PROPOSED RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Original Notice.
Preproposal statement of inquiry was filed as WSR 03-09-087.
Title of Rule: Commercial fishing rules.
Purpose: Amend emerging commercial fishery coastal spot shrimp rules.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.12.047.
Statute Being Implemented: RCW 77.12.047.
Summary: Delete trawl provisions, delete vessel ownership requirement, add vessel restriction and reporting requirement.
Reasons Supporting Proposal: There is no trawl fishery, vessel ownership does not limit participation, vessel length restriction prevents overcapitalization, refining reporting increases management ability.
Name of Agency Personnel Responsible for Drafting: Evan Jacoby, 1111 Washington Street, Olympia, 902-2930; Implementation: Phil Anderson, 1111 Washington Street, Olympia, 902-2720; and Enforcement: Bruce Bjork, 1111 Washington Street, Olympia, 902-2373.
Name of Proponent: Department of Fish and Wildlife, governmental.
Rule is not necessitated by federal law, federal or state court decision.
Explanation of Rule, its Purpose, and Anticipated Effects: The coastal pot shrimp fishery has been an emerging commercial fishery since 1999. Beginning in 2003, the trawl fishery was converted to a pot fishery, and the trawl provisions in the original rules are outdated and unnecessary. The original rules envisioned fishers qualifying a vessel, and permitting was restricted to those fishers and their vessels. Since a fisher may designate another's vessel to participate in Washington commercial fisheries, vessel ownership is unnecessary, and will be changed in these rule proposals. In order to ensure nontransferability, permitting is restricted to a natural person. The industry has a concern over shifting to larger vessels and overcapitalization of the industry with attendant overharvest of the resource, so a vessel restriction of ten feet larger than the qualifying vessel is established. Because retroactivity would unduly burden persons who may have already changed vessels, a fisher who has already designated a vessel greater than ten feet above the length of the qualifying vessel is frozen at the length of the vessel designated as of March 31, 2003. The fishery has a subarea quota, and a reporting requirement of north or south of 47°04.00'N. is needed to account for the subarea quota.
Proposal Changes the Following Existing Rules: Deletion of trawl fishery and vessel ownership provisions and addition of vessel length restrictions and reporting requirements.
A small business economic impact statement has been prepared under chapter 19.85 RCW.
2. Kinds of Professional Services That a Small Business is Likely to Need in Order to Comply with Such Requirements: None required.
3. Costs of Compliance for Businesses, Including Costs of Equipment, Supplies, Labor, and Increased Administrative Costs: No costs of compliance were anticipated.
4. Will Compliance with the Rule Cause Businesses to Lose Sales or Revenue? No revenue or sales losses are expected.
5. Cost of Compliance for the 10% of Businesses That are the Largest Businesses Required to Comply with the Proposed Rules Using One or More of the Following as a Basis for Comparing Costs:
a. Cost per employee;
b. Cost per hour of labor; or
c. Cost per one hundred dollars of sales.
There are no anticipated costs for compliance.
6. Steps Taken by the Agency to Reduce the Costs of the Rule on Small Businesses or Reasonable Justification for Not Doing So: There are no anticipated costs so no steps have been taken.
7. A Description of How the Agency Will Involve Small Businesses in the Development of the Rule: Meetings with the affected industry have occurred to develop the rule proposals contained herein. Small businesses will be involved under the auspices of the Fish and Wildlife Commission public review process for rule making.
8. A List of Industries That Will Be Required to Comply with the Rule: Fishers and buyers of ocean spot shrimp.
A copy of the statement may be obtained by writing to Evan Jacoby, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091, phone (360) 902-2930, fax (360) 902-2155.
RCW 34.05.328 does not apply to this rule adoption. Not hydraulics rules.
Hearing Location: Hampton Inn/Fox Hall, 3985 Bennett Drive, Bellingham, WA 98225, on August 1-2, 2003, begins at 8:00 a.m. on August 1, 2003.
Assistance for Persons with Disabilities: Contact Susan Yeager by July 18, 2003, TDD (360) 902-2207 or (360) 902-2267.
Submit Written Comments to: Evan Jacoby, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091, fax (360) 902-2155, by July 25, 2003.
Date of Intended Adoption: August 1, 2003.
June 10, 2003
Evan Jacoby
Rules Coordinator
OTS-6418.4
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending Order 98-257, filed 12/22/98,
effective 1/22/99)
WAC 220-88B-010
Emerging commercial
fishery -- Coastal -- Purpose.
