EMERGENCY RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Date of Adoption: September 23, 2003.
Purpose: Amend commercial fishing rules.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 220-52-05100J; and amending WAC 220-52-051.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.12.047.
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: This rule is necessary to meet allocation, conservation and management agreements. Openings and closures are consistent with these elements. Commercial shrimp quotas are available in the area opened by this rule. A weekly landing limit for spot shrimp is necessary to reduce risk of overharvest, maintain an orderly fishery, provide the ability to enforce state/tribal plan requirements, and to ensure conservation. 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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Repealed 0;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Repealed 0;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Repealed 0.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:
Immediately.
September 23, 2003
J. P. Koenings
Director
by Larry Peck
(1) Shrimp pot gear:
(a) Waters of Shrimp Management Areas 1B, 1C, 2-E (east), 2-W (west), and Crustacean Management Regions 3 and 6, are open to the harvest of all shrimp species, except as provided below:
(i) Effective immediately, until further notice, waters of Shrimp Management Areas 1B, 1C, 2-E (east), 2-W (west), and Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch and Reporting Areas 23A-S (south), 23B, 23C, 23D, 25A, 25D and 26D are closed to the harvest of spot shrimp.
(ii) Waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch and Reporting Areas 23A-W (west), and 23A-E (east) are closed to the harvest of all shrimp species.
(iii) Effective immediately until further notice, that portion of Port Townsend Bay south of the 48°06'N latitude line and north of the 48°04'N latitude line and east of the 122°46'W longitude line which is closed to the harvest of all shrimp species.
(iv) Effective immediately, until further notice, all waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch and Reporting Area 25A found within the Discovery Bay Shrimp District are open to the harvest of non-spot shrimp.
i. There is a 10-pot per vessel limit when fishing in this portion of Catch Area 25A.
ii. Landings from this area must be hailed as coming from the Discovery Bay Shrimp District portion of Catch Area 25A.
(v) Closures provided for in WAC 220-52-051 (2)(c) with the exception of the Discovery Bay Shrimp District remain in effect.
(b) Effective immediately, it is unlawful for the combined total harvest of spot shrimp by a fisher and/or the fisher's alternate operator to exceed 600 pounds per week, or to exceed 300 pounds per week from Crustacean Management Region 6. Any fisher whose weekly shrimp harvest activity is exclusively limited to Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch and Reporting Area 29 shall not be subject to the weekly spot shrimp trip limit. The spot shrimp trip limit accounting week is Monday through Sunday. It is unlawful to fish for any shrimp while in possession on board the fishing vessel spot shrimp harvested from the previous trip limit accounting week or weeks.
(c) 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. Fishers may move all of their shellfish pot gear from one Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area to another Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area if a harvest report is made before the shellfish pot gear is moved. The harvest activity report must be made consistent with the provisions of WAC 220-52-075 and must also include number of pots being moved to a new area and the Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area that the pots are being moved to.
(d) It is unlawful to set or pull shellfish pots in one Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area while in possession of shrimp harvested from another Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area except shellfish pots may be set in a new fishing area subsequent to making a report as indicated in Section 1(c) above.
(2) Shrimp beam trawl gear:
(a) Crustacean Management Region 3 outside of the shrimp districts: Open immediately until further notice.
(b) Shrimp Management Area 1B: open immediately, until further notice, except as provided below:
(i) Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 20B closed immediately until further notice.
(c) Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 20A: open immediately until further notice.
(3) It is unlawful to set or pull shrimp using shellfish pot or shrimp beam trawl gear from one hour after official sunset to one hour before official sunrise.
(4) All shrimp taken under this section must be sold to licensed Washington wholesale fish dealers.
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The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed:
| WAC 220-52-05100J | Puget Sound shrimp pot and beam trawl fishery -- Seasons. (03-232) |