Washington Senate Passes Smelt, Carp, Crawfish Licensing Bill

A bill requiring a fishing license to dip for smelt on the Cowlitz and elsewhere in the state is one step closer to becoming law after being passed on a 49-0 vote in Washington’s Senate late this morning.

HB 1226 still needs to go back to the House for concurrence on an amendment adopted by senators today, as well as be signed by Governor Jay Inslee, but it also would require crawfish catchers statewide as well as carp anglers on all state waters except Moses and Vancouver Lakes to buy licenses.

Anglers who already have a fishing license (as well as youths 14 and under) wouldn’t need to buy one, nor would it increase the price of the ticket to ride.

Senator Jesse Salomon (D-Shoreline) said a license is needed because some smelt dippers don’t realize there is a 10-pound daily limit on smelt, also known as eulachon, and he noted the stock is protected under the Endangered Species Act. The idea is that buying a license assumes the purchaser will read the regulations pamphlet to bone up on the rules around the species they’re going to pursue.

Salomon said requiring the licensing requirement would generate only “minimal” revenue, just $55,000 a year, “so that’s not what this is about.”

Where the bill faced near unanimous resistance from Republicans in passing the House last month, not so today.

Jeff Wilson, the senator from the “smelt capitol of the world” – Longview – rose to urge fellow members of his caucus to support the bill after pulling a pair of amendments, one of which would have exempted licensing requirements for smelt while the other would have dedicated that licensing revenue to pinniped control.

“The reality is we need to control the take and a license would help do that,” added Sen. Ron Muzzall (R-Whidbey Island).

Senator Judy Warnick (R-Moses Lake) allowed that she didn’t know much about smelt, but did know that carp infest some waters and was behind carving out a licensing exception to Moses and Vancouver Lakes. She expressed disdain for anglers actually fishing for salmon sans license under the pretense of being carp fishermen.

WDFW SMELT DIP UPDATE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21 (SORRY FOR THE DELAY IN POSTING EARLIER): “After today’s test dips, we found that are some fish in the river but not much and dipping will be tough. We will not be recommending a smelt dip for this weekend. We’ll keep watching for a chance at another dipping opportunity!”

–Laura Heironimus, WDFW

According to Tom McBride, WDFW legislative liaison, the bill will return to the House for concurrrence.

“The House can pass as the final, refuse amendments or request a conference to discuss,” McBride said earlier this week.

If signed by Governor Inslee, HB 1226 would go into effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns, which at this point would be early June.