H-1620.2
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HOUSE BILL 2156
_______________________________________________
State of Washington
56th Legislature
1999 Regular Session
By Representatives Eickmeyer, Rockefeller, Haigh, McIntire and
Scott
Read first time 02/17/1999. Referred to Committee on NaturalResources.
AN ACT Relating to limitations on salmon
fishing in Hood Canal;
amending RCW 75.46.010; adding a new section to chapter 75.46 RCW;
creating a new section; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 1.
The legislature finds that the summer
chum salmon (Onchorynchus keta) evolutionarily significant unit
of Hood
Canal within the Puget Sound chinook salmon (Onchorynchus tshawytscha)
evolutionarily significant unit is in danger of extinction, and
that
other wild stocks of salmon and steelhead in Hood Canal have been
drastically reduced. The legislature also finds that other
species of
fish, including ling cod, black cod, perch, and smelt, have been
greatly depleted in the unique body of water known as Hood Canal.
The
legislature finds that a closing of this body of water to fishing
would
help restore the natural balance of all these species.
Sec. 2. RCW 75.46.010 and 1998 c
246 s 2 are each amended to read
as follows: The definitions in this section
apply throughout this chapter
unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Adaptive management" means reliance
on scientific methods to
test the results of actions taken so that the management and related
policy can be changed promptly and appropriately.
(2) "Critical pathways methodology" means
a project scheduling and
management process for examining interactions between habitat projects
and salmonid species, prioritizing habitat projects, and assuring
positive benefits from habitat projects.
(3) "Habitat project list" is the list
of projects resulting from
the critical pathways methodology under RCW 75.46.070(2).
Each project
on the list must have a written agreement from the landowner on
whose
land the project will be implemented. Projects include habitat
restoration projects, habitat protection projects, habitat projects
that improve water quality, habitat projects that protect water
quality, habitat-related mitigation projects, and habitat project
maintenance and monitoring activities.
(4) "Habitat work schedule" means those
projects from the habitat
project list that will be implemented during the current funding
cycle.
The schedule shall also include a list of the entities and individuals
implementing projects, the start date, duration, estimated date
of
completion, estimated cost, and funding sources for the projects.
(5) {+ "Hood Canal coordinating council"
means the council of
governments created within Kitsap, Jefferson, and Mason counties
as
provided under chapter 39.34 RCW.
(6) +} "Limiting factors" means conditions
that limit the ability
of habitat to fully sustain populations of salmon. These
factors are
primarily fish passage barriers and degraded estuarine areas, riparian
corridors, stream channels, and wetlands.
(({- (6) -})) {+ (7) +} "Project sponsor"
is a county, city,
special district, tribal government, a combination of such governments
through interlocal agreements provided under chapter 39.34 RCW,
a
nonprofit organization, or one or more private citizens.
(({- (7) -})) {+ (8) +} "Salmon" includes
all species of the family
Salmonidae which are capable of self-sustaining, natural production.
(({- (8) -})) {+ (9) +} "Salmon recovery
plan" means a state plan
developed in response to a proposed or actual listing under the
federal
endangered species act that addresses limiting factors including,
but
not limited to harvest, hatchery, hydropower, habitat, and other
factors of decline.
(({- (9) -})) {+ (10) +} "Tribe" or "tribes"
means federally
recognized Indian tribes.
(({- (10) -})) {+ (11) +} "WRIA" means
a water resource inventory
area established in chapter 173-500 WAC as it existed on January
1,1997.
(({- (11) -})) {+ (12) +} "Owner" means
the person holding title to
the land or the person under contract with the owner to lease or
manage
the legal owner's property.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 3.
A new section is added to chapter
75.46 RCW to read as follows:
(1) The Hood Canal marine sanctuary is
created within the
geographic area covered by the Hood Canal summer chum salmon
evolutionarily significant unit. The sanctuary is bounded
by northwest
corner of Kitsap county and runs due west to the shoreline of Jefferson
county and claims all waters south of that boundary. The
sanctuary is
designed to protect, preserve, and fully recover in the followingorder:
(a) Wild or naturally spawning summer
chum salmon, chinook salmon,
coho salmon, and steelhead;
(b) Herring, smelt, ling cod, perch, and
black cod; and
(c) All other species of aquatic animal
and plant life indigenous
to Hood Canal.
(2) The fish and wildlife commission,
in coordination with the
tribal comanagers, shall prohibit any harvest of wild or naturally
spawning summer chum, fall chinook, or coho salmon, or of steelhead,
in
Hood Canal and its tributaries until such time as the runs have
fully
recovered and can sustain such harvest without impairing futureproduction.
(3) Chum, chinook, and coho salmon and
steelhead of hatchery origin
in Hood Canal may continue to be harvested commercially in a manner
the
fish and wildlife commission, in coordination with the tribal
comanagers, determines will minimize the by-catch of wild or naturally
spawning salmon and steelhead. Such harvest shall be monitored
to
ensure that significant numbers of wild or naturally spawning stocks
of
salmon and steelhead are not present in the run at the time of
harvest.
If protected runs have already reached their spawning streams or
moved
well beyond the harvest activities, such by-catch will not be regarded
as significant.
(4) By June 30, 2001, the department of
fish and wildlife, in
coordination with the tribal comanagers, shall develop a definition
of
full recovery as it is applied to summer chum, chinook, and coho
salmon
and steelhead. This definition shall be based on the most
recently
available scientific data and shall be based primarily on a field
inventory count of escapement in all spawning tributaries.
By
September 30, 1999, the department shall provide a complete inventory
of all streams in the geographic area covered by the summer chum
salmon
evolutionarily significant unit. The effort to define full
recovery
and to identify all of the streams shall include the participation
of
the Hood Canal coordinating council and of the Hood Canal salmon
enhancement group.
(5) The department of fish and wildlife
may use remote site
incubators to enhance summer chum salmon production. The
department,
in coordination with the Hood Canal salmon enhancement group, shall:
(a) Identify sites on tributaries of Hood
Canal that would be
suitable for the placement of remote site incubators; and
(b) Place the incubators in suitable locations
and manage the
incubators as necessary.
(6) The department, in coordination with
the Hood Canal
coordination council and volunteer groups, shall direct efforts
toward
ensuring that suitable habitat in the watersheds covered by the
summer
chum evolutionarily significant unit is used by naturally spawning
summer chum salmon.
(7) The Hood Canal coordinating council
shall report to the salmon
recovery office as provided in RCW 75.46.040 on the status of summer
chum runs after the harvest prohibition has been in place for two
generations of summer chum salmon. The first report on summer
chum
returns shall be provided no later than December 31, 2004, and
the
second report shall be provided no later than December 31, 2008.
At
such time as it is determined that all species of salmon and steelhead
have reached full recovery, the department of fish and wildlife
shall
submit a report to the legislature with a recommendation to change
the
designation of sanctuary to a designation that would allow controlledharvest.
(8) The department of fish and wildlife
is authorized to extend the
same protection to those waters outside of the marine sanctuary
as
defined in subsection (1) of this section that enter into Hood
Canal as
to Hood Canal or its tributaries.
{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 4.
This act is necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety,
or
support of the state government and its existing public institutions,
and takes effect immediately.
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