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. Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, 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))) (5) 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 Washington 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; or
(c) Made any number
of coastal crab landings totaling a minimum of twenty thousand pounds per
season in at least two of the four qualifying seasons identified in subsection
(5) of this section, as documented by valid Washington state shellfish
receiving tickets, showed historical and continuous participation in the
coastal crab fishery by having held one of the qualifying licenses each
calendar year beginning 1990 through 1993, and the vessel was designated on the
qualifying license of the person who held that license in 1994.
(3) A Dungeness
crab-coastal fishery license shall be issued to a person who had a new vessel
under construction between December 1, 1988, and September 15, 1992, if the
vessel made coastal crab landings totaling a minimum of five thousand pounds by
September 15, 1993, and the new vessel was designated on the qualifying license
of the person who held that license in 1994. All landings shall be documented
by valid Washington state shellfish receiving tickets. License applications
under this subsection may be subject to review by the advisory review board in
accordance with RCW 75.30.050. For purposes of this subsection, "under
construction" means either:
(a)(i) A contract
for any part of the work was signed before September 15, 1992; and
(ii) The contract
for the vessel under construction was not transferred or otherwise alienated
from the contract holder between the date of the contract and the issuance of
the Dungeness crab-coastal fishery license; and
(iii) Construction
had not been completed before December 1, 1988; or
(b)(i) The keel was
laid before September 15, 1992; and
(ii) Vessel
ownership was not transferred or otherwise alienated from the owner between the
time the keel was laid and the issuance of the Dungeness crab-coastal fishery
license; and
(iii) Construction
had not been completed before December 1, 1988.
(4) 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))) (5)
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;
(c) December 1, 1990,
through September 15, 1991; and
(d) December 1, 1991,
through September 15, 1992.
(((5))) (6)
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.
(7) 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.
