PROPOSED RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Original Notice.
Preproposal statement of inquiry was filed as WSR 01-22-109.
Title of Rule: Aquaculture disease control.
Purpose: Amend definitions and amend shellfish aquaculture disease control rules.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.12.047.
Summary: Defines "terminal quarantine facility" and adds department flexibility to waive applicant disease certification requirement when utilizing a terminal quarantine facility.
Reasons Supporting Proposal: Provides greater flexibility and reduced costs to researchers who are importing shellfish species for research purpose when receiving facilities meet the defined requirements of terminal quarantine; also, reduces administrative burdens on department to provide greater staff efficiencies.
Name of Agency Personnel Responsible for Drafting: Morris Barker, 1111 Washington Street, Olympia, (360) 902-2826; Implementation: Lew Atkins, 1111 Washington Street, Olympia, (360) 902-2651; and Enforcement: Bruce Bjork, 1111 Washington Street, Olympia, (360) 902-2373.
Name of Proponent: Department of Fish and Wildlife, governmental.
Rule is not necessitated by federal law, federal or state court decision.
Explanation of Rule, its Purpose, and Anticipated Effects: The rule defines a type of facility for quarantine purposes and provides department flexibility on the requirements to require disease free tissue certification when used in a approved terminal quarantine facility. The purpose is to provide efficiency and flexibility at reduced cost to researchers importing study specimens and reduces risk to the state from introductions of diseases and pests. The effect is to maintain safe handling practices for study specimens and provide a more efficient process for importing specimens for research purposes.
Proposal Changes the Following Existing Rules: Defines a terminal quarantine facility and allows the department flexibility to waive tissue certification to reduce cost to the researcher and provide more efficient state service under the circumstance of importing into an approved terminal quarantine facility.
A small business economic impact statement has been prepared under chapter 19.85 RCW.
2. Kinds of Professional Services That a Small Business is Likely to Need in Order to Comply with Such Requirements: None required - optional choice.
3. Costs of Compliance for Businesses, Including Costs of Equipment, Supplies, Labor, and Increased Administrative Costs: None required - optional choice that could save participants money and time.
4. Will Compliance with the Rule Cause Businesses to Lose Sales or Revenue? No - may actually increase revenue for those who elect to utilize this option.
5. Cost of Compliance for the 10% of Businesses That are the Largest Businesses Required to Comply with the Proposed Rules Using One or More of the Following as a Basis for Comparing Costs:
a. Cost per employee;
b. Cost per hour of labor; or
c. Cost per one hundred dollars of sales.
No compliance costs as rule is optional not required.
6. Steps Taken by the Agency to Reduce the Costs of the Rule on Small Businesses or Reasonable Justification for Not Doing So: The department worked with an advisory group (academics, private researchers and shellfish industry representatives) on this subject to reach consensus on the proposed rules that provided optional choices rather than blanket requirements.
7. A Description of How the Agency Will Involve Small Businesses in the Development of the Rule: The department will hold a public hearing in February 2002 where small business and the public can provide testimony on the rules.
8. A List of Industries That Will Be Required to Comply with the Rule: [No information supplied by agency.]
A copy of the statement may be obtained by writing to Evan Jacoby, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091, phone (360) 902-2930, fax (360) 902-2155.
RCW 34.05.328 does not apply to this rule adoption. Not hydraulic rules.
Hearing Location: Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington Street, Olympia, WA, on February 8-9, 2002, at 8 a.m.
Assistance for Persons with Disabilities: Contact Debbie Nelson by January 21, 2002, TDD (360) 902-2207, or (360) 902-2226.
Submit Written Comments to: Evan Jacoby, Rules Coordinator, 600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091, fax (360) 902-2155, by February 6, 2002.
Date of Intended Adoption: February 8, 2002.
December 27, 2001
Evan Jacoby
Rules Coordinator
(1) "Aquaculture products" are defined as private sector cultured aquatic products propagated, farmed, or cultivated on aquatic farms under the supervision and management of an aquatic farmer, or such products naturally set on lands under the active supervision and management of an aquatic farmer.
