[Order 20-44—Filed March 10, 2020, 12:25 p.m., effective March 16, 2020]

Effective Date of Rule: March 16, 2020.

Purpose: Amend fishing rules for Klickitat River, Wind River, Drano Lake, and Salmon Creek.

Citation of Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 220-312-03000I; and amending WAC 220-312-030.

Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.04.012, 77.04.020, 77.12.045, and 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 rule is needed to reduce the adult salmon daily limit for the Wind River, Klickitat River, and Drano Lake. This rule is also needed to open retention of hatchery steelhead returning to Salmon Creek.

An estimated two thousand adult spring Chinook are forecast to return to the Wind River in 2020. Managers need to reduce the adult salmon daily limit to ensure that broodstock collection goals are achieved. Reducing the adult salmon daily limit will provide continued opportunity for anglers to harvest Spring Chinook and help ensure future hatchery returns.

An estimated four thousand six hundred adult spring Chinook are forecast to return to Drano Lake in 2020. Managers need to reduce the adult salmon daily limit to ensure that broodstock collection goals are achieved. Reducing the adult salmon daily limit will provide continued opportunity for anglers to harvest Spring Chinook and help ensure future hatchery returns.

An estimated one thousand eight hundred adult spring Chinook are forecast to return to the Klickitat River in 2019. Managers need to reduce the adult salmon daily limit to ensure that hatchery Chinook broodstock goals are achieved. Reducing the adult salmon daily limit will provide continued opportunity for anglers to harvest Spring Chinook and help ensure future hatchery returns.

Recent changes to hatchery steelhead programs, resulting from the Mitchell Act Biological Opinion, have resulted in the replacement of "early" returning winter steelhead stocks with local stocks that exhibit a somewhat later run timing. This rule opens hatchery steelhead fishing during the timeframe outlined above and provides anglers with additional time to harvest these fish from Salmon Creek.

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 the 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: March 10, 2020.

WAC 220-312-03000Freshwater exceptions to statewide rules—Southwest.

Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-312-030, effective March 16, 2020 until further notice:

(1) Cispus River (Lewis Co.): Chinook Salmon: Closed.

(2) Cowlitz Falls Reservoir (Lake Scanewa) (Lewis Co.): Chinook Salmon: Closed.

(3) Cowlitz River (Cowlitz Co.): Chinook Salmon: Closed.

(4) Drano Lake (Skamania Co.): in the waters downstream of markers on point of land downstream and across from Little White Salmon National Fish hatchery and upstream of Highway 14 Bridge; Salmon and steelhead: Daily limit 2, no more than 1 may be an adult salmon. Only hatchery Chinook and hatchery steelhead may be retained.

(5) Kalama River (Cowlitz Co.): From the mouth upstream to 1000 feet below the fishway at the upper salmon hatchery; Salmon: Daily limit 6; up to 1 may be an adult. Release all salmon other than hatchery Chinook and hatchery coho.

(6) Klickitat River (Klickitat Co.):

(a) From the mouth (Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge) to Fisher Hill Bridge, effective immediately until further notice:

(i) Salmon and steelhead: Effective April 1 through May 22, 2020:

(A) Open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays only.

(B) Daily limit 2, no more than 1 may be an adult salmon; release wild Chinook and wild steelhead.

(ii) Salmon: Effective May 23, 2020 until further notice: Daily limit 6, up to 1 adult may be retained. Release wild Chinook.

(b) From 400 feet upstream of the #5 fishway to the boundary markers below Klickitat Salmon Hatchery, effective May 23, 2020 until further notice: Salmon: Daily limit 6. Up to 1 adult may be retained. Release wild Chinook.

(7) Lewis River (Clark/Cowlitz Co.): Salmon: Closed.

(8) Salmon Creek (Clark Co.), from the mouth to the 182 Avenue bridge, effective immediately through May 22, 2020; Steelhead:

(i) Selective gear rules, except barbed hooks are allowed.

(ii) Minimum size 20 inches. Daily limit 3. Release wild steelhead.

(9) Wind River (Skamanaia Co.):

(a) From the mouth to 400 feet downstream of Shipherd Falls fish ladder, effective March 16, 2020 until further notice; Salmon and steelhead: Daily limit 6; no more than 2 hatchery steelhead, or 1 hatchery steelhead and 1 adult salmon may be retained: Release wild Chinook, wild coho, and wild steelhead.

(b) From 100 feet upstream of Shipherd Falls to 800 yards downstream of Carson National Fish Hatchery, effective May 1, 2020 until further notice: Daily limit 6; no more than 2 hatchery steelhead, or 1 hatchery steelhead and 1 adult salmon may be retained.

Reviser's note: The section above appears as filed by the agency pursuant to RCW 34.08.040; however, the reference to WAC 220-312-03000 is probably intended to be WAC 220-312-03000J.

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.

The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed effective March 16, 2020:

Freshwater exceptions to statewide rules—Southwest. (20-35)