The purpose of this chapter is to
establish the coastal spot shrimp pot ((and coastal spot
shrimp trawl fisheries)) fishery as an emerging commercial
((fisheries, specify the qualification for obtaining
experimental fishery permits to participate in these
fisheries, limit the transferability of fishery permits))
fishery, and to set time, place, and manner for participation
in ((these fisheries)) this fishery.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 99-01-154 (Order 98-257), § 220-88B-010, filed 12/22/98, effective 1/22/99.]
(2) The ((director designates the coastal spot shrimp
trawl fishery as an emerging commercial fishery for which a
vessel is required. It is unlawful to fish for, possess, or
deliver spot shrimp taken for commercial purposes from
Washington territorial waters west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line
or from waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone unless the owner
of the vessel has a valid emerging commercial fishery license
and a valid coastal spot shrimp trawl experimental fishery
permit.
(3) After January 1, 1999, the)) following licenses may not be used to fish for, possess, or deliver spot shrimp taken in Washington territorial waters west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line or waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone: Shellfish pot fishery license, nonlimited entry delivery license, salmon troll delivery license, salmon delivery license, crab pot fishery license, Dungeness crab -- coastal fishery license.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 99-01-154 (Order 98-257), § 220-88B-020, filed 12/22/98, effective 1/22/99.]
(2) Coastal spot shrimp experimental fishery permits are
not transferable. Only the vessel designated ((in)) on the
emerging commercial fishery license and coastal spot shrimp
experimental fishery permit may be used to fish for or deliver
spot shrimp.
(3) A coastal spot shrimp experimental fishery permit
will be issued only to ((the)) a natural person who:
(a) Held such a permit the previous year; and
(b) ((Beginning January 1, 2001,)) Can demonstrate by
valid Washington fish receiving tickets that at least 1,000
cumulative round weight pounds of spot shrimp taken from
waters of the Pacific Ocean adjacent to the state of
Washington were landed from the person's designated vessel or
vessels during the previous two calendar years. Landings of
spot shrimp reported as "tails" on fish receiving tickets will
be converted to round pounds by multiplying the reported
weight of tails by two.
(4) ((Effective January 1, 2003, all coastal spot shrimp
experimental trawl fishery permits shall be converted to
coastal spot shrimp experimental pot fishery permits.
(5))) Coastal spot shrimp experimental fishery permits
may be revoked by the director, and future permits denied by
the director, for failure to comply with conditions specified
in the permits or violations of other fishing regulations. A
coastal spot shrimp experimental fishery permit ((shall)) will
not be ((revoked)) renewed if the emerging commercial fishery
license is revoked or future fishing privileges of the
licensee are suspended.
(((6))) (5) The director may issue a coastal spot shrimp
experimental fishery permit to another person if a permittee
fails to make the requisite landings, if the person's
experimental coastal spot shrimp experimental fishery permit
is revoked, or if no application for an emerging commercial
fishery license is received by March 31st of each year. The
total number of permits issued, including replacement permits,
shall not exceed ((the number of permits issued in 1999))
fifteen. Selection of persons to receive replacement permits
shall be by gear or gear replacement type, and replacement
permits will be offered in descending order first to persons
who made the largest total of Washington coastal spot shrimp
landings in each gear type during the original qualifying
period, and then in descending order to persons who made the
largest total of Washington coastal spot shrimp landings in
each gear type. If no persons with coastal spot shrimp
landings wish to participate, the director may offer a
replacement permit by random drawing.
(((7))) (6) Coastal spot shrimp experimental fishery
permits are only valid for the year issued and expire on
December 31st of the year issued with the expiration of the
emerging commercial fishery license.
(((8))) (7) The total allowable catch of spot shrimp
taken from Washington territorial waters west of the
Bonilla-Tatoosh line and from adjacent waters of the Pacific
Ocean during a calendar year is 250,000 pounds round weight
provided that not more than 100,000 pounds may be taken south
of 47°04.00' N. latitude.
(((9) The allowable catch shall be equally divided
between trawl and pot gear permits in 2002, except that the
allowable catch may be reallocated between gear types if the
allowable catch of a gear type is unlikely to be taken during
that year.)) (8) Beginning January 1, 2003, through December
31, 2005, the allowable catch shall be allocated as follows:
175,000 pounds available to all permit holders and 75,000
pounds available to fishers who were converted from trawl to
pot permits. Beginning January 1, 2006, the allowable catch
is available to all permit holders.
