PDFWAC 220-354-140

Puget Sound salmon—Lawful gear—Gillnet.

(1) It is unlawful to use drift gillnet salmon gear in Puget Sound that exceeds 1,800 feet in length or contains meshes of a size less than 5 inches.
(2) It is unlawful to use skiff gillnet salmon nets in Puget Sound that exceed 600 feet in length, 90 meshes in depth, or that contain meshes of a size less than 5 inches, except in Area 9A, where skiff gillnets are further restricted by not being more than 60 meshes deep. It is unlawful to retrieve skiff gillnets by any means except by hand (no hydraulics may be used). It is unlawful to fail to attend to skiff gillnets at all times.
(3) Drift gillnets and skiff gillnets shall be operated substantially in a straight line. It is unlawful to set such nets in a circle or to set them in other than a substantially straight line.
(a) It is unlawful to operate any drift gillnet, attended or unattended, unless there is affixed, within five feet of each end of the net, two red size A-3 buoys, marking the visible end of the cork line portion of the net. One of the two buoys shall be marked in a visible, legible, and permanent manner with the name and gillnet license number of the fisher.
(b) The cork line portion of the net shall be marked every 50 fathoms of the net with size A-1 buoys.
(4) It is unlawful to take or fish for salmon with gillnet gear in Areas 7 or 7A sockeye or pink salmon fisheries unless said gillnet gear is constructed so that the first 20 meshes below the cork line are composed of five-inch mesh, white opaque, minimum 210/30d (#12) diameter, nylon twine.
(5) It is unlawful to take or fish for salmon with gillnet gear when recovery box(es) are required in areas defined under WAC 220-301-030 unless the gillnet vessel has aboard and uses said operable recovery box(es) as described in this subsection.
(a) Dimensions and capacities of required recovery boxes:
(i) Recovery boxes must have two chambers, if one box, or one chamber in each box, if two boxes.
(ii) Each recovery box chamber must have an inside length measurement of 48 inches, an inside width measurement of 10 inches, and an inside height measurement of 16 inches.
(iii) Each chamber of the recovery box must have an inlet hole measuring between 3/4 inch and 1 inch in diameter. The inlet hole must be centered horizontally across the door or wall of the chamber, and the bottom of the hole must be located 1-3/4 inches above the floor of the chamber.
(iv) Each chamber of the recovery box must include a water outlet hole on the opposite wall from the inlet hole, and the outlet hole must be at least 1-1/2 inches in diameter, with the bottom of the outlet hole located 12 inches above the floor of the chamber.
(v) Flow of water through each chamber of the recovery boxes must be not less than 16 gallons per minute, nor more than 20 gallons per minute.
(b) Each box and chamber must be operating during any time that the net is being retrieved or picked.
(c) The vessel operator must demonstrate to department employees, upon request, that the pumping system is delivering the proper volume of fresh seawater into each chamber.
(d) All salmon not to be retained must be released immediately with care and with the least possible injury to the fish, or placed into the operating recovery box.
(e) Any fish that is bleeding or lethargic must be placed in the recovery box prior to being released.
(f) All fish placed in the recovery boxes must be released within the same catch area as the area of capture, and the release must occur prior to landing or docking.
(6) It is unlawful to fish for salmon with gillnet gear in Areas 7 and 7A unless the vessel operator has attended a "Fish Friendly" best fishing practices workshop and is in possession of a department-issued certification card.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.04.012, 77.04.013, 77.04.020, 77.04.055, and 77.12.047. WSR 17-05-112 (Order 17-04), amended and recodified as § 220-354-140, filed 2/15/17, effective 3/18/17. Statutory Authority: RCW 77.04.020, 77.12.045, and 77.12.047. WSR 10-14-129 (Order 10-137), § 220-47-302, filed 7/7/10, effective 8/7/10. Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047 and 77.04.020. WSR 09-15-054 (Order 09-108), § 220-47-302, filed 7/9/09, effective 8/9/09; WSR 07-20-006, § 220-47-302, filed 9/20/07, effective 10/21/07. Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047. WSR 06-16-045 (Order 06-173), § 220-47-302, filed 7/26/06, effective 8/26/06; WSR 05-17-002 (Order 05-166), § 220-47-302, filed 8/3/05, effective 9/3/05; WSR 04-16-125 (Order 04-202), § 220-47-302, filed 8/4/04, effective 9/4/04; WSR 03-18-005 (Order 03-210), § 220-47-302, filed 8/20/03, effective 9/20/03. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. WSR 99-24-011 (99-202), § 220-47-302, filed 11/19/99, effective 12/20/99; WSR 97-16-030 (Order 97-124), § 220-47-302, filed 7/29/97, effective 8/29/97; WSR 93-14-041 (Order 93-55), § 220-47-302, filed 6/29/93, effective 7/30/93; WSR 92-15-105 (Order 92-47), § 220-47-302, filed 7/20/92, effective 8/20/92; Order 988, § 220-47-302, filed 4/28/72.]