Bill > SB5076

This bill establishes a new Puget Sound nonspot shrimp pot fishery license, expanding the existing regulatory framework for commercial shrimp fishing in Puget Sound. The bill defines "nonspot shrimp" as a species complex including six specific types of pandalid shrimp, such as dock shrimp and ocean pink shrimp. It modifies existing regulations to create a limited entry fishery for nonspot shrimp, allowing fishers to obtain a new license to harvest these species using pot gear. The bill limits the total number of combined shrimp trawl and nonspot shrimp pot licenses to five, and provides a mechanism for existing shrimp trawl license holders to convert their licenses to nonspot shrimp pot licenses. License holders are restricted to owning only one type of license, and alternate operators are generally limited to immediate family members, with some exceptions for medical emergencies. The legislation also sets licensing fees, with resident license holders paying $335 and nonresident license holders paying $720, and includes provisions for license transferability, inheritance, and cooperative gear modification with the Department of Fish and Wildlife.