Puget Sound Harvesters Ass'n v. Department of Fish & Wildlife

¶1 The Puget Sound Harvesters Association (PSHA), an industry group representing nontreaty commercial salmon gill net fishers, appeals the trial court’s dismissal of its petition seeking to invalidate two administrative rules adopted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) regulating nontreaty commercial chum salmon fishing in South Puget Sound for the 2012 season. PSHA argues that the 2012 rules violate constitutional principles of equal protection and are arbitrary and capricious. Because there is no constitutional or statutory right to equal catch shares among gear groups…