WAC 220-52-018   Clams -- Gear.  It shall be unlawful to take, dig for or possess clams, geoducks, or mussels taken for commercial purposes from any of the tidelands in the state of Washington except with a pick, mattock, fork or shovel operated by hand, except:

     (1) Permits for the use of mechanical clam digging devices to take clams other than geoducks may be obtained from the director of fisheries subject to the following conditions:

     (a) Any or all types of mechanical devices used in the taking or harvesting of shellfish must be approved by the director of fisheries.

     (b) A separate permit shall be required for each and every device and the permit shall be attached to the specific unit at all times.

     (c) All types of clams to be taken for commercial use must be of legal size and in season during the proposed operations unless otherwise provided in specially authorized permits for the transplanting of seed to growing areas or for research purposes.

     (d) The holder of a permit to take shellfish from tidelands by mechanical means shall limit operations to privately owned or leased land.

     (e) The taking of clams from bottoms under navigable water below the level of mean lower low water by any mechanical device shall be prohibited except as authorized by the director of fisheries. Within the enclosed bays and channels of Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Grays Harbor and Willapa Harbor, the operators of all mechanical devices shall confine their operations to bottoms leased from the Washington department of natural resources, subject to the approval of the director of fisheries. The harvesting of shellfish from bottoms of the Pacific Ocean westward from the western shores of the state shall not be carried out in waters less than two fathoms deep at mean lower low water. In said waters more than two fathoms deep the director of fisheries may reserve all or certain areas thereof and prevent the taking of shellfish in any quantity from such reserves established on the ocean bottoms.

     (f) Noncompliance with any part of these regulations or with special requirements of individual permits will result in immediate cancellation of and/or subsequent nonrenewal of all permits held by the operator.

     (g) Applications must be made on the forms provided by the department of fisheries and permits must be in the possession of the operator before digging commences.

     (h) All permits to take or harvest shellfish by mechanical means shall expire on December 31 of the year of issue.

     (i) All mechanical clam harvesting machines must have approved instrumentation that will provide deck readout of water pressure.

     (j) All clam harvest machines operating on intertidal grounds where less than ten percent of the substrate material is above 500 microns in size must be equipped with a propeller guard suitable for reducing the average propeller wash velocity at the end of the guard to approximately twenty-five percent of the average propeller wash velocity at the propeller. The propeller guard must also be positioned to provide an upward deflection to propeller wash.

     (k) Clam harvest machines operating in fine substrate material where less than ten percent of the substrate material is above 500 microns in size, shall have a maximum harvest head width of 3 feet (overall) and the maximum pump volume as specified by the department of fisheries commensurate with the basic hydraulic relationship of 828 gpm at 30 pounds per square inch, pressure to be measured at the pump discharge.

     (l) Clam harvest machines operating in coarser substrate material where more than ten percent of the substrate material is above 500 microns in size, shall have a maximum harvest head width of 4 feet (overall) and a maximum pump volume as specified by the department of fisheries commensurate with a basic hydraulic relationship of 1,252 gpm at 45 pounds per square inch, pressure to be measured at the pump discharge.

     (m) All clam harvest machine operators must submit accurate performance data showing revolutions per minute, gallons per minute, and output pressure for the water pump on their machine. In addition, they shall furnish the number and sizes of the hydraulic jets on the machines. If needed, the operator shall thereafter modify the machine (install a sealed pressure relief valve) as specified by the department of fisheries to conform with values set forth in either WAC 220-52-018 (11) or (12) of this section. Thereafter, it shall be illegal to make unauthorized changes to the clam harvester water pump or the hydraulic jets. Exact description of the pump volume, maximum pressure and number and size of the hydraulic jet for each harvester machine shall be included in the department of fisheries' clam harvest permit.

     (n) All clam harvest machines shall be equipped with a 3/4-inch pipe thread tap and valve that will allow rapid coupling of a pressure gauge for periodic testing by enforcement personnel.

     (o) Each mechanical clam harvester must have controls so arranged and situated near the operator which will allow the operator to immediately cut off the flow of water to the jet manifold without affecting the capability of the vessel to maneuver.

     (p) Licensing: A hardshell clam mechanical harvester fishery license is the license required to operate the mechanical harvester gear provided for in this section.

     (2) Aquatic farmers may harvest geoducks that are private sector cultured aquatic product by means of water pumps and nozzles.

     (3) Persons may harvest nonstate tideland wild geoducks under a nonstate lands commercial wild clam, mussel and oyster trial fishery permit by means of water pumps and nozzles.



[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.12.047. 06-04-015 (Order 06-08), § 220-52-018, filed 1/22/06, effective 2/22/06. Statutory Authority: RCW 75.08.080. 94-12-009 (Order 94-23), § 220-52-018, filed 5/19/94, effective 6/19/94; 84-08-014 (Order 84-24), § 220-52-018, filed 3/27/84; 79-02-053 (Order 79-6), § 220-52-018, filed 1/30/79; Order 76-152, § 220-52-018, filed 12/17/76; Order 1258, § 220-52-018, filed 8/25/75; Order 807, § 220-52-018, filed 1/2/69, effective 2/1/69. Formerly WAC 220-52-010(2).]