(9) Vessel restriction: A coastal spot shrimp experimental fishery permit will not be issued to a person who designates a vessel greater than ten feet longer than the vessel designated as of March 31, 2003, provided that if the vessel designated as of March 31, 2003, is ten or more feet greater than the vessel used by the person to initially qualify for a coastal spot shrimp experimental fishery permit, the person may not designate a vessel greater in length than the vessel designated as of March 31, 2003.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047. 02-02-050 (Order 01-287), § 220-88B-030, filed 12/27/01, effective 1/27/02; 00-17-107 (Order 00-152), § 220-88B-030, filed 8/16/00, effective 9/16/00. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 99-01-154 (Order 98-257), § 220-88B-030, filed 12/22/98, effective 1/22/99.]
The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed:
| WAC 220-88B-050 | Coastal spot shrimp trawl experimental fishery -- Season and gear -- Trawl gear restriction-pot gear restriction -- Species restriction. |
OTS-6462.1
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending Order 03-28, filed 2/18/03,
effective 3/21/03)
WAC 220-69-240
Duties of commercial purchasers and
receivers.
(1) Every person originally receiving or
purchasing fresh or iced food fish or shellfish or parts
thereof, or frozen food fish or shellfish or parts thereof
that have not been previously landed in another state,
territory, or country from fishers, firms, or individuals,
except purchases or receipts made by individuals or consumers
at retail, is required to be a licensed wholesale fish dealer
or fish buyer, and must immediately, completely, accurately,
and legibly prepare the appropriate state of Washington fish
receiving ticket regarding each and every purchase or receipt
of such commodities. Except, preparation of a fish receiving
ticket is not required for fish or shellfish purchased from a
fisher who holds either a wholesale dealer's license or a
direct retail endorsement and who has previously completed a
fish receiving ticket because product was offered for sale to
someone other than a licensed wholesale dealer. Purchases
from such persons by wholesale fish dealers must be documented
by sales receipts or invoices, and the product received must
be maintained separately until the product is resold or
processed.
(2) Any employee of a licensed wholesale dealer who has authorization to receive or purchase fish or shellfish for that dealer on the premises of the primary business address or any of its branch plant locations shall be authorized to initiate and sign fish receiving tickets on behalf of his employer. The business or firm shall be responsible for the accuracy and legibility of all such documents initiated in its name. Each delivery must be recorded on a separate state of Washington fish receiving ticket.
(3) State of Washington fish receiving tickets are required for:
(a) Fresh food fish and shellfish landed in the state of Washington including fish or shellfish not purchased, which fish shall be recorded as weigh back or take home fish or shellfish.
(b) Fresh food fish and shellfish previously landed in another state, territory, or country and shipped or transported into the state of Washington to an original receiver.
(c) Frozen food fish or shellfish not previously landed in another state, territory, or country and shipped or transported into the state of Washington to an original receiver.
(4) State of Washington fish receiving tickets are not required for:
(a) Purchases or receipts from any person possessing a valid Washington wholesale dealer's license or direct retail endorsement except that a wholesale dealer purchasing fish from a commercial fisher shall complete the appropriate fish receiving ticket if the fisher has not previously completed a fish receiving ticket. It is the purchaser's responsibility to obtain the name, address, and Washington wholesale dealer's license or direct retail endorsement number, together with such sales receipt documents or information as may be required, to show the deliverer's name, quantity of fish, and date of the transaction and retain these with the food fish or shellfish.
(b) Fresh or frozen food fish or shellfish that are in transit through the state of Washington, if no storage, handling, processing, or repackaging occurs within the state.
(c) Private sector cultured aquatic products.
(d) Processed fish or shellfish.
(5) Fishers, fisher-wholesalers, and wholesalers shall determine the weight of baitfish contained in an average and normal brail and multiply the number of such brailers of baitfish by this weight factor and report such baitfish in both dozens and total weight: Provided, That it is lawful for such fishers, fisher-wholesalers, and wholesalers, when receiving herring, candlefish, anchovy, or pilchards for bait purposes, to delay completing that portion of the fish receiving ticket which indicates number of herring received, only if the herring, candlefish, anchovy, or pilchards are sold individually or counted as dozens. Such counts must be entered on the fish tickets immediately. An estimate of herring, candlefish, anchovy, or pilchards caught but not sold due to mortality must be included on the fish ticket as "loss estimate."
