Effective Date of Rule: March 1, 2013.

     Purpose: Amend recreational fishing rules.

     Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 232-28-61900V; 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: Recent analysis of the steelhead fishery in the upper Columbia River revealed additional natural-origin steelhead impacts remain under current NOAA permit. Reopening steelhead fisheries in the Methow River will help to reduce the proportion of hatchery fish on the spawning grounds and further reduce competition between natural-origin and hatchery juvenile production. Sections of the Okanogan River around the mouth of Omak and Tonasket creeks will be closed to protect natural-origin steelhead staging prior to spawning within those tributaries. 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     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0;      Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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: February 26, 2013.

Philip Anderson

Director

     (1) Mandatory retention of adipose fin-clipped steelhead: daily limit two (2) hatchery steelhead, 20-inch minimum size. Hatchery steelhead are identified by a clipped adipose fin with a healed scar in its location.

     (2) Adipose-present steelhead must be released unharmed and cannot be removed from the water prior to release.

     (3) Night closure and selective gear rules remain in effect, except bait allowed on mainstem Columbia River.

     (4) Whitefish anglers must follow selective gear rules in areas open to steelhead fishing. No bait is allowed. Daily whitefish limit fifteen (15) fish.

     (a) A person may fish for steelhead in the Columbia River from Rock Island Dam to the boundary markers below Wells Dam and from the Highway 173 Bridge in Brewster to 400 feet below Chief Joseph Dam.

     (b) A person may fish for steelhead in the Wenatchee River from the mouth to 400 feet below Tumwater Dam, including the Icicle River from the mouth to 500 feet downstream of the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery Barrier Dam.

     (c) A person may fish for steelhead in the Okanogan River from the mouth upstream to the Highway 97 Bridge in Oroville. However, effective one hour after sunset on March 17, 2013, closed from the first powerline crossing downstream of the Hwy 155 Bridge in Omak (Coulee Dam Credit Union Building) to the mouth of Omak Creek, and from the Tonasket Lagoons Park boat launch to the Tonasket Bridge (4th Street).

     (d) A person may fish for steelhead and whitefish in the Methow River from the mouth (Hwy 97 Bridge) to the confluence with the Chewuch River in Winthrop. Fishing from a floating device is prohibited from the second powerline crossing (1 mile upstream from the mouth) to the first Hwy 153 bridge (4 miles upstream from the mouth).

     (e) A person may fish for steelhead in the Similkameen River from the mouth upstream to 400 feet below Enloe Dam.

     (f) A person may fish for whitefish in the Wenatchee River from the mouth to the Hwy 2 bridge at Leavenworth.

     (5) It is unlawful to fish for whitefish in the following waters:

     (a) Entiat River: Upstream from the Alternate Highway 97 Bridge near the mouth of the Entiat River, to Entiat Falls.

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     The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed effective one hour before official sunrise March 1, 2013:

WAC 232-28-61900V

Exceptions to statewide rules -- Columbia, Entiat, Icicle, Methow, Okanogan, Similkameen, and Wenatchee rivers. (13-28)