[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to limitations on salmon fishing in Hood Canal; amending RCW 75.46.010; adding a new section to chapter 75.46 RCW; creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the summer chum salmon (Onchorynchus keta) evolutionarily significant unit of Hood Canal within the Puget Sound chinook salmon (Onchorynchus tshawytscha) evolutionarily significant unit is in danger of extinction, and that other wild stocks of salmon and steelhead in Hood Canal have been drastically reduced. The legislature also finds that other species of fish, including ling cod, black cod, perch, and smelt, have been greatly depleted in the unique body of water known as Hood Canal. The legislature finds that a closing of this body of water to fishing would help restore the natural balance of all these species.

Sec. 2. RCW 75.46.010 and 1998 c 246 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Adaptive management" means reliance on scientific methods to test the results of actions taken so that the management and related policy can be changed promptly and appropriately.

(2) "Critical pathways methodology" means a project scheduling and management process for examining interactions between habitat projects and salmonid species, prioritizing habitat projects, and assuring positive benefits from habitat projects.

(3) "Habitat project list" is the list of projects resulting from the critical pathways methodology under RCW 75.46.070(2). Each project on the list must have a written agreement from the landowner on whose land the project will be implemented. Projects include habitat restoration projects, habitat protection projects, habitat projects that improve water quality, habitat projects that protect water quality, habitat-related mitigation projects, and habitat project maintenance and monitoring activities.

(4) "Habitat work schedule" means those projects from the habitat project list that will be implemented during the current funding cycle. The schedule shall also include a list of the entities and individuals implementing projects, the start date, duration, estimated date of completion, estimated cost, and funding sources for the projects.

(5) "Hood Canal coordinating council" means the council of governments created within Kitsap, Jefferson, and Mason counties as provided under chapter 39.34 RCW.

(6) "Limiting factors" means conditions that limit the ability of habitat to fully sustain populations of salmon. These factors are primarily fish passage barriers and degraded estuarine areas, riparian corridors, stream channels, and wetlands.

((~~(6)~~)) (7) "Project sponsor" is a county, city, special district, tribal government, a combination of such governments through interlocal agreements provided under chapter 39.34 RCW, a nonprofit organization, or one or more private citizens.

((~~(7)~~)) (8) "Salmon" includes all species of the family Salmonidae which are capable of self-sustaining, natural production.

((~~(8)~~)) (9) "Salmon recovery plan" means a state plan developed in response to a proposed or actual listing under the federal endangered species act that addresses limiting factors including, but not limited to harvest, hatchery, hydropower, habitat, and other factors of decline.

((~~(9)~~)) (10) "Tribe" or "tribes" means federally recognized Indian tribes.

((~~(10)~~)) (11) "WRIA" means a water resource inventory area established in chapter 173-500 WAC as it existed on January 1, 1997.

((~~(11)~~)) (12) "Owner" means the person holding title to the land or the person under contract with the owner to lease or manage the legal owner's property.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 75.46 RCW to read as follows:

(1) The Hood Canal marine sanctuary is created within the geographic area covered by the Hood Canal summer chum salmon evolutionarily significant unit. The sanctuary is bounded by northwest corner of Kitsap county and runs due west to the shoreline of Jefferson county and claims all waters south of that boundary. The sanctuary is designed to protect, preserve, and fully recover in the following order:

(a) Wild or naturally spawning summer chum salmon, chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead;

(b) Herring, smelt, ling cod, perch, and black cod; and

(2) The fish and wildlife commission, in coordination with the tribal comanagers, shall prohibit any harvest of wild or naturally spawning summer chum, fall chinook, or coho salmon, or of steelhead, in Hood Canal and its tributaries until such time as the runs have fully recovered and can sustain such harvest without impairing future production.

(3) Chum, chinook, and coho salmon and steelhead of hatchery origin in Hood Canal may continue to be harvested commercially in a manner the fish and wildlife commission, in coordination with the tribal comanagers, determines will minimize the by-catch of wild or naturally spawning salmon and steelhead. Such harvest shall be monitored to ensure that significant numbers of wild or naturally spawning stocks of salmon and steelhead are not present in the run at the time of harvest. If protected runs have already reached their spawning streams or moved well beyond the harvest activities, such by-catch will not be regarded as significant.

(4) By June 30, 2001, the department of fish and wildlife, in coordination with the tribal comanagers, shall develop a definition of full recovery as it is applied to summer chum, chinook, and coho salmon and steelhead. This definition shall be based on the most recently available scientific data and shall be based primarily on a field inventory count of escapement in all spawning tributaries. By September 30, 1999, the department shall provide a complete inventory of all streams in the geographic area covered by the summer chum salmon evolutionarily significant unit. The effort to define full recovery and to identify all of the streams shall include the participation of the Hood Canal coordinating council and of the Hood Canal salmon enhancement group.

(5) The department of fish and wildlife may use remote site incubators to enhance summer chum salmon production. The department, in coordination with the Hood Canal salmon enhancement group, shall:

(a) Identify sites on tributaries of Hood Canal that would be suitable for the placement of remote site incubators; and

(b) Place the incubators in suitable locations and manage the incubators as necessary.

(6) The department, in coordination with the Hood Canal coordination council and volunteer groups, shall direct efforts toward ensuring that suitable habitat in the watersheds covered by the summer chum evolutionarily significant unit is used by naturally spawning summer chum salmon.

(7) The Hood Canal coordinating council shall report to the salmon recovery office as provided in RCW 75.46.040 on the status of summer chum runs after the harvest prohibition has been in place for two generations of summer chum salmon. The first report on summer chum returns shall be provided no later than December 31, 2004, and the second report shall be provided no later than December 31, 2008. At such time as it is determined that all species of salmon and steelhead have reached full recovery, the department of fish and wildlife shall submit a report to the legislature with a recommendation to change the designation of sanctuary to a designation that would allow controlled harvest.

(8) The department of fish and wildlife is authorized to extend the same protection to those waters outside of the marine sanctuary as defined in subsection (1) of this section that enter into Hood Canal as to Hood Canal or its tributaries.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.