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 220-52-04600T; and amending WAC 220-52-046.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.12.047, 77.04.020, and 77.70.430.
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: State crab harvest has reached agreed upon regional quotas in Management Regions 2E, 2W, 3-1, 3-2 and 3-3, and these closures comply with the state/treaty management plan for these regions. Subarea closures in Management Region 1 are to reduce handling mortality of soft-shelled crab. There is insufficient time to adopt 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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: March 24, 2010.
Lori Preuss
for Philip Anderson
Director
1) Effective immediately until further notice, it is unlawful to fish for Dungeness crab for commercial purposes in those waters of Crab Management Regions 2 East (Marine Fish Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 24A, 24B, 24C, 24D, and 26A East), 2 West (Catch Reporting Areas 25B, 25D and 26A West), 3-2 (Catch Reporting Areas 23D, 25A, and 25E), and Management Region 3-3 (Catch Reporting Areas 23C and 29).
2) Effective 8:00 p.m. March 26, 2010, until further notice, it is unlawful to fish for Dungeness crab for commercial purposes in those waters of Management Region 1 (Crab Management and Catch Reporting Areas 21A, 21B, 22B) and those waters of Catch Area 22A that includes Lopez Sound and Blakely Sound, south of a line extending from Upright Head to the green flashing marker on the southwest tip of Obstruction Island; west of a line extending due south from the green flashing marker on the southwest tip of Obstruction Island to Blakely Island; west of a line drawn from the red flashing buoy at the southern tip of Blakely Island across Thatcher Pass to the white flashing marker at Fauntleroy Point on the northwest corner of Decatur Island; and west of a line drawn due south through Lopez Pass from the red flashing marker on the southern tip of Decatur Island to the point of land across Lopez Pass on Lopez Island. The closed area includes Shoal, Swifts, Hunter, Mud, Reads, Brigantine, and Sylvan Bays and Blakely Island Shoal.
3) Effective 8:00 p.m. March 31, 2010, until further notice, it is unlawful to fish for Dungeness crab for commercial purposes in those waters of Management Region 3-1 (Crab Management and Catch Reporting Areas 23A and 23B).
[]
The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed:
| WAC 220-52-04600T | Puget Sound crab fishery -- Seasons and areas. (10-43) |