EMERGENCY RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Date of Adoption: February 19, 2002.
Purpose: Amend personal use rules.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 232-28-61900D; and amending WAC 232-28-619.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 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: The 2001/2002 wild winter steelhead runs for the Skagit, Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Nooksack and Puyallup River systems are forecasted to be below escapement needs. Predicted wild steelhead run sizes for the river systems are anticipated to be between approximately 60 and 83% of wild steelhead escapement requirements. Closures will eliminate potential hooking mortality and disturbance of spawning fish. Hatchery steelhead fisheries continue to be allowed by National Marine Fisheries Service in the Upper Columbia Evolutionary Significant Unit. 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.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Repealed 0;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Repealed 0;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Repealed 0.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:
March 1, 2002.
February 19, 2002
J. P. Koenings
Director
by Larry Peck
| Snohomish River | From mouth including all channels, sloughs and inter-connected waterways upstream to the U.S. Highway 2 bridge: March 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002, release all steelhead. |
| From U.S. Highway 2 bridge, including all channels, sloughs and inter-connected waterways upstream to the confluence of the Skykomish and Snoqualmie rivers, all channels: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002. | |
| Snoqualmie River | From mouth to Snoqualmie Falls: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002. |
| Skykomish River (Mainstem) |
From mouth to the forks: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002. |
| Tokul Creek | From mouth to posted cable boundary marker approximately 700 feet upstream of the mouth: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002. |
| Stillaguamish River (Mainstem) |
All sloughs downstream of Warm Beach-Stanwood Highway: Release all steelhead March 1, 2002 through May 31, 2002. |
| Stillaguamish River (North Fork) |
From mouth to Swede Heaven Bridge: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through May 31, 2002. |
| Puyallup River | From 11th Street Bridge upstream to Soldier's Home Bridge in Orting: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002. |
| Carbon River | From mouth to Highway 162 Bridge: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002. |
| Skagit River | From mouth to Memorial Highway Bridge,
Hwy. 536 at Mt. Vernon: • Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through April 12, 2002. • Open April 13, 2002 through April 31, 2002, release all steelhead. |
| From Memorial Highway Bridge, Hwy. 536 at Mt. Vernon to Dalles Bridge at Concrete: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002. | |
| Fisher Slough | From mouth to Highway 530 Bridge: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through May 31, 2002. |
| Nooksack River (Mainstem) |
From mouth to forks: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 15, 2002. |
| Nooksack River (North Fork) |
From mouth to Nooksack Falls: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 15, 2002. |
| Nooksack River (Middle Fork) |
From mouth to Dam: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 15, 2002. |
| Nooksack River (South Fork) |
From mouth to Skookum Creek: Closed to fishing March 1, 2002 through March 15, 2002. |
| Columbia River | Main stem from Highway 395 Bridge at Pasco
upstream to the Old Hanford town site wooden
power line towers upstream from Ringold
Hatchery: Open to fish for and possess up to
two hatchery steelhead per day March 1, 2002
through March 31, 2002. Except: • Any steelhead with either a radio tag wire protruding from the mouth or a disc tag attached near the dorsal fin must be released. |
| Okanogan River | Mouth upstream: Open to fish for and possess
up to two hatchery steelhead per day March 1,
2002 through March 31, 2002. Except: • Any steelhead with either a radio tag wire protruding from the mouth or a disc tag attached near the dorsal fin must be released. • Selective gear rules apply for steelhead • Closed from Zosel Dam downstream to one-quarter mile below the railroad trestle. • Closed March 1, 2002 through March 31, 2002, those waters between the Highway 97 Bridge at Omak and a line across the river 500 feet above Omak Creek. |
| Similkameen River | Mouth to 400 feet below Enloe Dam: Open to
fish for and possess up to two hatchery steelhead
per day March 1, 2002 through March 31,
2002. Except: • Any steelhead with either a radio tag wire protruding from the mouth or a disc tag attached near the dorsal fin must be released. • Selective gear rules apply for steelhead, except it is lawful to use whitefish gear. |
[]
The following section of the Washington Administrative code
is repealed effective 12:01 a.m. March 1, 2002:
| WAC 232-28-61900D | Similkameen, Okanogan, and mainstem Columbia rivers - Winter steelhead. (01-252) |