(2) "Disease" is defined as infection, contagious disease, parasite, or pest, occurring on or within the aquaculture product, or other shellfish or finfish, or on or within the water or substrate associated with the aquaculture product, shellfish, or finfish, or an occurrence of significant mortality suspected of being of an infectious or contagious nature.
(3) "Finfish" is defined as live fish, fish eggs, or fish gametes, but not to include aquaria species commonly sold in the pet store trade when raised in containers that do not discharge to the waters of the state, indigenous marine baitfish, or mosquito fish.
(4) "Shellfish" is defined as all aquatic invertebrates except insects.
(5) "Epizootic" is defined as the occurrence of a specific disease which can be detected in fifty percent of the mortality or moribund individual fish in an affected container or shellfish on an affected bed or within an affected population, and which results in an average daily mortality of at least one-half of one percent of the affected individual fish for five or more days in any thirty-day period.
(6) "Marine plant" is defined as nonvascular plants belonging to the phlya Chlorophyta, Phaeophyta, or Rhodophyta and vascular plants belonging to the family Zosteraceae when growing in marine or estuarine waters, and includes the seeds, spores, or any life-history phase of the plants.
(7) "Working day" is defined as any day other than Saturday, Sunday, or a Washington state holiday.
(8) "Department" is defined as the department of fish and wildlife.
(9) "Quarantine" is defined as isolation of the organism in a department approved facility.
(10) "Pest" is defined as parasite, parasitoid, predator, or fouling agent.
(11) "Established species" is defined as a species that has been propagated through aquaculture for at least ten years in Washington, or a species naturally reproducing within Washington.
(12) "West coast commerce region" is defined as the states of Alaska, California, Oregon, and Washington and the province of British Columbia.
(13) "Kelp" is defined as any species of brown algae of the order Laminariales.
(14) "Class A shellfish disease" is defined as an infectious disease which can cause significant mortality or loss of condition or quality in affected shellfish.
(15) "Class B shellfish disease" is defined as an infectious disease which is not known to cause significant mortality or loss of condition or quality in affected shellfish.
(16) "Market ready shellfish" are defined as aquatic invertebrate species which are intended for immediate human consumption and will not be placed into or come in contact with state waters.
(17) "Authorized finfish inspector" shall be defined as the individual who conducts or supervises testing in an authorized laboratory and attests to the results obtained. This individual signs/cosigns inspection and diagnostic reports and health certificates. The director shall maintain and provide upon request a roster of authorized finfish inspectors. An authorized finfish inspector shall be currently recognized by one of the following entities: The American Fisheries Society, Fish Health Section (either as Fish Health Inspector or Fish Pathologist); United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Title 50 Inspector; Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Fish Health Official or Inspector; Supervising veterinarian in a laboratory accredited by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD)
(18) "Laboratory inspection report" is defined as the written results of testing conducted by an authorized finfish inspector.
(19) "Lot of fish" shall be defined as a group of fish of the same species and age that originated from the same spawning stock and share a common water supply.
(20) "Regulated finfish pathogens" are defined as the following pathogens which, upon initial detection within Washington state, or detection from a site within Washington state that has been pathogen-free for three or more years, require notification within one working day to the fish health unit of the department, who will, in turn, notify the state veterinarian of the detection:
(a) Viruses:
(i) Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus;
(ii) Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus;
(iii) Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus;
(iv) Oncorhynchus masou virus; and
(v) Infectious salmon anemia virus.
(b) Parasite: Myxobolus cerebralis.
(21) "Terminal quarantine facility" is defined as a department-approved quarantine facility where imported aquatic invertebrates are held for research purposes only, with minimal risk that the organisms will be released or that untreated quarantine facility holding waters will co-mingle with state waters. The operation plan of the quarantine facility must be approved by the department prior to the introduction of any organisms. At the conclusion of the research, the organisms held in quarantine shall be destroyed and all waters and waste disinfected and disposed of using methods approved by the department.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047. 02-02-013 (Order 01-281), § 220-77-020, filed 12/21/01, effective 1/21/02. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 97-08-078 (Order 97-56), § 220-77-020, filed 4/2/97, effective 5/3/97. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.58.010. 87-08-033 (Order 87-20), § 220-77-020, filed 3/27/87.]
