Effective Date of Rule: Immediately.

     Purpose: Amend recreational fishing rules.

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

     Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.12.045, 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: Reopens the area in Bonneville Pool for four days to sturgeon retention during the summer season. A portion of the Bonneville Pool sturgeon sport guideline was set aside to allow for a summer retention period. Over seven hundred of the one thousand one hundred sturgeon on the quota remain available for harvest. The dates for retention of white sturgeon are based on actions adopted at the joint Washington-Oregon public hearings on January 30 and May 14, 2013. 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     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.

     Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

     Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0;      Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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: May 15, 2013.

Philip Anderson

Director

     (1) Effective June 14-15 (Friday and Saturday) and June 21-22 (Friday and Saturday), 2013, it is it is permissible to retain white sturgeon caught in those waters of the Columbia River and tributaries from Bonneville Dam upstream to The Dalles Dam. Legal size when open to retain white sturgeon in this area is 38 inches minimum and 54 inches maximum fork length.

     (2) Effective immediately until further notice, it is unlawful to retain white sturgeon caught in those waters of the Columbia River and all adjacent Washington tributaries from the Wauna powerlines upstream to Bonneville Dam, except that a person may retain white sturgeon on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through June 15, 2013.

     (3) Effective immediately through August 31, 2013, it is unlawful to fish for sturgeon from Bonneville Dam downstream 9 miles to a line crossing the Columbia River from navigation marker 82 on the Oregon shore, westerly to the boundary marker on the Washington shore upstream of Fir Point.

     (4) Effective immediately through June 30, 2013, it is permissible to retain white sturgeon caught in those waters of the Columbia River from the mouth upstream to the Wauna powerlines, and in all adjacent Washington tributaries. Legal size when open to retain white sturgeon in this area is 41 inches minimum and 54 inches maximum fork length.

     (5) Effective July 1 through August 31, 2013, until further notice, it is unlawful to retain white sturgeon caught in those waters of the Columbia River from the mouth upstream to Bonneville Dam and in all adjacent Washington tributaries.

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     Reviser's note: The typographical 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:

WAC 232-28-61900P

Exceptions to statewide rules -- Columbia River sturgeon. (13-67)