PERMANENT RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Date of Adoption: February 7, 2003.
Purpose: Amend commercial fishing rules.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 220-47-301.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.12.047.
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 03-02-031 on December 23, 2002.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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Repealed 0;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Repealed 0;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 1,
Repealed 0.
Effective Date of Rule:
Thirty-one days after filing.
February 18, 2003
Susan Yeager
for Will Roehl, Chair
Fish and Wildlife Commission
OTS-6131.1
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending Order 01-32, filed 3/13/01,
effective 4/13/01)
WAC 220-47-301
Puget Sound -- Lawful gear -- Purse seine.
(1) Lawful purse seine salmon nets in Puget Sound shall not
exceed 1,800 feet in length along the cork line while wet and
purse seine and lead combined shall not exceed 2,200 feet. Neither shall contain meshes of a size less than ((4)) 3-1/2
inches, nor shall the meshes of the seine and lead be lashed
together to form one continuous piece of webbed gear. It
shall be lawful as part of the purse seine to have a bunt not
more than 10 fathoms long which may contain mesh of a size not
less than 3-1/2 inches.
(2) It shall be unlawful to take or fish for salmon with purse seine gear in Puget Sound which contains mesh webbing constructed of a twine size smaller than 210/30d nylon, 12 thread cotton or the equivalent diameter in any other material.
(3) It shall be unlawful for any purse seine vessel to carry an extra lead or portion thereof unless stowed below decks during the fishing operation, nor may an extra lead or portion thereof be carried aboard its skiff.
(4) Purse seine mesh size shall be defined as the distance between the inside of one knot to the outside of the opposite vertical knot of one mesh. Minimum mesh size is met if a wedge of legal size can be passed without undue force through the mesh while wet.
(5) A purse seine will not be considered to be fishing once both ends of the seine are attached to the primary vessel.
(6) It shall be unlawful to take or fish for salmon with purse seine gear in Puget Sound unless at least four sections, each measuring no less than 12 inches in length, along the corkline in the bunt and within 75 fathoms of the bunt have no corks or floats attached. These four sections must be spaced such that one section is along the corkline in the bunt, within 5 fathoms of the seine net, and the other three sections must be spaced at least 20 fathoms apart along the corkline within 75 fathoms of the bunt.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047. 01-07-015 (Order 01-32), § 220-47-301, filed 3/13/01, effective 4/13/01. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 97-16-030 (Order 97-124), § 220-47-301, filed 7/29/97, effective 8/29/97; 87-15-059 (Order 87-72), § 220-47-301, filed 7/14/87; 86-13-038 (Order 86-46), § 220-47-301, filed 6/12/86; Order 988, § 220-47-301, filed 4/28/72.]