[Order 25-257—Filed October 16, 2025, 3:41 p.m., effective October 16, 2025, 3:41 p.m.]

Effective Date of Rule: Immediately upon filing.

Purpose: Amends commercial fisheries limited participation salmon net fisheries.

Citation of Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 220-354-050.

Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.04.012, 77.04.020, 77.12.045, and 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: This rule is needed to further define limited participation and registration requirements for Puget Sound commercial salmon fisheries in WAC 220-354-050. This regulation is intended to clarify limitations on participation in commercial fishing opportunities when in-season restrictions on effort and catch are unnecessary. When this occurs, the preseason registration supersedes in-season requirements. 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted at the Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Number of Sections Adopted using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.

Date Adopted: October 16, 2025.

WAC 220-354-05000FCommercial fisheries—Salmon—Limited participation salmon net fisheries.

Effective immediately, until further notice, the following provisions of WAC 220-354-050 regarding requirements for in-season registration and compliance for participation in a salmon net fishery, shall be modified as described in this section. All other provisions of WAC 220-354-050 not addressed in this section, or unless otherwise amended, remain in effect:

(1) In-season commercial salmon application for the registration and limited participation salmon net fishery: After submitting an online preseason commercial salmon application, the license holder, as described in subsection (5) of this section, must complete a weekly in-season commercial salmon application online for each registration and limited participation salmon net fishery in which they wish to participate where limitations to effort and catch per vessel may occur. For the purposes of this section, a limited participation fishery is defined as a fishery where the department sets limitations to the total number of participating vessels and limitations to the total catch available to individual vessels.

(2) Participation and in-season management of registration and limited participation salmon net fisheries:

When limited participation, as defined by a fishery where the department sets limitations to the total number of participating vessels and limitations to the total catch available to individual vessels, is not established during in-season management for a specific fishery:

The full pre-season registration list will supersede the in-season registration list for the fishery.

An applicant's position on the randomly ordered registration list does not change; the applicant retains the same position as in the previous management week.

If an applicant fails to submit a weekly in-season commercial salmon application by the deadline, the applicant is not eligible to participate in a subsequent management week's limited participation fishery, as defined in this section.