Fishing Guide Logbook Progress Report (2022)

Work on the concept of a logbook system began during the 2017 legislative session, when a bill was introduced that would have drastically changed how guides are regulated in the state of Washington. While the bill did not pass, it sparked a formal process for the agency to begin engaging fishing guides throughout Washington in an evaluation of the industry; what we know about usage and trends, contribution to local economies and alternative structures of regulation. The agency held 14 meetings in the summer of 2018, and another eight in early 2019. Guides shared perspectives on regulation of the industry, data gaps facing management of the industry and the resource, and the idea of establishing a guide logbook system similar to the one that was in place for years in Alaska.

WAC 220-352-245

During the summer of 2019, the Fish & Wildlife Commission adopted rules requiring guides to fill out logbooks to record data on their fishing activity. The rule went into effect Jan. 1, 2020. See WAC language below:

Reporting required of licensed food fish, game fish and combination fishing guides.

(1) Licensed food fish, game fish and combination fishing guides shall maintain a daily logbook of guiding activity to include:

(a) Guide name and license No. for the guide leading the trip;

(b) Date that fishing took place. For multiday trips, each day is considered a separate trip;

(c) Specific name of river, stream, or lake fished;

(d) Site code of site fished as referenced within a list provided to each guide. If multiple sites are fished on the same day, each site is considered a separate trip;

(e) Client, "comped angler" and crew current fishing license number (wild ID No.) for each person on board if required to have a license or catch record card. A comped angler is an angler that fishes without charge;

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife 2

(f) Indicate if person was a crew member or if angler was "comped";

(g) Species kept or released. For salmon and steelhead specify origin (hatchery, wild) and life stage (adult, jack).

(2) Logbooks are required to be completed for each trip before offloading any fish from the vessel or if no fish were kept, complete the logbook before leaving the site.

(3) Report of daily guiding activity shall be made using the department's paper logbook or online reporting application. Logbook pages must be provided to the department or postmarked within ten days following any calendar month in which the guiding activity took place.

(4) Each day of fishing that occurs on a designated WDFW licensed guide fish vessel will be required to be recorded in the logbook. This includes any personal use or nonguided fishing trips that occur.

(5) Information collected under this section may be exempt from public disclosure to the extent provided under RCW 42.56.430.

(6) Failure to report any guiding activity listed in subsections (1) through (4) of this section is an infraction, punishable under RCW 77.15.160.

(7) A fishing guide, or person under the control or direction of a fishing guide, that submits false information is guilty of a gross misdemeanor, punishable under RCW 77.15.270.

Objective

The new logbook reporting system will allow the agency to collect additional biological data, but more importantly, it will allow us to collect data on industry trends. This data will help build a more accurate picture of the demographics of the industry, the geographic distribution of guide activity in Washington, and the contribution guides have on local economies. It will also allow us to increase our communications around the role the industry plays in promoting tourism, conservation and the recruitment of new anglers into the sport.

Input from Fishing Guides

The agency solicited input from guides on a logbook system throughout 2018 and 2019, through public meetings and through public comment during the Commission’s rulemaking process. Further the agency established a Fishing Guide Advisory Committee to help scope reporting tools, beta test them and help with implementation and communication around the new requirement.