EMERGENCY RULES
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Effective Date of Rule: January 16, 2012.
Purpose: Amend commercial fishing rules.
Citation of Existing Rules Affected by this Order: Repealing WAC 220-49-02000S; and amending WAC 220-49-020.
Statutory Authority for Adoption: RCW 77.12.047 and 77.04.020.
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: For conservation of the herring resource through minimizing the fishery targeting spawning adults, all documented herring spawning grounds in Puget Sound are closed by permanent rule to fishing by all gear types other than dip bag net during the herring spawning season. This emergency rule closes the more recently documented spawning grounds to herring fishing that are not covered in the permanent rules. 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Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's Own Initiative: New 1, Amended 0, Repealed 1.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted Using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: January 5, 2012.
Joe Stohr
for Philip Anderson
Director
(1) The following areas are closed from January 16 through April 15, 2012, except to dip bag net gear:
(a) All waters of Catch Area 24C south of a line from North Bluff on Whidbey Island to East Point on Whidbey Island.
(b) All waters of Catch Area 28A west of a line projected true north-south through Treble Point on Anderson Island, including Henderson Inlet, and all waters east of the Fox Island Bridge and west of a line from Point Fosdick to Fox Point.
(c) All waters of Area 28B west of a line projected true north from Penrose Point, including Mayo Cove and Von Geldern Cove, and all waters east of a line projected true north from Allen Point in Henderson Bay.
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The following section of the Washington Administrative
Code is repealed effective April 16, 2012:
| WAC 220-49-02000S | Herring and anchovy -- Seasons -- Lawful gear -- Purposes. |