H-1011              _______________________________________________

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 778

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Representatives Sayan, Hargrove, Basich, Vekich, Fisch and P. King

Read first time 2/9/87 and referred to Committee on Natural Resources.

AN ACT Relating to chinook salmon; and reenacting and amending RCW 75.08.020.

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

        Sec. 1.  Section 75.08.020, chapter 12, Laws of 1955 as last amended by section 1, chapter 93, Laws of 1985 and by section 1, chapter 208, Laws of 1985 and RCW 75.08.020 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

          (1) The director shall investigate the habits, supply, and economic use of food fish and shellfish in state and offshore waters.

          (2) The director shall make an annual report to the governor on the operation of the department and the statistics of the fishing industry.

          (3) The director shall provide a comprehensive annual report of all departmental operations to the legislature on or before October 30 of each year to reflect the previous fiscal year.  The format of the report shall be similar to reports issued by the department from 1964-1970 and the report shall include, but not be limited to, descriptions of all department activities including:  Revenues generated, program costs, capital expenditures, personnel, special projects, new and ongoing research, environmental controls, cooperative projects, intergovernmental agreements, and outlines of ongoing litigation, recent court decisions and orders on major issues with the potential for state liability.  The report shall describe the status of the resource and its recreational, commercial, and tribal utilization.  The report shall be given to the house and senate committees on ways and means and the house and senate committees on natural resources and shall be made available to the public.

          (4) The director, in cooperation with the director of game and the dean of the college of fisheries at the University of Washington, shall develop proposals to reinstate the natural salmon and steelhead trout fish runs in the Tilton and upper Cowlitz rivers.  The proposals shall include specific recommendations for legislation and estimates of the costs of replenishing the fish runs by 1991, but shall not include alternatives to replenishing the fish runs.  Proposals under this subsection shall be submitted by the director and the director of game to the legislature no later than January 1986.

(5) The department shall authorize a chinook salmon sport fishery in the Grays Harbor watershed no later than 1988.