SB 5076-S - DIGEST

(DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE)

     Directs the fish and wildlife commission to 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.