(1)
Commercial gear limited to pots and ring nets. It shall be unlawful to take or fish for crabs for commercial purposes except with shellfish pots and ring nets.
(2)
Commercial gear escape rings and ports defined. It shall be unlawful to use or operate any shellfish pot gear in the commercial Dungeness crab fishery unless such gear meets the following requirements:
(a) Pot gear must have not less than two escape rings or ports not less than 4-1/4 inches inside diameter.
(b) Escape rings or ports described above must be located in the upper half of the trap.
(3)
Commercial crab gear buoy tag requirements. (a) In coastal waters each crab pot must have the department-issued buoy tag securely attached to the first buoy on the crab pot buoy line (the buoy closest to the crab pot), and the buoy tag must be attached to the end of that buoy, at the end away from the crab pot buoy line.
(b) In Puget Sound all crab buoys must have the buoy tag issued to the license owner by the department attached to the outermost end of the buoy line.
(c) If more than one buoy is attached to a pot, only one buoy tag is required.
(4)
Puget Sound - Description of lawful buoys. All buoys attached to commercial crab gear in Puget Sound waters must consist of a durable material and remain floating on the water's surface when five pounds of weight is attached. It is unlawful to use bleach or antifreeze bottles or any other container as a float. All buoys fished under a single license must be marked in a uniform manner using one buoy brand number registered by the license holder with the department and be of identical color or color combinations. No buoys attached to commercial crab gear in Puget Sound may be both red and white in color unless a minimum of thirty percent of the surface of each buoy is also prominently marked with an additional color or colors other than red or white, as the red and white colors are reserved for personal use crab gear as described in WAC
220-56-320 (1)(c).
(5)
Commercial crab license requirements. In addition to, and separate from, all requirements in this chapter that govern the time, area, gear, and method for crab fishing, landing, possession, or delivery of crabs, no commercial crab fishing is allowed except when properly licensed. A person may take, fish for, land, or deliver crabs for commercial purposes in Washington or coastal waters only when the person has the license required by statute, or when the person is a properly designated alternative operator to a valid license. For Puget Sound, a person must have a "Dungeness crab - Puget Sound" fishery license provided by RCW
77.65.130. For coastal waters, such person must have a "Dungeness crab - Coastal" fishery license provided by RCW
77.65.130. To use ring nets instead of or in addition to pots, then the licensee must also have the "Crab ring net - Puget Sound" or "Crab ring net - non-Puget Sound" license in RCW
77.65.130. Qualifications for the limited entry licenses, requirements for designating vessels, and use of alternate operators is provided by and controlled by chapters
77.65 and
77.70 RCW.
(6)
Maximum size for commercial crab pots. It is unlawful to commercially fish a crab pot greater than thirteen cubic feet in volume used to fish for or take Dungeness crab from state or offshore waters.
(7)
Incidental catch may not be retained. It is unlawful to retain salmon, food fish, or any shellfish other than octopus that is taken incidental to any crab fishing.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047. 06-17-058 (Order 06-200), § 220-52-043, filed 8/10/06, effective 9/10/06; 06-01-013 (Order 05-275), § 220-52-043, filed 12/9/05, effective 1/9/06; 05-21-068 (Order 05-246), § 220-52-043, filed 10/14/05, effective 11/14/05; 01-18-005 (Order 01-180), § 220-52-043, filed 8/22/01, effective 9/22/01; 00-18-005 (Order 00-164), § 220-52-043, filed 8/23/00, effective 9/23/00. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 98-19-012 (Order 98-185), § 220-52-043, filed 9/4/98, effective 10/5/98; 94-12-009 (Order 94-23), § 220-52-043, filed 5/19/94, effective 6/19/94; 93-15-051, § 220-52-043, filed 7/14/93, effective 8/14/93; 84-08-014 (Order 84-24), § 220-52-043, filed 3/27/84; 79-02-053 (Order 79-6), § 220-52-043, filed 1/30/79; Order 77-145, § 220-52-043, filed 12/13/77; Order 1179, § 220-52-043, filed 11/19/74; Order 807, § 220-52-043, filed 1/2/69, effective 2/1/69. Formerly WAC 220-52-040(1).]