(6) It is lawful for an original receiver, when receiving purse seine-caught herring taken from Areas 20A, 20B, 21A, and 21B during the period April 16 through May 31, to delay completing that portion of the fish receiving ticket which indicates the weight of herring received only until the herring are off-loaded from the original receiver's vessel. The herring must then be weighed and the weight immediately entered in the appropriate space on the ticket. A separate state of Washington fish receiving ticket must be initiated at the time of each individual receipt of herring from the purse seine catching vessel.
(7) The original receiver of herring taken from Puget Sound Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch Areas 20A, 20B, 21A, and 21B, during the period April 16 through May 31 must report each calendar day's receipts by noon of the following day to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, LaConner, Washington; telephone 360-466-4345 ext. 243.
(8) It is unlawful for any person receiving or purchasing geoducks from fishers, firms, or individuals, regardless of whether or not the purchaser or receiver holds a license as required under Title 77 RCW, to fail to accurately and legibly complete the fish receiving ticket initiated on the harvest tract immediately upon the actual landing of geoducks from the harvesting vessel onto the shore. This fish receiving ticket shall accompany the harvested geoducks from the department of natural resources harvest tract to the point of landing.
(9) It is unlawful for the original receiver of Pacific whiting to fail to enter an estimated weight of Pacific whiting on the fish receiving ticket immediately upon completion of the landing. The exact weights of whiting, by grade, and all incidental species in the landing must be entered on the fish receiving ticket within twenty-four hours of the landing.
(10) It is unlawful for the original receiver of shrimp other than ghost shrimp taken from Puget Sound by pot gear to fail to report to the department the previous week's purchases by 10:00 a.m. the following Monday. For harvest in Crustacean Management Regions 1 or 2, reports must be made to the La Conner district office by voice 360-466-4345 extension 245, or facsimile 360-466-0515. For harvest in Crustacean Management Regions 3, 4, or 6, reports must be made to the Point Whitney Shellfish Laboratory by voice 360-796-4601, extension 800, or facsimile 360-586-8408. All reports must specify the serial numbers of the fish receiving tickets on which the previous week's shrimp were sold, and the total number of pounds caught by gear type, Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area (Catch Area), and species listed on each ticket. The fish receiving ticket reporting requirement of WAC 220-69-240 remains in effect.
(a) Every person originally receiving or purchasing shrimp, other than ghost shrimp, harvested from Catch Area 23A, shall record either 23A-E, 23A-W or 23A-S on shellfish receiving tickets based on the location of harvest and the boundary definitions specified in WAC 220-52-051.
(b) Every person originally receiving or purchasing shrimp, other than ghost shrimp, harvested from Catch Area 26A, shall record either 26A-E or 26A-W on shellfish receiving tickets based on the location of harvest and the boundary definitions specified in WAC 220-52-051.
(c) Every person originally receiving or purchasing shrimp, other than ghost shrimp, harvested from Catch Area 26B, shall record either 26B-1 or 26B-2 on shellfish receiving tickets based on the location of harvest and the boundary definitions specified in WAC 220-52-051.
(d) Every person originally receiving or purchasing shrimp, other than ghost shrimp, harvested from Catch Areas 20B, 21A, and 22A, shall record either 1A-20B, 1A-22A, 1B-20B, 1B-21A, 1B-22A, or 1C-21A on shellfish receiving tickets based on the location of harvest and the boundary definitions specified in WAC 220-52-051.
(11) It is unlawful for the original receiver of shrimp other than ghost shrimp taken from Puget Sound by trawl gear to fail to report to the department the previous day's purchases by 10:00 a.m. the following morning. For harvest in Crustacean Management Region 1, reports must be made to the La Conner district office by voice 360-466-4345 extension 245, or facsimile 360-466-0515. For harvest in Crustacean Management Region 3, reports must be made to the Point Whitney Shellfish Laboratory by voice 360-796-4601, extension 800, or facsimile 360-586-8408. All reports must specify the serial numbers of the fish receiving tickets on which the previous day's shrimp were sold, and the total number of pounds caught by gear type, Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area, and species listed on each ticket. The fish receiving ticket reporting requirement of WAC 220-69-240 remains in effect.
