EMERGENCY RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Date of Adoption: April 30, 1999.
Purpose: Commercial fishing rules.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 220-88A-07000Z and 220-88A-08000W; and amending WAC 220-52-075, 220-69-240, 220-88A-060, 220-88A-070, and 220-88A-080.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 75.08.080.
Under RCW 34.05.350 the agency for good cause finds that state or federal law or federal rule or a federal deadline for state receipt of federal funds requires immediate adoption of a rule.
Reasons for this Finding: The provisions of this emergency rule are necessitated by federal court order. The state may not authorize commercial shellfish harvests absent agreed planning or compliance with a process. Agreed plans with applicable tribes have been entered as required by the court order. Such plans have the effect of a federal court order. 898 F. Supp. 1453, 1466, 3.1. Pursuant to RCW 34.04.350 [34.05.350], the need to comply with such federal court orders in the form of allocative management plans constitutes an emergency that requires bypassing the time periods inherent in permanent rulemaking. The 1999 state/tribal Puget Sound shrimp harvest management plan requires adoption of the harvest seasons and the prohibition on night time fishing contained in this emergency rule. Failure to comply with the conservation and/or allocation requirements of such plans may result in contempt of federal court or failure of all commercial shrimp fishing in a given region addressed by a plan. Under current rules, the spot shrimp quotas established in the 1999 state/tribal Puget Sound shrimp harvest management plan can be far exceeded in one day of fishing. A weekly landing limit for spot shrimp is necessary to reduce risk of overharvest. The additional harvest log and catch reporting rules are necessary to maintain an orderly fishery, provide the ability to enforce state/tribal plan requirements, and to ensure conservation. 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 5, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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. Effective Date of Rule: Immediately.
April 30, 1999
Larry W. Peck for
Jeff P. Koenings
Director
Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-52-075, effective immediately until further notice:
1) Vessel operators engaged in commercial harvest of shrimp from Puget Sound with shellfish pot gear must record the vessel’s Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife boat registration number, number of pots pulled, soak time, gear location (including latitude and longitude to the nearest tenth of a minute or to the nearest second), and weight(s) of catch before leaving the site where catch is taken. A separate weight for each species caught and retained must be recorded. When single pots are fished an entry is required for each pot site. When two or more pots are fished on a common ground line the catch site must be recorded at the location of the last pot on the ground line that is pulled. It shall be unlawful to fail to permanently record this information into the department-supplied harvest log before leaving each catch site. Harvest logs must be maintained and submitted in ascending consecutive order of harvest log serial numbers. Harvest logs must be submitted for each month in which fishing activity occurs and must be received by the department within ten days following any month in which fishing occurs.
2) The serial number must be recorded onto the harvest log at the time of sale, or before leaving the last catch site of the day if the vessel operator holds a wholesale dealer license and is the original receiver of the catch.
3) Vessel operators engaged in commercial harvest of shrimp from Puget Sound with shellfish pot gear must report their daily catch by telephone before leaving the last catch site fished each day. For harvest in Crustacean Management Regions 1 or 2, reports must be made to the La Conner district office (360) 466-4345 extension 245. For harvest in Crustacean Management Regions 3, 4, or 6, reports must be made to the Point Whitney Shellfish Laboratory (360) 796-4601, extension 800. All reports must specify the total number of pounds of each shrimp species in possession, number of pots fished, the Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area where shrimp were harvested, and the port or name of vessel where the catch will be landed or sold. The fish receiving ticket reporting requirements of WAC 220-69-240 remain in effect.
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Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-69-240, effective immediately until further notice: It is unlawful for the original receiver of shrimp other than ghost shrimp taken from Puget Sound to fail to report to the department the previous week’s purchases by 10:00 a.m. the following Monday. For harvest in Crustacean Management Regions 1 or 2, reports must be made to the La Conner district office by voice (360) 466-4345 extension 245, or facsimile (360) 466-0515. For harvest in Crustacean Management Regions 3, 4, or 6, reports must be made to the Point Whitney Shellfish Laboratory by voice (360) 796-460, extension 800, or facsimile (360) 796-4997. All reports must specify the serial numbers of the fish receiving tickets on which the previous week’s shrimp were sold, and the total number of pounds caught by gear type, Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area, and species listed on each ticket.
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Reviser's note: The typographical error 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.
NEW SECTION
WAC 220-88A-06000A
Puget Sound crustacean management regions.
Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-88A-060, effective immediately until further notice the following areas are defined as Puget Sound Crustacean Management Regions:
(1) Crustacean Management Region 1A - (Western San Juan Islands) The portion of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 20B west of a line from Point Doughty on Orcas Island to the bell buoy at the international boundary due north of Waldron Island, and the portion of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 22A west of the following line: beginning at Steep Point On Orcas Island to Neck Point on Shaw Island, then southerly following the west coast of Shaw Island to the southernmost point of Shaw Island, then to the western entrance to Fisherman’s Bay on Lopez Island, then southerly and easterly following the west coast of Lopez Island to Point Colville.
(2) Crustacean Management Region 1B - (Eastern San Juan Islands) The portions of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 20B and 22A to the east of Crustacean Management Region 1A and the portion of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 21A north and west of a line from the southern tip of Sinclair Island to Carter Point on Lummi Island.
(3) Crustacean Management Region 1C - (Gulf of Georgia/North Puget Sound Bays) All waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 20A, 21B, and 22B, and the portion of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 21A outside of Crustacean Management Region 1B.
(4) Crustacean Management Region 2 - (Central Puget Sound) All waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 24A, 24B, 24C, 24D, 25B, 25D, 25E, and 26A.
(5) Crustacean Management Region 3 - (Strait of Juan de Fuca) All waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 23A, 23B, 23C, 23D, 25A, and 29.
(6) Crustacean Management Region 4 - (Southern Central Puget Sound) All waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 26B, 26C, and 26D.
(7) Crustacean Management Region 5 - (Hood Canal) All waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 25C, 27A, 27B, and 27C.
(8) Crustacean Management Region 6 - (South Puget Sound) All waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 28A, 28B, 28C, and 28D.
(9) All areas currently closed under WAC 220-88A-060 remain closed.
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Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-88A-070, effective immediately until further notice it is unlawful to fish for shrimp for commercial purposes in Puget Sound using shellfish pot gear except as provided for in this section:
(1) All waters of Crustacean Management Regions 1B, 1C, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are open to harvest of all shrimp species except spot shrimp from 8:00 a.m. May 1 until 11:59 p.m., May 31, 1999, with the following exceptions: Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch Reporting Areas 23A, and 23B will remain closed until June 1, 1999.
(2) All waters of Crustacean Management Regions 1A, 1C, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are open to harvest of all shrimp from June 1, 1999 until further notice.
(3) It is unlawful to set or pull shellfish pot gear from one hour after official sunset until one hour before official sunrise.
(4) It is unlawful for the combined total harvest of spot shrimp by a fisher and/or the fisher’s alternate operator to exceed 800 pounds per week or to exceed 300 pounds per week from Crustacean Management Regions 2 or 4. The spot shrimp trip limit accounting week is Monday through Sunday.
(5) It is unlawful to fish for shrimp for commercial purposes in Puget Sound using shellfish pot gear in more than one Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area per day.
(6) It is unlawful to set or pull shellfish pots in one Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch Reporting Area while in possession of shrimp harvested from another Marine Fish-Shellfish Catch Reporting Area.
(7) All shrimp taken under this section must be sold to licensed Washington wholesale fish dealers. No fisher may land shrimp without immediate delivery to a licensed wholesale dealer or, if transferred at sea, without transfer to a licensed wholesale dealer.
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Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-88A-080, effective immediately until further notice:
(1) It is unlawful to fish for shrimp in Puget Sound with beam trawl gear except:
(a) Crustacean management area 1 - Open May 1 until further notice.
(b) Crustacean management area 3 - Open May 16 until further notice.
(2) The following restrictions apply to shrimp trawl harvest in Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Area 20A:
(a) Closed in waters east of a line from the southwest corner of Point Roberts to Sandy Point.
(b) Closed in waters shallower than 20 fathoms.
(c) Closed in waters shallower than fifty fathoms from April 16 through July 15.
(3) It is unlawful to trawl for shrimp from one hour after official sunset to one hour before official sunrise.
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The following sections of the Washington Administrative Code are repealed:
| WAC 220-88A-07000Z | Emerging commercial fishery--Puget Sound shrimp pot (99-32) |
| WAC 220-88A-08000W | Emerging commercial fishery--Puget Sound shrimp trawl experimental fishery--Seasons and gear (99-32) |