Washington Administrative Code › Title 220 - Fish and Wildlife, Department of › FISH › Chapter 220-354 - Commercial fisheries-Salmon › Section 220-354-100 - Puget Sound salmon - Lawful gear - Purse seine

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1) Lawful purse seine salmon nets in Puget
				Sound must not exceed 1,800 feet in length along the cork line while wet, and
				purse seine and lead combined must not exceed 2,200 feet. Neither type can
				contain meshes of a size less than 3-1/2 inches. Meshes of the seine and lead
				cannot be lashed together to form one continuous piece of webbed gear. A person
				may have, as part of the purse seine, a bunt not more than 10 fathoms long.
				However, the mesh size must not be less than 3-1/2 inches.
(2) It is unlawful to take or fish for salmon
				in Puget Sound with purse seine gear that contains mesh webbing constructed of
				a twine-size smaller than 210/30d nylon, 12-thread cotton, or the equivalent
				diameter in any other material.
(3) It is unlawful for any purse seine vessel
				to carry an extra lead or portion thereof unless stowed below decks during the
				fishing operation. It is also unlawful to carry an extra lead or portion
				thereof aboard the skiff of the purse seine vessel.
(4) Purse seine mesh size is defined as the
				distance between the inside of one knot to the outside of the opposite vertical
				knot of one mesh. Minimum mesh size is met if a wedge of legal size can be
				passed without undue force through the mesh while the mesh is wet.
(5) A purse seine is not considered to be
				fishing once both ends of the seine are attached to the primary
				vessel.
(6) It is unlawful to take
				or fish for salmon with purse seine gear in Puget Sound unless at least four
				sections, each measuring no less than 12 inches in length along the cork line
				in the bunt, and within 75 fathoms of the bunt, have no corks or floats
				attached. These four sections must be spaced such that one section is along the
				cork line in the bunt, within 5 fathoms of the seine net, and the other three
				sections are spaced at least 20 fathoms apart along the cork line within 75
				fathoms of the bunt.
(7) When
				brailing is required, it is unlawful to take or fish for salmon with purse
				seine gear unless the purse seine vessel has aboard and uses operable recovery
				boxes as described in this subsection.
(a)
				Dimensions and capacities of required recovery boxes:
(i) Recovery boxes must have two chambers per
				box if one box is used, or one chamber per box if two boxes are used.
(ii) Each recovery box chamber must have an
				inside length measurement of 48 inches, an inside width measurement of 10
				inches, and an inside height measurement of 16 inches.
(iii) Each chamber of the recovery box must
				have an inlet hole measuring between 3/4 inch and 1 inch in diameter. The inlet
				hole must be centered horizontally across the door or wall of the chamber, and
				the bottom of the hole must be located 1-3/4 inches above the floor of the
				chamber.
(iv) Each chamber of the
				recovery box must include a water outlet hole on the opposite wall from the
				inlet hole, and the outlet hole must be at least 1-1/2 inches in diameter, with
				the bottom of the outlet hole located 12 inches above the floor of the
				chamber.
(v) Flow of water through
				each chamber of the recovery boxes must be not less than 16 gallons per minute,
				nor more than 20 gallons per minute.