(12) It is unlawful for the original receiver to fail to initiate the completion of the fish receiving ticket immediately upon receipt of any portion of a commercial catch. Should the unloading of a catch take more than one day, the date that the unloading is completed shall be entered on the fish receiving ticket as the date of landing. If, for any purpose, the vessel leaves the unloading site, the original receiver must immediately enter the current date on the fish receiving ticket.
(13) During any fishery opening designated by rule as "quick reporting required," it is unlawful for any wholesale dealer acting in the capacity of an original receiver to fail to report a summary of all purchases of salmon and sturgeon made on the previous calendar day, or for a direct retail endorsement holder to fail to report a summary of all salmon offered for retail sale on the previous calendar day. The summary must include dealer name and purchasing location, date of purchase, list of fish ticket numbers used on the purchasing date, and the following summary catch data for each species purchased: Gear, catch area, species, number and total weight of fish. When quick reporting is required, it is unlawful to fail to comply with the following reporting requirements:
(a) Puget Sound summary reports must be reported by 10:00 a.m. on the day after the purchase date by either:
(i) Fax transmission to 360-902-2949
(ii) E-mail to psfishtickets@dfw.wa.gov or
(iii) Telephone to 1-866-791-1279
(b) Coastal troll summary reports must be reported by 10:00 a.m. on the day after the purchase date by either:
(i) Fax transmission to 360-902-2949
(ii) E-mail to trollfishtickets@dfw.wa.gov or
(iii) Telephone to 1-866-791-1279
(c) Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay summary reports must be reported by 10:00 a.m. on the day after the purchase date by either:
(i) Fax transmission to 360-664-0689
(ii) E-mail to harborfishtickets@dfw.wa.gov or
(iii) Telephone to 1-866-791-1280
(d) Columbia River summary reports must be reported by 10:00 a.m. on the day after the purchase date by either:
(i) Fax transmission to 360-906-6776 or 360-906-6777
(ii) E-mail to crfishtickets@dfw.wa.gov or
(iii) Telephone to 1-866-791-1281
(14) It is unlawful for any wholesale dealer acting in the capacity of an original receiver and receiving sea urchins or sea cucumbers from nontreaty fishers to fail to report to the department each day's purchases by 10:00 a.m. the following day. For red sea urchins the report must specify the number of pounds received from each sea urchin district. For green sea urchins and sea cucumbers the report must specify the number of pounds received from each Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area. The report must be made by facsimile (fax) transmission to 360-586-8408 or by telephone to 360-796-4601, extension 500. Additionally, it is unlawful for the original receiver of red sea urchins to fail to record on the fish receiving ticket the sea urchin district where the red sea urchins were taken, and it is unlawful for the original receiver of any sea urchins to fail to record on the fish receiving ticket the name of the port of landing where the sea urchins were landed ashore.
(15) It is unlawful for any original receiver of crab to fail to record all crab aboard the vessel making the delivery to the original receiver. The poundage of any crab deemed to be unmarketable, discards, or weigh backs must be shown on the fish receiving ticket, but a zero dollar value may be entered for such crab.
(16) It is unlawful for any original receiver of spot shrimp taken from Marine Fish Management and Catch Reporting Area 60A-1 to fail to record separately on the fish receiving ticket spot shrimp taken north or south of 47°04.00' north latitude.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047. 03-05-064 (Order 03-28), § 220-69-240, filed 2/18/03, effective 3/21/03; 03-05-059 (Order 03-32), § 220-69-240, filed 2/18/03, effective 3/21/03; 01-07-015 (Order 01-32), § 220-69-240, filed 3/13/01, effective 4/13/01. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 00-01-145 (Order 99-221), § 220-69-240, filed 12/20/99, effective 1/20/00; 97-08-052 (Order 97-55), § 220-69-240, filed 3/31/97, effective 5/1/97. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080 and 75.58.040. 86-19-043 (Order 86-102), § 220-69-240, filed 9/12/86. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 85-11-020 (Order 85-43), § 220-69-240, filed 5/10/85; 83-24-049 (Order 83-203), § 220-69-240, filed 12/2/83; 82-17-040 (Order 82-105), § 220-69-240, filed 8/13/82; 81-11-006 (Order 81-31), § 220-69-240, filed 5/11/81; Order 77-14, § 220-69-240, filed 4/15/77; Order 76-153, § 220-69-240, filed 12/17/76.]