Effective Date of Rule: Immediately.

     Purpose: Amend recreational fishing rules.

     Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 232-28-61900U; and amending WAC 232-28-619.

     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 year approximately 9,500 adult sockeye salmon trapped at Priest Rapids Dam on the Columbia River have been released into Cle Elum Lake. An additional five hundred sockeye have been transported to Cooper Lake near Salmon La Sac. Few anadromous sockeye will be smaller than sixteen inches, and few landlocked Kokanee are greater than twelve inches. Therefore a fourteen inch maximum size limit will allow Kokanee fisheries in both lakes to proceed without inadvertently harvesting adult sockeye dedicated to the reintroduction effort and needed for natural spawning in the fall. The seven inch minimum size for retention will protect juvenile anadromous sockeye rearing in the two lakes from being inadvertently harvested before they migrate to the ocean. 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     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0;      Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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: July 13, 2012.

David Giglio

for Philip Anderson

Director

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     The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed effective November 1, 2012:

WAC 232-28-61900U

Exceptions to statewide rules -- Cooper Lake and Cle Elum Lake (Reservoir).

© Washington State Code Reviser's Office