Reviser's note: The bracketed material preceding the section above was supplied by the code reviser's office.
Reviser's note: RCW 34.05.395 requires the use of underlining and deletion marks to indicate amendments to existing rules. The rule published above varies from its predecessor in certain respects not indicated by the use of these markings.
OTS-5393.1
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending Order 97-56, filed 4/2/97, effective
5/3/97)
WAC 220-77-040
Shellfish aquaculture disease control.
(1)
It is unlawful for any person to import into Washington or
possess live imported aquatic invertebrates, except market ready
shellfish, without first obtaining an aquatic invertebrate import
permit issued by the department. A copy of the permit shall
accompany the aquatic invertebrates at all times within the state
of Washington, and must be presented upon request to department
employees.
(2) The director shall appoint a seven-member advisory committee consisting of one representative each from the department, the department of agriculture, the aquatic farmers of Washington, the federally recognized treaty tribes, private displayers of aquatic invertebrates, aquatic invertebrate ecologists, and aquatic invertebrate disease control specialists. The committee will advise the department on importation of aquatic invertebrates, make recommendations on classification of shellfish diseases, and review department policy. Recommendations of the committee are not binding on the commission or director.
(3) Established species from existing import areas with current disease free tissue certification from areas of origin free of Class A shellfish diseases are eligible for continued importation.
(a) An additional disease free tissue certification must be submitted every three years. The department will waive the certification requirement if there is sufficient information that the source area is free of Class A shellfish diseases.
(b) Additional disease free certification may be required upon discovery or reports of disease at the geographic source.
(4) Established species from new areas of origin are eligible for import if health history documentation and disease free tissue certification are provided to the department. Import into quarantine is required for imports originating from outside the west coast commerce region.
(a) Conditional importation approval will be initiated by permit application.
(b) Presence of any Class A shellfish disease in the area of origin will result in denial of conditional approval.
(c) At least one additional disease free certification will be required during the first year of importation. In the absence of disease during the first year of importation, established species will be eligible for continued importation, and the provisions of subsection (3) of this section will apply.
(5) Nonestablished species for which a health history documentation and disease free tissue certification have been initiated by permit application are eligible for importation only into quarantine.
A SEPA check list is required for any importation of a new species.
(6) Health history documentation will be based on available documentation over the five years prior to application for an import permit, unless a longer documentation is required for cause, and is required to be provided by the applicant. Disease free tissue certification is required from representative invertebrates proposed for import, and must be certified by a department-approved invertebrate health care professional. Disease-free tissue certification may be waived for aquatic invertebrate species placed into a terminal quarantine facility upon approval of an aquatic invertebrate import permit application.
(7) Department employees may inspect quarantine facilities used for permitted shellfish imports at reasonable times without prior notification.
(8) Importers are required to immediately report to the department any epizootic, significant mortality potentially attributable to an infectious disease or discovery of a Class A shellfish disease in an approved source area. The report is required to be made within 24 hours of the event or discovery. Annual reporting of the presence or absence of Class A or Class B shellfish diseases may be a condition of any permit.
(9) Violation of these rules or the conditions of the permit, confirmation of a Class A shellfish disease at the geographic source, or verification of a substantial shellfish mortality at the geographic source may result in the suspension or revocation of the import permit.
In the event of denial, suspension, or revocation of an import permit, the affected party may appeal through the Administrative Procedure Act. A suspended or revoked permit will remain suspended or revoked during the appeal process.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 97-08-078 (Order 97-56), § 220-77-040, filed 4/2/97, effective 5/3/97. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.58.010. 87-08-033 (Order 87-20), § 220-77-040, filed 3/27/87.]