WSR 20-02-066
EMERGENCY RULES
DEPARTMENT OF
FISH AND WILDLIFE
[Order 19-320—Filed December 24, 2019, 3:25 p.m., effective December 28, 2019]
Effective Date of Rule: December 28, 2019.
Purpose: Amend Puget Sound commercial scallop rules.
Citation of Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 220-340-610.
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 emergency rule is needed to open the Puget Sound commercial scallop season. A harvestable surplus of pink and spiny scallops exists in the areas specified to allow for commercial harvest. There is insufficient time to adopt 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at the Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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: December 24, 2019.
Ron Warren
for Kelly Susewind
Director
NEW SECTION
WAC 220-340-61000HCommercial scallop fishery—Puget Sound.
Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-340-610, effective December 28, 2019, 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 only allowed in Washington Department of Health (DOH) Approved Commercial Shellfish Growing Areas of Marine Fish/Shellfish Catch Reporting Areas 20A, 20B, 21A, 21B, 22A, 22B, 23A, 23B, 25A and 25B, except as noted in (3) below.
(3) Pink or spiny scallop harvest using shellfish diver gear is also allowed within DOH Restricted Scallop Area 2 Rosario Strait, Restricted Scallop Area 3 Burrows Bay and Restricted Scallop Area 4 Lopez Island Southeast defined by the Washington Department of Health in Marine Fish/Shellfish Catch Reporting Areas 20B, 21A, 22A, 23A and 23B.
(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.