EMERGENCY RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Date of Adoption: June 24, 1999.
Purpose: Commercial fishing rules.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 220-88A-07000S; and amending WAC 220-88A-070.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 75.08.080.
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: 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 rule making. 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. The state’s quota share of spot shrimp in Shrimp Management Harvest Area 1A is projected to be taken by this section date. There is insufficient time to promulgate permanent rules. These rules are necessary to implement the 1999 state/tribal Puget Sound shrimp harvest management plan and meet all allocation requirements under Subproceeding 89-3 in United States v. Washington. These rules will allow for a sharing of catch between treaty and nontreaty shrimp fishers. 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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. Effective Date of Rule: June 27, 1999, 5:00 p.m.
June 24, 1999
J. P. Koenings
Director
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 1A, 1B, 1C, 2, 3, 4, and 6 are open to harvest of all shrimp immediately until further notice, with the following exceptions:
(a) Effective 5:00 p.m. June 27, 1999 until further notice, all waters of Crustacean Management Region 1A are closed to the harvest of spot shrimp.
(b) All waters of Marine Fish-Shellfish Management and Catch Reporting Areas 26B and 26C, and all waters of Crustacean Management Region 2 are closed to the harvest of spot shrimp.
(2) It is unlawful to set or pull shellfish pot gear from one hour after official sunset until one hour before official sunrise.
(3) 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 4 or 6. The spot shrimp trip limit accounting week is Monday through Sunday.
(4) 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.
(5) 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.
(6) 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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The following section of the Washington Administrative Code is repealed effective 5:00 p.m. July 27, 1999:
| WAC 220-88A-07000S | Emerging commercial fishery--Puget Sound shrimp pot (99-80) |