Is it 100% illegal to take "unclassified inverts" in WA state?

[AquaticEngineer]

Back in 2010 I read through all the regulations for WA state, and it looked like it was fine. I re-read them this year and I found this on page page 132:

 

Examples of Unclassified Marine Invertebrates

 

An unclassified marine invertebrate is any shellfish species not defined as shellfish on page 19. Examples include: shore crabs, graceful crabs, seastars, sand dollars, moon snails, shore snails, marine worms and nudibranchs. No harvest allowed .

 

This is what they define shellfish as on page 19

Shellfish Includes Dungeness, red rock, tanner,king, and box crab; razor clams, and all other

marine clams existing in a wild state; oysters, geoducks, shrimp, California sea cucumbers, sea urchins, scallops, goose barnacles, cockles,mussels, squid, octopus, and crawfish.

 

This is what they define Unclassified Marine Invertebrates as on page 19:

Unclassified Marine Invertebrates

Invertebrates not listed in the shellfish definition, such as snails, nudibranchs, shore crabs,

graceful crabs, sand dollars, starfish, white and red sea cucumbers, limpets, chitons, etc.

 

I'm pretty sure the little "etc" at the end there basically includes everything else as an unclassified marine invert, thus making it a "No Harvest Allowed" item.

[tinkerer]

i took a class in supreme court legal briefs in college and my brother is going to law school, i would say no means no...

[AquaticEngineer]

i took a class in supreme court legal briefs in college and my brother is going to law school, i would say no means no...

 

See thats how I read it as well.

 

I know without a doubt what I can and cannot take in Oregon, but it looks like there is no legal way for me to obtain livestock from Washington.

[tinkerer]

your best bet would be to contact the state DNR to make sure. they will have to get back to you if they are honest, they will not know off hand.

[Jacobnano]

I have emailed them before. You can get a scientific collection permit, but that is the only way.

[AquaticEngineer]

I have emailed them before. You can get a scientific collection permit, but that is the only way.

 

I dont think they will issue one to me for what I am wanting to do.

 

State scientific collection permits are issued to scientists/researchers, educators/educational institutions, and museums, aquariums/zoos. They are NOT issued to the general public for collection/take of fish and/or wildlife.

 

I guess I'll just have to collect everything in Oregon.

[C-Rad]

Be sure to look at the context within which the section of the Code is written, to see if that statement applies to only a subset of all people, or a subset of all locations. Maybe that text applies to holders of a sport fishing license, but not a commercial collecting permit, or vice versa. Maybe it applies in tide pools, or in the intertidal zone, but not to all areas. Page 19 of what?

 

Ideally, try to find a place online (wa.gov?) where you can search the actual written text of the state code. You will probably find the text you sited under a heading for "sport fishing", which would leave open the possibility that you could approach it from a different angle, using a different part of the code that allows it (commercial collector, commercial fisherman (by-catch?), cleaning growth off a boat, native peoples traditional food collection, collection for use as bait, ???) Chances are that you're screwed, but maybe not, so it might pay to do a more exhaustive search.

[AquaticEngineer]

Oh sorry, page 19 of the WDFW fishing regulations.

 

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01185/wdfw01185.pdf

 

What I was reading through applies to sport fishing, so for personal collection. They are pretty clear with their regulations.

UNCLASSIFIED MARINE INVERTEBRATES

ALL AREAS

ALL SPECIES

CLOSED

See definition page 19.

 

They do allow collection of quite a few species with a sport fishing license though, just not anemones or other cool stuff that fall under "unclassified marine inverts". You can collect things like Octopus, squid, sea urchins, shrimp, seaweed, scallops, mussels, barnacles, and one species of sea cucumber.

 

The other area I'm trying if figure out is what, if any, species of fish that would be of interest to have in an aquarium are you allowed to collect. Here's what the regs say:

OTHER FOOD FISH

Year-round

No min. size.

Daily limit 2 of each species.

 

They then define food fish as:

Food Fish Includes forage fish, halibut,

bottomfish, common carp, shad, tuna, mackerel,

salmon, and sturgeon.

 

Forage fish is defined as:

Forage Fish Includes anchovy, sand lance,

herring, sardine, and smelt.

 

Bottom fish is defined as:

Bottomfish Includes Pacific cod, Pacific

tomcod, Pacific hake (or whiting), walleye

pollock, all species of dabs, sole and flounders

(except Pacific halibut), lingcod, ratfish,

sablefish, cabezon, greenling, buffalo sculpin,

great sculpin, red Irish lord, brown Irish

lord, Pacific staghorn sculpin, wolfeel, giant

wrymouth, plainfin midshipman, all species of

shark, skate, rockfish, rattail, and surf perches

excluding shiner perch.

 

And they wrap it all up with....

ALL OTHER FISH

CLOSED Year-round

 

So that would eliminate the possibility of collecting things like Grunt Sculpins from the sound. Or basically another fish that isn't a "sport fish" or one of the above listed fish. But 2 Wolf Eels might be kind of cool,

 

I'm gonna dig into the commercial side of it today.

[C-Rad]

I did a little looking, and as far as I can tell, it's illegal to swat a fly in Washington state, although they aren't likely to site you for it. The problem is, that it's impossible to know precisely what they will or won't site you for. If I can get away with swatting a fly, can I collect butterflies? Can I catch a lizard, show it to my kid, and then release it? Can I haul my boat out of the water at the end of the season and scrape off the"Unclassified Marine Invertebrates"? If so, what if I put them into my tank instead of letting them die on my driveway? I guess it's all left up to the discretion of the WDFW officer, or the judge, so there's no real way of knowing what you might be sited for. It looks to me as though wildlife management laws in Washington have crossed the line from sound public policy into state sponsored religion. Frightening.

[Jamie]

lol, woops. I guess no more collecting in Washington for me! I though it was similar to Oregon...