DEPARTMENT OF

FISH AND WILDLIFE

(1) The director designates the coastal Pacific mackerel purse seine fishery as an emerging commercial fishery for which use of a vessel is required. It is unlawful to fish for, possess, or deliver Pacific mackerel taken for commercial purposes from Washington territorial waters west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line or from waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone unless the fisher has a valid emerging commercial fishery license and a valid coastal Pacific mackerel purse seine trial or experimental fishery permit.

(2) The following licenses may not be used to fish for, possess, or deliver Pacific mackerel taken in Washington territorial waters west of the Bonilla-Tatoosh line or waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone: Shrimp trawl - Non-Puget Sound fishery license, ocean pink shrimp delivery license, coastal spot shrimp pot fishery license, nonlimited entry delivery license, salmon troll delivery license, salmon delivery license, crab pot fishery license, Dungeness crab - Coastal fishery license.

(1) No individual may hold more than one Washington coastal Pacific mackerel purse seine trial or experimental fishery permit.

(2) Coastal Pacific mackerel fishery permits are not transferable. Only the vessel designated on the emerging commercial fishery license and Pacific mackerel fishery permit may be used to fish for or deliver Pacific mackerel in the directed Pacific mackerel fishery.

(3) Coastal Pacific mackerel fishery permits may be revoked by the director, and future permits denied by the director, for failure to comply with conditions specified in the permits or violations of other fishing regulations. A coastal Pacific mackerel fishery permit will not be renewed if the emerging commercial fishery license is revoked or future fishing privileges of the licensee are suspended.

(4) Coastal Pacific mackerel fishery permits are only valid for the year issued and expire on December 31st of the year issued.

(1) Licensing, harvest, and reporting requirements. It is unlawful for persons fishing under a Washington trial or experimental Pacific mackerel purse seine fishery permit to fail to:

(a) Carry an observer onboard for any Pacific mackerel fishing trip if requested by the department;

(b) Surrender up to five hundred Pacific mackerel per vessel per trip if requested by department samplers for biological information; and

(c) Complete a department-issued logbook prior to landing, for each month in which fishing activity occurs, and submit it to the department by the 15th day of the following month.

(2) Possession, transport, and seasons.

(a) It is unlawful to possess, transport through the waters of the state, or deliver into any Washington port, Pacific mackerel or other coastal pelagic species taken in violation of rules published in Title 50, Part 660, Subpart I of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) including, but not limited to: Annual specifications, closure of directed fishery, catch restrictions, gear requirements. These federal regulations govern commercial fishing for coastal pelagic species in the Exclusive Economic Zone off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California. Where the federal regulations refer to the fishery management area, that area is interpreted to include Washington state waters coterminous with the Exclusive Economic Zone. Updates to the federal regulations are published in the Federal Register. Discrepancies or errors between the C.F.R. and Federal Register will be resolved in favor of the Federal Register. This chapter incorporates the C.F.R. by reference and is based, in part, on the C.F.R. State regulations that are more restrictive than the federal regulations will prevail.

(b) It is unlawful to fish for or possess Pacific mackerel taken with any gear other than purse seine gear, except Pacific mackerel taken incidentally in fisheries authorized by federal rule, from offshore waters except during the directed sardine fishery season or the directed Pacific mackerel fishery season open each year from April 1st through December 31st.

(c) It is unlawful to take Pacific mackerel in state waters except for the incidental take as authorized by the coastal baitfish regulations.

(d) It is unlawful to retain any species that is taken incidental to Pacific mackerel, except for other mackerel species, jack mackerel, sardine, anchovy, and market squid (Logligo opalescens). It is unlawful to retain, possess or deliver, anchovy in excess of 5 metric tons in one day, and in excess of 10 metric tons during any calendar week beginning 12:01 a.m. Sunday through 11:59 p.m. Saturday.

(e) It is unlawful to fail to release any salmon encircled in the purse seine prior to completion of the set or to land or retain salmon on the fishing vessel.

(f) It is unlawful to transfer Pacific mackerel catch from one fishing vessel to another.

(3) Landing and delivery.

(a) It is unlawful to fail to have legal purse seine gear as defined by department rule aboard a vessel making a Pacific mackerel landing.

(b) It is unlawful to fail to deliver Pacific mackerel landings to a processing facility located on shore.

(c) It is unlawful to land fish at more than one processing facility and to fail to offload all fish onboard the vessel once the delivery commences at the time of landing.

(d) It is unlawful to deliver in total more than fifteen percent cumulative weight of Pacific mackerel for the purposes of conversion into fish flour, fish meal, fish scrap, fertilizer, fish oil, other fishery products, or by-products, or for purposes other than human consumption, or fishing bait taken during the directed Pacific mackerel and/or directed sardine fishery season(s).

(4) A violation of the reporting requirements provided in this section is punishable under RCW 77.15.630 Unlawful fish and shellfish catch accounting—Penalty.

(5) A violation of the gear requirements provided in this section is punishable under RCW 77.15.520 Commercial fishing—Unlawful gear or methods—Penalty.

(6) A violation of the harvest or landing requirements provided in this section is punishable under RCW 77.15.550 Violation of a commercial fishing area or time—Penalty.