Notwithstanding the provisions of WAC 220-340-520, effective immediately, until further notice, it is unlawful to fish for spot shrimp for commercial purposes using pot gear in Puget Sound except as provided for in this section:

(1) License:

(a) It is unlawful to take, fish for, land, or deliver spot shrimp taken for commercial purposes with pot gear from Puget Sound waters without a valid Puget Sound shrimp pot license.

(b) A Puget Sound shrimp pot license will only be issued to an individual who is a natural person, and this person shall be the primary operator. Holders of Puget Sound shrimp pot licenses may designate a single alternate operator per license. Puget Sound shrimp pot license holders may not designate a Puget Sound shrimp nonspot pot license on the same vessel.

(2) Pot Gear and area:

(a) It is unlawful to fish for spot shrimp for commercial purposes in Puget Sound using shellfish pot gear except during seasons specified in subsection (3)(a).

(b) In all areas fishers are limited to a maximum of 100 spot shrimp pots, as defined in subsection (d), except for dual licensees as provided for in RCW 77.70.410.

(i) Buoys must be solid orange in color and consist of durable material that will remain floating on the surface with five pounds attached; bleach or antifreeze bottles or other containers may not be used as floats.

(ii) All buoys fished on a single vessel must be marked with the unique numeric buoy brand issued to them by the department and prefaced by fishery specific designation. Buoy brands for buoys designating gear used in the spot shrimp fishery must be prefaced with an "S" (i.e. "S-0000").

(iii) When two or more shrimp pots are attached to a common ground line, the number of pots attached must be clearly labeled on at least one buoy, trailer buoy, or buoy tag.

(iv) It is unlawful to use a buoy tag that is consistent with requirements for any other state or federally managed commercial fishery operating in the U.S. West Coast Exclusive Economic Zone, or in the state waters of Washington, Oregon, or California, or used by any of the Puget Sound treaty tribes.

(v) Fishers shall use only the amount of line reasonably necessary to compensate for tides, currents, and weather. The line attaching the pot to the buoy must be weighted sufficiently to prevent the line from floating on the surface.

(vi) It is unlawful to use gear that has one or more line marks or to use multicolor line consistent with requirements for any other state or federally managed commercial fishery operating in the U.S. West Coast Exclusive Economic Zone, or in the state waters of Washington, Oregon, or California.

(d) Spot shrimp gear specifications, all areas:

(i) The dimensions of spot shrimp pots must meet either specification:

(A) The perimeter of the top or bottom of the pot shall not exceed a maximum of 153-inches and the height shall not exceed a maximum of 24-inches, or;

(B) The volume of a pot shall not exceed 44,708 cubic inches (25.87 cubic feet) when measured from the outside of the pot, not including the tunnels.

(ii) The entire top, bottom, and sides must be constructed of mesh material.

(iii) Use of liners is prohibited. A liner is defined as any additional mesh material, overlaid or underlaid on a shellfish pot, to reduce the initial mesh size of the pot.

(iv) Entrance tunnels:

(A) May be constructed of any size mesh.

(B) All entrance tunnels directly into a pot from the outside must open into the pot from the side when the pot is in its intended operating position.

(v) Use of multi-chamber pots is permitted under the following conditions:

(A) The escape mechanism must be in the terminal chamber of the pot;

(B) The diameter of internal entry tunnels must be equal to or greater than the diameter of the initial entry tunnel.

(vi) Mesh size:

(A) The mesh size must be greater than or equal to one inch. Mesh size of one inch is defined as a mesh opening that a 7/8-inch square peg will pass through, excluding the entrance tunnels, except for flexible, knotted (web) mesh or knotless stretch mesh pots, where the mesh must be a minimum of 1 3/4-inch stretch measure.

(B) For knotted mesh pots 'stretch measure' is defined as the linear measurement between the inside of one knot to the inside of the opposite vertical knot of the same cell of mesh, when the mesh is stretched vertically.

(C) For knotless stretch mesh pots 'stretch measure' is defined as the linear measurement between inside the bottom node to the inside of the opposing top node of the same cell of mesh, when the mesh is stretched vertically.

(vii) Pot gear must have an escape mechanism as provided for in WAC 220-340-060.

(e) Harvest restrictions, all areas:

(i) It is unlawful to set or pull shellfish pot gear to commercially harvest spot shrimp from one hour after official sunset to one hour before official sunrise.

(ii) Each fisher or alternate operator is required to report their intended catch area of harvest, and an estimate of total pounds that are being targeted by 7:00 pm the evening prior to harvest by email or text message to shrimp.report@dfw.wa.gov, or by using the Puget Sound commercial shrimp reporting website.

(iii) In the event that spot shrimp and nonspot shrimp are fished on the same day all spot shrimp must be harvested and landed prior to the tending of nonspot shrimp pots or the harvest of nonspot shrimp.

(3) Spot shrimp pot harvest seasons and accounting periods:

(a) Spot shrimp harvest open periods:

Geographical Management Unit (WAC 220-320-140; WAC 220-320-120)	Open Period
Subregion 1A	Immediately, until further notice.
Subregion 1B	Immediately, until further notice.
Subregion 1C	Closed.
Region 2E	Closed.
Region 2W	Closed.
Subarea 23A-E	Closed.
Subarea 23A-W	Immediately, until further notice.
Subarea 23A-C and MSFS Catch Area 23B	Immediately, until further notice.
Subarea 23A-S and MSFS Catch Area 23D	Immediately, until further notice.
MFSF (Marine Fish-Shellfish) Catch Area 23C	Immediately, until further notice.
MFSF Catch Area 25A, excluding the Discovery Bay Shrimp District	Immediately, until further notice.
Discovery Bay Shrimp District	Closed.
MFSF Catch Area 29 (Straits - Neah Bay)	Immediately, until further notice.
Subarea 26B-1 and MFSF Catch Area 26C	Closed.
Subarea 26B-2	Closed.
Region 5	Closed.
MFSF Catch Area 26D	Closed.
MFSF Catch Areas 28A, 28B, 28C, and 28D	Closed.

(b) Spot shrimp harvest is permitted during the open period starting one hour before official sunrise on the first day of the open period. Closures take effect one hour after official sunset on the closing day.

(i) Runs from one hour before official sunrise May 1, through one hour after official sunset August 4, 2026.

(ii) It is unlawful for the combined total harvest during the first spot shrimp accounting period to have exceeded 5,200 pounds of spot shrimp per license from all Geographical Management Units combined, except for MFSF Catch Area 29. Catch from MFSF Catch Area 29 does not contribute towards a license's catch accounting period harvest limit.

(d) Spot shrimp harvested from different geographical management units (as noted in section 3(a)) on the same day must be kept physically separate and labeled with the MFSF Catch Area of harvest.

(e) It is lawful to possess deactivated non-spot shrimp pots on-board a commercial vessel that is listed on a Puget Sound shrimp pot license while fishing for spot shrimp. A deactivated pot is un-baited, has the drawstring or door fastened open, and/or is unable to be readily fished.