WSR 17-04-061 EMERGENCY RULES DEPARTMENT OF
FISH AND WILDLIFE
[Order 17-19—Filed January 27, 2017, 3:59 p.m., effective January 27, 2017, 3:59 p.m.] Effective Date of Rule: Immediately upon filing.
Purpose: Amend Puget Sound commercial scallop fishing.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 220-52-069.
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: A harvestable surplus of pink and spiny scallops exists in the Puget Sound Marine Fish and Shellfish Catch Reporting Areas specified to allow for commercial harvest. This emergency rule is needed because by permanent rule it is unlawful to take or possess pink or spiny scallops for commercial purposes, except during open scallop harvest seasons from open shellfish management areas as provided by emergency rule.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: January 27, 2017.
Joe Stohr
for J. W. Unsworth
Director
NEW SECTION
WAC 220-52-06900L Commercial scallop fishery—Puget Sound
Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-52-069, effective immediately until further notice, it is unlawful to take or possess pink or spiny scallops taken for commercial purposes except as provided for in this section:
(1) It is unlawful to fish for, take, or possess pink or spiny scallops with shellfish dive gear without a commercial scallop dive fishery license holder on board the designated harvest vessel.
(2) Pink or spiny scallop harvest using shellfish diver gear is allowed within Alden Bank Scallop Area 1 and Rosario Strait Scallop Area 2 defined by the Washington Department of Health in Marine Fish and Shellfish Catch Reporting Areas 20A, 20B, 21A, and 22A.
(3) Pink or spiny scallop harvest using shellfish diver gear is also allowed in Washington Department of Health (DOH) Approved Commercial Shellfish Growing Areas of Marine Fish and Shellfish Catch Reporting Areas 20A, 20B, 21A, 21B, 22A, 22B, 23A, 23B and 25A.
(4) It is unlawful for more than two divers from a harvest vessel to be in the water at any one time during pink or spiny scallop harvest operations or when commercial quantities of pink or spiny scallops are on board the vessel.
(5) It is unlawful to possess any other species of commercial shellfish during pink or spiny scallop harvest operations and when pink or spiny scallops are onboard the harvest vessel.
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