WSR 99-17-099

EMERGENCY RULES

DEPARTMENT OF

FISH AND WILDLIFE

[ Order 99-120-- Filed August 17, 1999, 1:22 p.m. , effective August 17, 1999, 2:00 p.m. ]

Date of Adoption: August 17, 1999.

Purpose: Commercial fishing rules.

Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 220-88A-07000W; and amending WAC 220-88A-070.

Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 75.08.080.

Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety, or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the public interest.

Reasons for this Finding: The state's share of spot shrimp in Shrimp Management Harvest Area 25A is projected to be taken by this date. There is a harvestable surplus of spot shrimp remaining in Crustacean Management Region 1B. A weekly trip limit for the Strait of Juan de Fuca is no longer necessary to reduce overharvest risk. These rules are necessary to implement the 1999 State/Tribal Puget Sound Shrimp Harvest Management Plan and meet all allocation requirements under Subproceeding 89-3 in United States v. Washington. These rules will allow for a sharing of catch between treaty and nontreaty shrimp fishers. There is insufficient time to promulgate permanent rules.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0. Effective Date of Rule: August 17, 1999, 2:00 p.m.

August 17, 1999

Jeff P. Koenings

Director

by Larry Peck


NEW SECTION
WAC 220-88A-07000X
Puget Sound shrimp pot fishery--Closes 25A and opens 1B for spot shrimp, removes trip limit for Region 3

Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-88A-070, effective 2:00 p.m. August 17, 1999 until further notice it is unlawful to fish for shrimp for commercial purposes in Puget Sound using shellfish pot gear except as provided for in this section:

(1) All waters of Crustacean Management Regions 1B, 1C, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are open to harvest of all shrimp immediately until further notice, with the following exceptions:

(a) All waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 23B, 25A, 26B and 26C, and all waters of Crustacean Management Region 2 are closed to the harvest of spot shrimp.

(b) All waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 23A east of a line projected 335 degrees true from the Dungeness lighthouse are closed to the harvest of spot shrimp.

(c) All waters of Crustacean Management Region 1B are only open to the harvest of spot shrimp from 8:00 a.m. August 20 until 5:00 p.m. on August 22.

(2) It is unlawful to set or pull shellfish pot gear from one hour after official sunset until one hour before official sunrise.

(3) It is unlawful for the combined total harvest of spot shrimp by a fisher and/or the fisher's alternate operator to exceed 300 pounds per week from Crustacean Management Regions 4, 6, or 1C, or to exceed 150 pounds per week in Crustacean Management Region 1B. The spot shrimp trip limit accounting week is Monday through Sunday.

(4) It is unlawful to fish for shrimp for commercial purposes in Puget Sound using shellfish pot gear in more than one Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area per day.

(5) It is unlawful to set or pull shellfish pots in one Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch Reporting Area while in possession of shrimp harvested from another Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch Reporting Area.

(6) All shrimp taken under this section must be sold to licensed Washington wholesale fish dealers. No fisher may land shrimp without immediate delivery to a licensed wholesale dealer or, if transferred at sea, without transfer to a licensed wholesale dealer.

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REPEALER


The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed effective 2:00 p.m. August 17, 1999.


WAC 220-88A-07000W Emerging commercial fishery--Puget Sound shrimp pot (99-116)

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