H-0122

AN ACT Relating to the loss of nets in the aquatic environment; adding new sections to chapter 75.28 RCW; adding a new section to Title 82 RCW; creating a new section; prescribing penalties; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that many fishing nets lost in the aquatic environment continue to catch crabs, fish, sea birds, and other marine organisms for months and years. Nets have been located in which thousands of fish, crabs, marine mammals, and other marine organisms have become trapped and died.

It is the intent of the legislature to conserve the state's aquatic resources by reducing the loss of food fish, game fish, and other marine organisms caused by abandoned fishing nets.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definition in this section applies throughout sections 3 through 5 of this act.

"Fishing net" and "net" mean the following fishing nets used by the commercial fishing industry: Gill nets, seine nets, and trawl nets.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) Abandoning or discarding a net in state waters is prohibited, except in cases in which the net is caught on an obstruction and cannot be freed, or if the net was inadvertently lost and cannot be located.

(2) If a net must be abandoned because it is caught on an obstruction or if a net is inadvertently lost, the owner shall notify the department within fifteen days of the date the net was abandoned or lost. The owner must provide information on the net's location, date of abandonment, and reason for abandoning the net.

(3) Intentionally discarding a net into the marine environment or failing to notify the department of a lost or abandoned fishing net within fifteen days shall be punishable under chapter 7.84 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. The department shall be responsible for recovering, or coordinating the recovery of, abandoned and lost nets when a net is identified as posing a threat, or a potential threat, to marine organism or seabird populations. The department also shall conduct educational programs and take other actions designed to reduce the number of nets lost in the aquatic environment. The department shall target divers in their educational program and encourage divers to report lost nets to the department.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. The lost fishing net recovery fund is hereby created in the custody of the state treasury. All fees received by the department of revenue under section 6 of this act shall be deposited in the fund. Any money received for the purposes of carrying out this chapter from other sources may be deposited in the fund. Expenditures from the fund may be used only by the department of fisheries for the purposes of section 4 of this act. The fund is subject to allotment procedures under chapter 43.88 RCW, but no appropriation is required for expenditures.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. A new section is added to Title 82 RCW to read as follows:

There is hereby levied and there shall be collected by the department of revenue from every person engaging within this state in business as a retailer of commercial trawl nets, commercial purse seine nets, or commercial gill nets, or components of these nets, an annual lost fishing net recovery tax equal to the value of the nets sold within the state multiplied by one percent. Moneys collected from the tax shall be deposited into the lost fishing net recovery fund created in section 5 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 2 through 5 of this act are each added to chapter 75.28 RCW.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. Sections 2 through 6 of this act shall take effect January 1, 1992. The department of fisheries and the department of revenue may immediately take such steps as are necessary to ensure that sections 2 through 6 of this act are implemented on January 1, 1992.