WAC 220-47-325   Purse seine -- Release of incidentally caught fish.  (1) It is unlawful for any purse seine vessel operator landing salmon to do so directly into the hold. All salmon must be landed onto the deck or sorting tray or table of the harvesting vessel with the hold hatch cover(s) closed until all salmon that cannot be retained are released; and additionally:

     (2) In Areas 7 and 7A, and prior to September 14 in Areas 7B and 7C, it is unlawful for any purse seine vessel operator to bring salmon aboard a vessel unless all salmon captured in the seine net are removed from the seine net using a brailer or dip net meeting the specifications in this section prior to the seine net being removed from the water, unless otherwise provided for in this section.

     (3) The brailer must be constructed in the following manner and with the following specifications:

     (a) A bag of web hung on a rigid hoop attached to a handle;

     (b) The bag must be opened by releasing a line running through rings attached to the bottom of the bag; and

     (c) The web must be of soft knotless construction, and the mesh size cannot exceed 57 mm (2.25 inches) measured along two contiguous sides of a single mesh.

     (4) Hand-held dip nets must be constructed of a shallow bag of soft, knotless web attached to a handle.

     (5) Fish may be brought on board without using a brailer or dip net as specified in this section if the number of fish in the net is small enough that the crew can hand-pull the bunt onto the vessel without the use of hydraulic or mechanical assistance.

     (6) In order for fishers to participate in openings where brailing is required, fishers must use a recovery box and operate the box in compliance with the provisions of WAC 220-47-301 (7)(a) through (f). It is unlawful to fail to do so.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047 and 77.04.020. 08-15-031 (Order 08-167), § 220-47-325, filed 7/8/08, effective 8/8/08; 07-20-006, § 220-47-325, filed 9/20/07, effective 10/21/07. Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047. 06-16-045 (Order 06-173), § 220-47-325, filed 7/26/06, effective 8/26/06; 05-17-002 (Order 05-166), § 220-47-325, filed 8/3/05, effective 9/3/05; 04-16-125 (Order 04-202), § 220-47-325, filed 8/4/04, effective 9/4/04; 03-18-005 (Order 03-210), § 220-47-325, filed 8/20/03, effective 9/20/03. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 99-24-011 (99-202), § 220-47-325, filed 11/19/99, effective 12/20/99; 97-16-030 (Order 97-124), § 220-47-325, filed 7/29/97, effective 8/29/97.]