Hold the Commercials Accountable by Rob Tobeck
Let me introduce House Bill 1717, this bill would amend RCW 77.12.870. The RCW as it is currently written encourages lost net reporting but does not require it. The problem with the bill as it is currently written is that the commercial fishing industry does not report it’s lost gear. There hasn’t been a commercial fisher report a lost net since 2005 and in this past year alone there has been 11 newly lost nets found.