5592-S.E

AN ACT Relating to coastal crab fishing licenses; and amending RCW 75.30.350.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 75.30.350 and 1994 c 260 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Effective January 1, 1995, it is unlawful to fish for coastal crab in Washington state waters without a Dungeness crabCcoastal or a Dungeness crabCcoastal class B fishery license. Gear used must consist of one buoy attached to each crab pot. Each crab pot must be fished individually.

(2) A Dungeness crabCcoastal fishery license is transferable. Such a license shall only be issued to a person who proved active historical participation in the coastal crab fishery by having designated, after December 31, 1993, a vessel or a replacement vessel on the qualifying license that singly or in combination meets the following criteria:

(a) Made a minimum of eight coastal crab landings totaling a minimum of five thousand pounds per season in at least two of the four qualifying seasons identified in subsection (4) of this section, as documented by valid Washington state shellfish receiving tickets; and showed historical and continuous participation in the coastal crab fishery by having held one of the following licenses or their equivalents each calendar year beginning 1990 through 1993, and was designated on the qualifying license of the person who held one of the following licenses in 1994:

(i) Crab potCNon-Puget Sound license, issued under RCW 75.28.130(1)(b);

(ii) Nonsalmon delivery license, issued under RCW 75.28.125;

(iii) Salmon troll license, issued under RCW 75.28.110;

(iv) Salmon delivery license, issued under RCW 75.28.113;

(v) Food fish trawl license, issued under RCW 75.28.120; or

(vi) Shrimp trawl license, issued under RCW 75.28.130; or

(b) Made a minimum of four landings of coastal crab totaling two thousand pounds during the period from December 1, 1991, to March 20, 1992, and made a minimum of eight crab landings totaling a minimum of five thousand pounds of coastal crab during each of the following periods: December 1, 1991, to September 15, 1992; December 1, 1992, to September 15, 1993; and December 1, 1993, to September 15, 1994. For landings made after December 31, 1993, the vessel shall have been designated on the qualifying license of the person making the landings.

(3) A Dungeness crabCcoastal class B fishery license is not transferable. Such a license shall be issued to persons who do not meet the qualification criteria for a Dungeness crabCcoastal fishery license, if the person has designated on a qualifying license after December 31, 1993, a vessel or replacement vessel that, singly or in combination, made a minimum of four landings totaling a minimum of two thousand pounds of coastal crab, documented by valid Washington state shellfish receiving tickets, during at least one of the four qualifying seasons, and if the person has participated continuously in the coastal crab fishery by having held or by having owned a vessel that held one or more of the licenses listed in subsection (2) of this section in each calendar year subsequent to the qualifying season in which qualifying landings were made through 1994. Dungeness crabCcoastal class B fishery licenses cease to exist after December 31, 1999, and the continuing license provisions of RCW 34.05.422(3) are not applicable.

(4) The four qualifying seasons for purposes of this section are:

(a) December 1, 1988, through September 15, 1989;

(b) December 1, 1989, through September 15, 1990;

(d) December 1, 1991, through September 15, 1992.

(5) For purposes of this section and RCW 75.30.420, "coastal crab" means Dungeness crab (cancer magister) taken in all Washington territorial and offshore waters south of the United States-Canada boundary and west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line (a line from the western end of Cape Flattery to Tatoosh Island lighthouse, then to the buoy adjacent to Duntz Rock, then in a straight line to Bonilla Point of Vancouver island), Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, and the Columbia river.

(6) For purposes of this section, "replacement vessel" means a vessel used in the coastal crab fishery in 1994, and that replaces a vessel used in the coastal crab fishery during any period from 1988 through 1993, and which vessel's licensing and catch history, together with the licensing and catch history of the vessel it replaces, qualifies a single applicant for a Dungeness crabCcoastal or Dungeness crabCcoastal class B fishery license. A Dungeness crabCcoastal or Dungeness crabCcoastal class B fishery license may only be issued to a person who designated a vessel in the 1994 coastal crab fishery and who designated the same vessel in 1995.