WSR 98-17-057

EMERGENCY RULES

DEPARTMENT OF

FISH AND WILDLIFE

[Order 98-165--Filed August 14, 1998, 4:54 p.m.]



Date of Adoption: August 14, 1998.

Purpose: Personal use rules.

Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 220-47-307.

Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 75.08.080.

Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that immediate adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is necessary for the preservation of the public health, safety, or general welfare, and that observing the time requirements of notice and opportunity to comment upon adoption of a permanent rule would be contrary to the public interest.

Reasons for this Finding: This action is consistent with policies of the Fish and Wildlife Commission, presented in the 1998 North of Falcon meetings, that are aimed at: Structuring fisheries to minimize gear conflicts, providing meaningful recreational fishing opportunities for chinook and coho, and providing harvest benefits of sockeye to commercial fisheries. It is an effort to achieve these competing objectives without elimination of either recreational or commercial fishing. This measure will clearly reduce competition between recreational and commercial gears, and it has the least effect possible on the ability of commercial fishers to take available Fraser River sockeye salmon. Specifically, it restricts commercial fishing in part but not all of the recreational fishing area. It leaves the Salmon Banks, an important commercial fishing area, open, but closes the area west and north of Eagle Point in Haro Strait. It is recognized that portions of the closure area is also a significant area of sockeye catch, but the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife does not think this will reduce the non-Indian fleet's ability to take its full share of sockeye.

An emergency exists in that there is insufficient time to adopt and implement permanent rules.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, amended 0, repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, amended 0, repealed 0.

Effective Date of Rule: Immediately.

August 14, 1998

Mike Kuttel

for Bern Shanks

Director



NEW SECTION



WAC 220-47-30700B  Closed areas - Puget Sound Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-47-307, effective immediately through August 30, 1998, it is unlawful at any time to take, fish for or possess salmon taken for commercial purposes with any type gear, from the following portion of Puget Sound Salmon Management and Catch Reporting Area 7, except that closures listed in this section shall not apply to reef net fishing areas listed in RCW 75.12.140:

Waters lying westerly and northerly of a line drawn due south from the Area 7/7A boundary line to Pt. Thompson on Orcas Island, then following the shore of Orcas Island in a westerly and southerly manner to a point due east from the northernmost point of Jones Island, then due west to the northernmost point on Jones Island, then to Limestone Point on San Juan Island, then around the shore of San Juan Island in a westerly, then southerly, and then southeasterly manner to Eagle Point, and then due west from Eagle Point.



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