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Permits
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Commercial
sardine fishing vessel getting ready to launch skiff with the net. |
- Participants are
required to renew their Emerging Commercial Fisheries License ($185
for residents; $295 for non-residents) and Experimental Sardine Fishery
Permit by April 1, 2007.
- Permits are non-transferable
and must be carried on the fishing vessel during harvest and sale of
catch.
- Permit holder
must designate a vessel on the permit a minimum of 48 hours prior to
the first sardine fishing trip of each year; vessel designation can
be changed provided the vessel has not participated in the current season.
- A vessel cannot
be designated on more than one permit.
- The permit is subject
to revocation by the Director for failure to abide by the conditions
of the permit, violation of other fishing regulations, or other valid
reason.
Season
- Permits
would be valid during the time period of April 1, 2007 through December
31, 2007
Observer
Coverage
- WDFW retains
the right to require certified observers to be onboard for the duration
of any trip on which sardines are harvested, and the Director has the
discretion to recover costs for observer coverage.
Data
Collection
- Agency employees
will be granted full access to the catch and be allowed to gather biological
data as needed. Up to 500 sardine per day may be retained by WDFW for
biological information.
- Logbooks
are required and will be provided by WDFW. Completed logs must be submitted
to the Department by the 15th day following the end of each month in
which fishing activity occurred. Logs must be submitted to:
Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife
Attn: Carol Henry
48 Devonshire Road
Montesano, WA 98563
Gear
- The fishery
is open to purse seine gear only, and gear specifications will be detailed
to ensure that the net meets a purse seine definition.
- Legal purse
seine gear must be onboard the vessel making the landing.
Species
- Participants may
retain and sell sardine and incidental catches of mackerel, market squid,
and anchovy. All other species must be released immediately and care
taken to minimize damage to prohibited species.
- No salmon may
be landed on the boat's deck but must be released or dip netted directly
from the net before the completion of each set.
- Consistent with
standards in the offshore whiting fishery, a mortality greater than
1 chinook per 20 mt of Pacific sardine would be sufficient to rescind
a permit or close the experimental fishery.
Fishing Area
- The fishery would
be restricted from the area inside 3 miles to minimize bycatch, conserve
forage fish, and reduce conflicts with the existing baitfish fishery.
Landings
- All sardine landings
made under the authority of this permit into Washington must comply
with existing state and federal regulations and requirements.
- The transfer of
catch from one vessel to another vessel is prohibited.
- All landings must
be made to a shoreside processing facility.
- Not more than 15%
of cumulative sardine landings (across the season) can be delivered
or processed for the purposes of conversion into fish flour, fish meal,
fish scrap, fertilizer, fish oil, other fishery products, or byproducts
for purposes other than human consumption or fishing bait.
- Once a delivery
has commenced at a processing plant, all fish onboard the vessel must
be offloaded at that plant.
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