1. (1) Provisions of this section apply to any vessel operator or alternate operator, as outlined in RCW 77.65.130, designated to a Dungeness crab - Puget Sound license, as designated in RCW 77.70.110, and are in addition to the shellfish pot gear provisions described in WAC 220-340-435.
2. (2) Buoy tag and pot tag required. It is unlawful to place in the water, pull from the water, possess on the water, or transport on the water any crab buoy or crab pot without an attached buoy tag and pot tag that meet the requirements of this section.
3. (3) Commercial crab fishery pot tag requirements: Each shellfish pot used in the commercial crab fishery must have a durable, nonbiodegradable tag securely attached to the pot that is permanently and legibly marked with the license owner's name or license number and telephone number. If the tag information is illegible, or the tag is lost for any reason, the pot is not in compliance with state law.

4. (4) Commercial crab fishery buoy tag requirements.

   1. (a) The department issues crab pot buoy tags to the owner of each commercial crab fishery license upon payment of an annual buoy tag fee per crab pot buoy tag. Prior to setting gear, each Puget Sound crab fisher must purchase 100 tags.
   2. (b) In Puget Sound waters, except if authorized by permit issued by the director, each crab pot must have the department-issued buoy tag attached to the outermost end of the buoy line.
   3. (c) If there is more than one buoy attached to a pot, only one buoy tag is required.

   4. (d) If regional pot limit reductions are implemented, vessel operators or alternate operators, as outlined in RCW 77.65.130, are required to:

      1. (i) Not exceed the regional per license pot limit in each crab management region, as defined in WAC 220-320-110, that they are engaged in harvest.
      2. (ii) In the event that a harvester is fishing multiple crab management regions, they must not exceed the highest regional pot limit per license from amongst the crab management regions, as defined in WAC 220-320-110, that they are engaged in harvest.
      3. (iii) All remaining, undeployed buoy tags per license per region must be on board the designated vessel and available for immediate inspection by the department, except under the following conditions: The holder or alternate operator of a Puget Sound crab license has declared, as permitted under (e) of this subsection, that deployed tags have been lost and are unrecoverable, under penalty of perjury, and has been granted permission by the department to use undeployed buoy tags as a replacement.
   5. (e) Replacement crab buoy tags: Puget Sound commercial crab license holders are required to request permission to use undeployed buoy tags in the event deployed buoy tags are lost and are unrecoverable. Requests to use undeployed buoy tags must state the number of buoy tags lost, the location and date where the licensee last observed lost gear or tags, and the presumed cause of the loss. Requests must be made using a department provided electronic form.

5. (5) Commercial crab fishery buoy requirements.

   1. (a) All buoys attached to commercial crab gear must consist of a durable material and remain floating on the water's surface when five pounds of weight is attached, unless otherwise authorized by permit issued by the director.
   2. (b) It is unlawful to use bleach, antifreeze or detergent bottles, paint cans, or any other container as a buoy. The line attaching a buoy to commercial crab gear must be weighted sufficiently to prevent the excess line from floating on the water's surface.
   3. (c) No buoys attached to Puget Sound commercial crab gear may be both red and white in color unless a minimum of 30 percent of the surface of each buoy is also prominently marked with an additional color or colors other than red or white. Red and white colors are reserved for personal use crab gear as described in WAC 220-330-020.

   4. (d) An operator or alternate operator of a vessel, as outlined in RCW 77.65.130, who operates a vessel designated to any commercial Dungeness crab fishery license must register the buoy brand number and buoy color or color combinations to be used with the license to fish for crab each crab season prior to the commencement of fishing using the WDFW online registration form. Buoy registration must provide color photographs that allows identification of the registered buoy brand number and all color or color combinations used on the buoy.

      1. (i) All buoys fished from a single vessel must be marked in a uniform manner with the buoy brand number registered with the department and be of identical color or color combinations, unless otherwise authorized by permit issued from the director.
      2. (ii) The vessel operator or alternate operator, as outlined in RCW 77.65.130, who operates the vessel designated on the license may register only one unique buoy brand and one unique buoy color scheme with the department per vessel, regardless of the number of licenses stacked on the vessel. Persons holding more than one state license must register buoy color(s) for each vessel that are distinctly different.
      3. (iii) It is unlawful for a Dungeness crab fishery vessel operator or alternate operator, as outlined in RCW 77.65.130, to fish for crab using any other buoy brand and buoy color scheme than that registered with and assigned to the license by the department.
      4. (iv) It is unlawful for a Dungeness crab fishery license vessel operator or alternate operator, as outlined in RCW 77.65.130, to register a buoy brand or fish for crab using a buoy brand used in a treaty tribal fishery.
      5. (v) In the event that a license is transferred to another vessel or owner in the same season, the vessel operator or alternate operator as outlined in RCW 77.65.130, who operates the vessel designated on the license must reregister the buoy brand and buoy color schemes to be used with the license for the remainder of that crab season.

6. (6) Commercial crab fishery line requirements.

   1. (a) Vessel operators or alternate operators, as outlined in RCW 77.65.130, must set all crab pots used in the Puget Sound Dungeness crab fishery to use only the amount of line reasonably necessary to compensate for tides, currents, and weather.
   2. (b) Vessel operators or alternate operators, as outlined in RCW 77.65.130, may not use line in the Puget Sound Dungeness crab fishery that features specific marking or color combinations required by regulation for any other state or federally managed fishery in the U.S. West Coast Exclusive Economic Zone or required by regulation for any other fishery in the state waters of Washington, Oregon, or California.
7. (7) Violation of this section is a gross misdemeanor, punishable under RCW 77.15.520 Commercial fishing—Unlawful gear or methods—Penalty.

[Statutory Authority: RCW 77.04.012, 77.04.013, 77.04.020, 77.04.055, 77.12.020, 77.12.047, 77.12.320, 77.32.050, 77.32.070, 77.32.090, and 77.65.220. WSR 26-11-003 (Order 26-68), s 220-340-431, filed 5/7/26, effective 6/7/26.]