Brief Description: Authorizing a geoduck planting pilot program.

Sponsors: Representatives Appleton, B. Sullivan, Eickmeyer and Cody.

Hearing Date: 1/31/06

Staff: Jeff Olsen (786-7157).

Background:

Geoducks (Panopea abrupta) are large burrowing clams found in quantities sufficient for commercial harvest in Puget Sound, Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the San Juan Islands.

Commercial harvest of geoduck clams on state-owned aquatic lands is managed jointly by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), and, as a result of a federal court decision, the Puget Sound Treaty Indian tribes. The federal court affirmed the tribes' right to 50 percent of the annual commercial harvest of geoducks and established cooperative shellfish resource management requirements for the state and the tribes. The state and the tribes are responsible for estimating geoduck population size, determining sustainable yield, and minimizing adverse effects to the environment.

The DNR is required to manage geoducks as valuable materials and offers commercial harvest rights to the highest bidder. Half of the revenue supports management of state-owned aquatic lands and resources, and the other half supports the Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account for public access and habitat restoration. The DFW is authorized to issue geoduck fishery licenses for commercial harvest. The DNR and the DFW have civil and criminal enforcement authority for state laws, regulations, and contract conditions that apply to commercial harvest.

Hood Canal is a glacier-carved fjord approximately 60 miles in length with approximately 180 miles of shoreline. Portions of Hood Canal have had low-dissolved oxygen concentrations for many years. In 2005, authority was provided to establish aquatic rehabilitation zones (ARZs) for areas whose surrounding marine water bodies pose serious environmental or public health concerns. The first ARZ, known as ARZ One, was created for the watersheds that drain into Hood Canal south of a line projected from Tala Point in Jefferson County to Foulweather Bluff in Kitsap County.

Summary of Bill:

The DNR, in consultation with the DFW, must implement a pilot program to examine subtidal geoduck aquaculture within the ARZ One in Hood Canal. The program must be designed to determine if geoduck plantings will result in reestablishment of harvestable populations of geoduck in areas affected by low-dissolved oxygen levels. The program shall compare the test sites with other sites within ARZ One in Hood Canal.

The program must test populations and growth rates for at least five years. By December 31, 2011, the DNR shall report the results and recommendations to the appropriate committees of the Legislature.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Requested on 1/26/06.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.