OAR 635-042-0022: Spring Chinook Gillnet and Tangle Net Fisheries

(1) Adipose fin-clipped Chinook salmon, sturgeon and shad may be taken by gillnet or tangle net for commercial purposes from the mouth of the Columbia River upstream to Kelley Point (Zones 1, 3 and part of Zone 4). (a) Individual fishing periods will not exceed sixteen hours in length during small mesh fisheries and twenty-four hours in length during large mesh fisheries. Fishing periods may occur on Tuesdays and Thursdays, depending upon results from test fisheries or full fleet fisheries conducted prior to each specified weekday. (b) White sturgeon possession and sales restrictions by each participating vessel will be determined inseason based on gear type and number of fish remaining on the fish guideline. (2) An adipose fin clip salmon is defined as a hatchery salmon with a clipped adipose fin and having a healed scar at the location of the fin. The adipose fin is the small fatty fin on salmonids located between the dorsal fin and tail. (3) During the spring Chinook gillnet fishery: (a) It is unlawful to use a gillnet having a mesh size less than 8 inches or more than 9-3/4 inches. (b) Mesh size for the fishery is determined as described in OAR 635-042-0010(4). (4) During the spring Chinook tangle net fishery: (a) It is unlawful to use other than a single-wall multi-filament net. Monofilament tangle nets are not allowed. Maximum mesh size is 4-1/4 inches stretched taut. (b) Mesh size is determined by placing three consecutive meshes under hand tension and the measurement is taken from the inside of one vertical knot to the outside of the opposite vertical knot of the center mesh. Hand tension means sufficient linear tension to draw opposing knots of meshes into contact. (5) Nets shall not exceed 900 feet (150 fathoms) in length. A red cork must be placed on the corkline every 25 fathoms as measured from the first mesh of the net. Red corks at 25 fathom intervals must be in color contrast to the corks used in the remainder of the net. (6) On tangle nets, an optional use of a steelhead excluder panel of mesh may be hung between the corkline and the 4-1/4 inch maximum mesh size tangle net. The excluder panel web must be a minimum mesh size of 12 inches when stretched taut under hand tension. Monofilament mesh is allowed for the excluder panel. The excluder panel (including any associated hangings) must be a minimum of 5 linear feet in depth and not exceed 10 linear feet in depth, as measured from the corkline to the upper margin of the tangle net mesh as the net hangs naturally from a taut corkline. Weedlines or droppers (bobber-type) may be used in place of the steelhead excluder panel. A weedline-type excluder means the net is suspended below the corkline by lines of no less than five feet in length between the corkline and the upper margin of the tangle net. A dropper-type excluder means the entire net is suspended below the surface of the water by lines of no less than five feet in length extending from individual surface floats to a submersed corkline. The corkline cannot be capable of floating the net in its entirety (including the leadline) independent of the attached floats. Weedlines or droppers must extend a minimum of 5 feet above the 4-1/4 inch maximum mesh size tangle net. (a) Tangle nets constructed with a steelhead excluder panel, weedlines, or droppers, may extend to a maximum length of 1,050 feet (175 fathoms). (b) Tangle nets constructed with a steelhead excluder panel, weedlines, or droppers, along with a red cork every 25 fathoms as required in section (5) above, must have two red corks at each end of the net. (7) There are no restrictions on the hang ratio. The hang ratio is used to horizontally add slack to the net. The hang ratio is determined by the length of the web per length of the corkline. (8) There are no restrictions on the use of slackers or stringers to slacken the net vertically. (9) Nets shall be fished for no longer than 45 minutes per set. The time of fishing is measured from when the first mesh of the net is deployed into the water until the last mesh of the net is fully retrieved from the water. (10) It is unlawful for a net in whole or in part to be anchored, tied, staked, fixed, or attached to the bottom, shore, or a beached boat; left unattended at any time it is fished; or attended by more than one boat while being fished. (11) It is unlawful to fish more than one net from a licensed commercial fishing boat at any one time. (12) Nets fished from sunset to sunrise shall have lighted buoys on both ends of the net unless the net is attached to the boat then one lighted buoy on the opposite end of the net from the boat is required. (13) Non-legal sturgeon, nonadipose fin-clipped Chinook salmon, and steelhead must be released immediately with care and the least possible injury to the fish to the river without violence or into an operating recovery box. (a) One operating recovery box with two chambers or two operating recovery boxes with one chamber each to aid survival of released fish must be on board each fishing vessel participating in the fishery. Recovery boxes shall be operating during any time that a net is being retrieved or picked. (b) All salmon and steelhead that are bleeding, in lethargic condition, or appearing dead must be placed in the recovery box for rehabilitation purposes prior to release to the river. (c) Each chamber of the recovery box must meet the following dimensions as measured from within the box; the inside length measurement must be at or within 39 1/2 to 48 inches, the inside width measurement must be at or within 8 to 10 inches, and the inside height measurement must be at or within 14 to 16 inches. (d) Each chamber of the recovery box must include an operating water pumping system capable of delivering a minimum flow of 16 gallons per minute not to exceed 20 gallons per minute of fresh river water into each chamber. The fisher must demonstrate to the Department and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife employees, fish and wildlife enforcement officers, or other peace officers, upon request, that the pumping system is delivering the proper volume of fresh river water into each chamber. (e) Each chamber of the recovery box must include a water inlet hole between 3/4 inch and 1 inch in diameter, centered horizontally across the door or wall of chamber and 1-3/4 inches from the floor of the chamber. (f) Each chamber of the recovery box must include a water outlet that is at least 1-1/2 inches in diameter. The center of the outlet hole must be located a minimum of 12 inches above the floor of the box or chamber, on either the same or opposite end as the inlet. (g) All fish placed in recovery boxes must be released to the river prior to landing or docking. (14) At least one fisher on each boat engaged in the fishery must have in possession a valid certificate issued by a representative of the Department or the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife that indicates the fisher had attended a one-day workshop hosted by the Department or Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to educate fishers on regulations and best methods for conduct of the fishery. No individual may obtain more than one Live Capture Fishery Certificate. The certificate must be displayed to the Department and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife employees, fish and wildlife enforcement officers, or other peace officers upon request. (15) Nothing in this section sets any precedent for any fishery after the 2006 spring Chinook fishery. The fact that an individual held a Live Capture Fishery Certificate in spring 2006 does not entitle the certificate holder to participate in any other fishery. If the Department authorizes a Live Capture fishery in the spring or at any other time, the Department may establish qualifications and requirements that are different from those established for 2006. In particular, the Department may consider an individual’s compliance with these rules in determining that individual’s eligibility to participate in any future Live Capture fisheries. (16) As authorized by OAR-635-006-0140 owners or operators of commercial fishing vessels must cooperate with Department fishery observers, or observers collecting data for the Department, when asked by the Department to carry and accommodate an observer on fishing trips for observation and sampling during an open fishery. (17) Closed waters, as described in OAR 635-042-0005 for Grays River, Elokomin-B sanctuary, Abernathy Creek, Cowlitz River, Kalama-B sanctuary, and Lewis-B sanctuary are in effect during the open fishing periods identified.