size openings that are a minimum of 1-1/8 inch stretch measure.
(f) One inch mesh is defined as a mesh that a 7/8-inch square peg will pass through each mesh opening (except for the entrance tunnels which can be any size mesh material); flexible (web) mesh pots must have mesh size openings that are a minimum of 1-3/4 inch stretch measure.
(g) The minimum mesh size for shrimp pots is:
(i) Year-round, Marine Areas 1-3 and 4 west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line:
(A) Shoreward of 20 fathoms, the minimum mesh size for shrimp pots is 1/2-inch.
(B) Seaward of 20 fathoms, the minimum mesh size for shrimp pots is 1 inch.
(ii) May 1 through October 15, Area 4 east of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line, and Areas 5 through 13, the minimum mesh size for shrimp pots is 1 inch, with the following exception: June 1 through October 15, in any Marine Area or portion thereof that is closed for spot shrimp but open for coonstripe and pink shrimp, the minimum mesh size for shrimp pots is 1/2-inch.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.04.012, 77.04.013, 77.04.020, 77.04.055, and 77.12.047. WSR 17-05-112 (Order 17-04), recodified as § 220-330-060, filed 2/15/17, effective 3/18/17. Statutory Authority: RCW 77.04.012, 77.04.020, and 77.12.047. WSR 17-01-085 (Order 16-322), § 220-56-317, filed 12/16/16, effective 1/16/17. Statutory Authority: RCW 77.04.012, 77.04.013, 77.04.055, 77.12.045, and 77.12.047. WSR 12-23-016 (Order 12-267), § 220-56-317, filed 11/9/12, effective 12/10/12.]