Effective Date of Rule: September 10, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

     Purpose: Amend commercial fishing rules.

     Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 220-47-50100F.

     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 regulation provides for Pacific Salmon Commission authorized pink-targeted fisheries in Areas 7 and 7A. These emergency rules are necessary to initiate fisheries, which are not expected to exceed chinook by-catch levels modeled during the preseason process. 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     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0;      Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Date Adopted: September 7, 2007.

J. P. Koenings

Director

     Areas 7 and 7A:

     (1) Purse Seines - Open to purse seine gear according to the times, dates, and conditions as prescribed and listed here:

	Hours	Dates
	5 AM to 9 PM daily for vessels fishing using an operating recovery box throughout the entire open period.	September 10
	9 AM to 9 PM daily for vessels NOT using an operating recovery box throughout the entire open period.	September 10

     (a) It is unlawful to retain chinook, sockeye, coho, and chum salmon.

     (b) It is unlawful to bring salmon aboard a vessel unless all salmon captured in the seine net are removed from the seine net using a brailer or dip net, meeting the specifications in WAC 220-47-325, prior to the seine net being removed from the water, except all salmon must be immediately sorted and those required to be released, must be placed in an operating recovery box or released into the water before the next brail may be brought on the deck. However, small numbers of fish may be brought on board the vessel by pulling the net in without mechanical or hydraulic assistance.

     (c) It is unlawful to fish for salmon with purse seine gear in Areas 7 and 7A unless the vessel operator has attended a "Fish Friendly" best fishing practices workshop and is in possession of a department issued certification card.

     (2) Gill Nets - Open to gill net gear with 5 inch minimum and 5 1/2 inch maximum mesh size according to the times, dates, and conditions as prescribed and listed here:

	Hours	Dates
	8 AM to 12 AM (midnight).	September 10

     (a) It is unlawful to retain sockeye salmon, and those salmon required to be released must be done so immediately.

     (b) It is unlawful to fish for salmon with gill net gear in Areas 7 and 7A unless the vessel operator has attended a "Fish Friendly" best fishing practices workshop and is in possession of a department issued certification card.

     (3) Reef Nets - Open to reef net gear according to the times, dates, and conditions as prescribed and listed here:

	Hours	Dates
	5 AM to 9 PM.	September 8, September 9, September 10

     It is unlawful to retain chinook and sockeye salmon at all times, and it is unlawful to retain chum and wild coho salmon prior to October 1. It is unlawful to fish for salmon with reef net gear in Areas 7 and 7A unless the vessel operator has attended a "Fish Friendly" best fishing practices workshop and is in possession of a department issued certification card.

     (4) Fishers in the Point Roberts Area shall observe a closed zone inside a line from 1/4 mile due west of the Iverson Dock Origin to 1/4 mile radius around the southwest corner of Point Roberts (the Spit) to the Can Buoy at the reef southeast of the southeastern corner of Point Roberts. Waters north and west of the Area 7A "Iwerson Dock Line" (a line projected from Iwerson Dock on Point Roberts to the Georgina Point light at the entrance to Active Pass in the Province of British Columbia) will also be closed to commercial harvest of salmon previously described in the above sections.

     "Quick Reporting Fisheries":

     All fisheries opened under this section, and any fishery openings under authority of the Fraser Panel for sockeye or pink salmon in Puget Sound Salmon Management and Catch Reporting Areas (WAC 220-22-030) are designated as "Quick Reporting Required" per WAC 220-47-001.

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     Reviser's note: The spelling error in the above section occurred in the copy filed by the agency and appears in the Register pursuant to the requirements of RCW 34.08.040.
REPEALER

     The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed effective 12:01 a.m. September 11, 2007:

WAC 220-47-50100F

Puget Sound all-citizen commercial salmon fishery.

© Washington State Code Reviser's Office