EMERGENCY RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Effective Date of Rule: Immediately.
Purpose: Amend commercial fishing rules.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 220-40-02100B; and amending WAC 220-40-021.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.12.047 and 77.04.020.
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 emergency rule is needed to implement fisheries developed through the 2011 North of Falcon salmon season setting process. There is insufficient time to adopt 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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: August 1, 2011.
Lori Preuss
for Philip Anderson
Director
Fishing Periods:
(1) Gill net gear may be used to fish for salmon and
white sturgeon only as shown below. All non-legal sturgeon,
all steelhead, and all other species, including Chinook, coho,
chum and white sturgeon, must be handled with care to minimize
injury to the fish and must be released immediately to the
river/bay:
| Time: | Area: |
| 6:00 a.m. August 8 through 6:00 p.m. August 11, 2011. | Areas 2M, 2N, 2R, 2T, and 2U |
(2) Gill net gear restrictions - All areas:
(a) Drift gill net gear only. It is unlawful to use set net gear. It is permissible to have on board a commercial vessel more than one net, provided the nets are of a mesh size that is legal for the fishery, and the length of any one net does not exceed one thousand five hundred feet in length.
Nets with a mesh size different from that being actively fished must be properly stored. A properly stored net is defined as a net on a drum that is fully covered by a tarp (canvas or plastic) and bound with a minimum of ten revolutions of rope that is 3/8 (0.375) inches or greater.
It is unlawful to use a gill net to fish for salmon and/or white sturgeon if the lead line weighs more than two pounds per fathom of net as measured on the cork line. This does not supersede the rule for drift gillnet as defined in WAC 220-16-040, where it states a drift gillnet or drift net gear shall be defined as a gillnet of single web construction not anchored, tied, staked, placed or weighted in such a manner that it cannot drift.
(b) Mesh size must not exceed nine inches.
(c) Only one net may be fished at a time; other nets must be properly stored.
(d) All non-legal sturgeon and all steelhead must be handled with care to minimize injury to the fish and must be released immediately to the river/bay when fishing in Willapa Bay Salmon Management Catch Reporting Areas (SMCRA) 2K, 2M, 2N, 2R, 2T, and 2U.
Other:
(3) Quick reporting is required for wholesale dealers and fishers retailing their catch under a "direct retail endorsement." According to WAC 220-69-240(12), reports must be made by 10:00 a.m. the day following landing.
(4) NOAA Fisheries listed the southern population of green sturgeon as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, effective July 6, 2006. Therefore, the retention of green sturgeon is strictly prohibited to protect this federally protected stock.
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The following section of the Washington Administrative
Code is repealed effective August 16, 2011:
| WAC 220-40-02100B | Willapa Bay salmon -- Summer fishery. |