H-2108              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 2197

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representatives Vekich and Winsley

Read first time 3/1/89 and referred to Committee on Fisheries & Wildlife.

AN ACT Relating to a Hood Canal marine fish preservation area; and adding a new section to chapter 75.08 RCW.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 75.08 RCW to read as follows:

          All marine fishing areas in Hood Canal south of the Hood Canal floating bridge are established as a marine fish preservation area. This designation is intended to preserve, protect, and enhance the marine fish resource, to restore the historic productivity of the fish resource, and to encourage the full development of recreational fishing opportunities.

          The director of fisheries shall incrementally reduce the commercial fishery harvest of all food fish, but not food fish produced by private aquaculture or herring used as fishing bait, within the Hood Canal recreational fishing waters to achieve a significant reduction in the commercial fishery within four years of the effective date of this act.  The reduction in commercial food fish catch shall be twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, and one hundred percent in the first, second, third, and fourth years, respectively.

          The director may allow terminal area Hood Canal commercial net fisheries that are restricted to zones within one-half mile of a salmon hatchery discharge, or within one-half mile of the mouth of a river which has a salmon hatchery operating within its watershed, if there are sufficient salmon to be surplus to the fish culture needs of the hatchery.

          The director shall allow sufficient escapement of Hood Canal origin salmon in mixed stock fisheries outside of Hood Canal to result in adequate numbers of salmon returning to Hood Canal for natural escapement needs, hatchery escapement needs, and recreational fishing opportunity.

          Should the tribes claim forgone opportunity to increase the tribal catch of salmon, the restrictions on commercial salmon harvesting shall be nullified for that salmon run until an agreement can be reached with the respective tribe(s) to either compensate the commercial non-Indian fishers on future harvests or eliminate future claims of forgone opportunity.