2023 North of Falcon- Puget Sound Commercial Fisheries CR-102
2023 North of Falcon- Puget Sound Commercial Fisheries CR-102
Please note: All comments received by WDFW are part of the public record and will be available for public viewing - so please do not include private information in the text of your comments. Comments are subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act, RCW 42.56.
View the CR-102 Rule Proposal and WAC Text
The proposed rules were developed through the annual North of Falcon salmon season setting process, which began in January 2023, and provide the season schedule for the 2023 commercial fisheries in Puget Sound.
These proposed rules regulate the commercial fisheries in Puget Sound and are part of a comprehensive rulemaking package to implement the new 2023-24 salmon seasons for Washington State developed through the broader North of Falcon process pursuant to the Fish and Wildlife Commission’s North of Falcon Policy C-3608 for 2019-2023. As such, the seasons specified in these proposed rules are structured in a coordinated manner intended to provide commercial and recreational fishing opportunities in Puget Sound while ensuring conservation requirements and management objectives in federal and state laws and regulations, state/tribal harvest management agreements, and Fish and Wildlife Commission policies are met. Even though drafted as amendments to preceding rules, these new amendments function as a coordinated and unitary fishery package for the 2023-24 fishery season, and thus substantively replace prior years’ fisheries in Puget Sound. Comments should be considered and provided with that understanding.
WDFW is proposing specific revisions to these rules to describe the seasons and dates for these fisheries for 2023. However, all of the provisions encompassed within the WACs listed above are available for public review and comment, and WDFW will consider all public comments received on this rulemaking.
Please review the proposed amendments for each WAC by following the links and then provide your comments below.
WAC 220-354-120 Puget Sound salmon - Purse seine – Open periods (scroll down in document)
WAC 220-354-160 Puget Sound salmon - Gillnet – Open periods (scroll down in document)
WAC 220-354-180 Puget Sound salmon - Reef net – Open periods (scroll down in document)
WAC 220-354-210 Puget Sound salmon - Beach seine – Open periods (scroll down in document)