EMERGENCY RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Effective Date of Rule: Immediately.
Purpose: Amend commercial fishing rules.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 220-33-01000G and 220-33-01000H; and amending WAC 220-33-010.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.12.047.
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: Sets an additional commercial fishing period. Impacts allocated to the commercial fisheries remain available. The upriver run size was updated to 100,000 fish, allowing for the additional harvest of hatchery chinook and the opportunity to harvest sturgeon allocated to the commercial fishery. Season is consistent with the 2006 commercial salmon fishing plan. The select area fisheries (SAFE) are part of an on-going BPA funded study to design fisheries in areas outside of the mainstem Columbia River. Several stocks of salmon have been released from net pens in these select areas to provide for fisheries. All salmon returning to these net pens are harvestable. Impacts to ESA-listed stocks in these fisheries are covered under the biological opinion for the 2005-2007 interim management agreement. This rule is consistent with actions of the Columbia River compact hearings of January 26 and May 18, 2006, and conforms Washington and Oregon state rules. There is insufficient time to promulgate 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 2.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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: May 18, 2006.
J. P. Koenings
Director
1. Area: SMCRA 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D upstream to Kelley Point.
Season: 7:00 p.m. May 18 through 7:00 a.m. May 19, 2006.
a) Gear: Drift gill nets only. 8-inch minimum and 9 3/4 inch maximum mesh. Mono-filament is allowed. Gill nets that are fished at any time between official sunset and official sunrise must have lighted buoys on both ends of the net unless the net is attached to the boat then one lighted buoy on the opposite end of the net from the boat is required. Net length not to exceed 150 fathoms.
b) Allowable Sale: Adipose fin-clipped salmon, sturgeon, and shad. An adipose fin-clipped salmon is defined as a hatchery salmon with a clipped adipose fin and having a healed scar at the location of the fin. A maximum of twelve (12) sturgeon total (white or green) may be possessed or sold by each participating vessel during each calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) that the fishery is open. The sturgeon possession/sales limit includes both mainstem and Select Area fisheries. The maximum green sturgeon size limit is 60 inches.
c) Sanctuaries: Grays River, Elokomin-B, Abernathy Creek, Cowlitz River, Kalama-B, Lewis-B.
d) Miscellaneous Regulations:
i. Quick reporting is in effect for Washington wholesale dealers, WAC 220-69-240.
ii. At least one fisher on each boat must have Columbia River tangle net certification.
iii. Soak times, defined as the time elapsed from when the first of the gill net web is deployed into the water until the gill net web is fully retrieved from the water, must not exceed 45 minutes.
iv. Red corks are required at 25 fathom intervals and red corks must be in contrast to the corks used in the remainder of the net.
v. Each boat will be required to have two operable recovery boxes or one box with two chambers, on board. Each box and chamber shall be operating during any time that the net is being retrieved or picked. The flow in the recovery box will be a minimum of 16 gallons per minute in each chamber of the box, not to exceed 20 gallons per minute. Each chamber of the recovery box must meet the following dimensions as measured from within the box; the inside length measurement must be at or within 39 1/2 inches to 48 inches, the inside width measurements must be at or within 8 to 10 inches, and the inside height measurement must be at or within 14 to 16 inches.
Each chamber of the recovery box must include a water inlet hole between 3/4 inch and 1 inch in diameter, centered horizontally across the door or wall of chamber and 1 3/4 inches from the floor of the chamber. Each chamber of the recovery box must include a water outlet hole opposite the inflow that is a least 1 1/2 inches in diameter. The center of the outlet hole must be located a minimum of 12 inches above the floor of the box or chamber. The fisher must demonstrate to WDFW and ODFW employees, fish and wildlife enforcement officers, or other peace officers, upon request, that the pumping system is delivering the proper volume of fresh river water into each chamber.
