S-0909.2  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5076

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     1999 Regular Session

By Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Parks & Recreation (originally sponsored by Senators Oke, Jacobsen and T. Sheldon)

Read first time 01/28/1999.

Authorizing the creation of bottomfish preserves.

    AN ACT Relating to Puget Sound marine fish preserves; adding a new section to chapter 75.54 RCW; and creating a new section.

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

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  The legislature finds that the continued survival of marine bottomfish species in Puget Sound and adjacent waters requires that preserves be established for their protection within different geographical and ecological zones and that fishing and harvesting of marine bottomfish and other fish be prohibited within the preserves.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 75.54 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The fish and wildlife commission shall establish marine bottomfish preserves that encompass at least twenty percent of the rocky reef habitat throughout Puget Sound, the Straits of Juan de Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, the San Juan Islands, and the Straits of Georgia.  The purpose of establishing marine bottomfish preserves is to protect marine bottomfish species from overfishing, and to allow a  safe haven for spawning, growth, and maturation of marine bottomfish, and to establish focal points where recolonization of marine bottomfish may occur into ecosystems that are currently depleted of marine bottomfish.

    The commission shall select preserve locations that are rich in habitat features that are required by depleted marine bottomfish species or are needed by bottomfish species that need to be enhanced.  In establishing marine bottomfish preserves the commission shall identify areas that are appropriate for protection of lingcod, rockfish species, cabezon, greenling, and other species of bottomfish.

    The commission may allow recreational diving in selected marine bottomfish preserves, provided that spearfishing and collecting of marine bottomfish and other fish shall not be allowed in any marine bottomfish preserve, and that the recreational diving activities will not decrease or diminish achieving the primary purpose of protection of marine bottomfish.

    The commission shall not authorize any recreational or commercial fishing or harvesting of marine bottomfish and other fish within marine bottomfish preserves and may close the preserves to the harvest of other marine organisms.

    The commission shall conduct public hearings within the affected area of proposed marine bottomfish preserves and seek public input before establishing marine bottomfish preserves.

    The commission shall closely involve treaty Indian tribes in the process of selecting and approving marine bottomfish preserves.  Prior to establishment of marine bottomfish preserves the commission shall obtain agreement from the treaty Indian tribes who are affected by proposed marine bottomfish preserves that they will not harvest bottomfish from the preserves.

    (2) The commission shall report to the appropriate committees of the legislature by January 1, 2000, and every other year subsequently, on the progress and needs of the marine bottomfish preserve program.

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