vi. All non-legal sturgeon, non-adipose fin-clipped salmon, and steelhead must be released immediately to the river with care and the least possible injury to the fish or placed into an operating recovery box. Any salmonid that is bleeding or lethargic must be placed in the recovery box prior to being released. All fish placed in recovery boxes must be released to the river prior to landing or docking.
vii. As a condition of fishing, owners or operators of commercial fishing vessels must cooperate with Department observers or observers collecting data for the Department, when notified by the observer of their intent to board the commercial vessel for observation and sampling during an open fishery.
viii. Columbia River tangle net certification: Any individual meeting the qualifications of RCW 77.65.040(2) and obtained a tangle net certificate by attending and completing a WDFW/ODFW sponsored workshop concerning live captive commercial fishing techniques.
ix. Nothing in this section sets any precedent for any fishery after the 2006 spring Chinook fishery. The fact that an individual received a Columbia River tangle net certificate does not entitle the certificate holder to participate in any other fishery. If WDFW authorizes a tangle net fishery in any other time, WDFW may establish qualifications and requirements that are different from those established for 2006. In particular, WDFW may consider an individual's compliance with these rules in determining that individual's eligibility to participate in any future tangle net fisheries.
2. Blind Slough/Knappa Slough Select Area
a) Area: Open waters of Blind Slough extend from markers at the mouth of Gnat Creek located approximately 1/2 mile upstream of the county road bridge, downstream to markers at the mouth of Blind Slough. Concurrent Washington/Oregon waters extend downstream of the railroad bridge
Knappa Slough is open to fishing in all waters bounded by a line from the northerly most marker at the mouth of Blind Slough westerly to a marker on Karlson Island downstream to a north-south line defined by a marker on the eastern end of Minaker Island to markers on Karlson Island and the Oregon shore.
b) Dates:
Spring Season: 7:00 p.m. Mondays to 7:00 a.m. Tuesdays and 7:00 p.m. Thursdays to 7:00 a.m. Fridays immediately until June 16, 2006.
Through June 16, the lower boundary of the Knappa Slough fishing area is extended downstream to boundary lines defined by markers on the west end of Minaker Island to markers on the Karlson Island and the Oregon Shore (fall-season boundary).
c) Gear: 8-inch maximum mesh. Monofilament nets are allowed. Nets restricted to 100 fathoms in length with no weight restriction on leadline. Use of additional weights or anchors attached directly to the leadline is allowed.
d) Allowable Sales: Salmon, sturgeon, shad. A maximum of three sturgeon (green or white in aggregate) may be possessed or sold by each participating vessel during each open period. The maximum green sturgeon size limit is 60 inches.
3. Deep River Select Area
a) Area: From the markers at USCG navigation marker #16 upstream to the Highway 4 Bridge.
b) Dates: 7:00 p.m. Mondays to 7:00 a.m. Tuesdays and 7:00 p.m. Thursdays to 7:00 a.m. Fridays immediately through June 16, 2006
c) Gear: 8 inch maximum. Monofilament nets are allowed. Nets restricted to a maximum length of 100 fathoms and no weight restriction on leadline. Use of additional weights or anchors attached directly to the leadline is allowed. Nets cannot be tied off of any stationary structures. Nets may not fully cross the navigation channel.
d) Allowable sale: salmon, sturgeon and shad. A maximum of three sturgeon (green or white in aggregate) may be possessed or sold by each participating vessel during each open period. The maximum green sturgeon size limit is 60 inches
e) Miscellaneous: Transportation or possession of fish outside the fishing area is unlawful, except fishers may transport their catch out of the fishing area with a permit issued by an authorized agency employee after examining the catch.
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Reviser's note: The unnecessary underscoring in the above section occurred in the copy filed by the agency and appears in the Register pursuant to the requirements of RCW 34.08.040.
REPEALER
The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed:
| WAC 220-33-01000G | Columbia River seasons below Bonneville. (06-65) |
| WAC 220-33-01000H | Columbia River seasons below Bonneville. |