Is it legal to gather from the beaches and such in WA?

[1guydude]

So my friend was saying we could go up to the ocean or the sound or watever to catch some crabs and eels....
That would be awsome i think to have a tank that is full of stuff related to the home waters here in WA...however...
IS IT LEGAL? Can i collect and take home stuff from the sound or beach here? Any one have a clue or can point me in the right direction to find out?

Dont want the popo's to be bustin me!

 

[user 26995]

Dont know if it is legal or not, but it has been mentioned before that animals native to this area, unless you are set up with a chiller year round may not survive in captivity. The waters around here stay in the 50's, not the 70's like we keep our tanks.

 

[Chichas01]

Not sure. There was a guy on the boards here a while back that had a Puget Sound tank setup. He had collected stuff from tide pools in the area. You would need a chiller that can handle keeping the temps low enough.

 

[akunochi]

The electrical meter goes round and round...round and round....round and round....the electric meter goes round and round all the live long day!

 

[DonW]

You can get a permit. Without even the sand in your shoes is illegal.

Don

 

[user 26995]

You have a tank with local animals dont you Don?

 

[DonW]

No i had a lobster tank local reef for a short time but the boss hated it.

Don

 

[eww]

I have heard these cold water tanks are very difficult because of the cold water. Not only do you have to keep it consistently cold but they sweat like crazy on the outside surfaces of the glass. It's really difficult to deal with all that moisture collecting on the glass and running down onto your stand and floors. The last thread I saw on here I believe the guy took it down shortly after he set it up because of all this and he had it set up in a shed in his back yard.

 

[DonW]

Their not that bad if you build out of the right material. They dont sweat when built peoperly. Steve weast aka oregon reef has some nice ones.

Don

 

[ac7av]

You can get a permit. Without even the sand in your shoes is illegal.

Don

Im not sure what you mean about that.

It seems like this comes up every year.

You can go to the Washington department of fish & wildlife web site, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and read about exactly that.

In short, you do not need a permit or licence to collect many things on the beach but you better know what your picking up, and the regulations for that critter. Example, the small crabs under the rock on the beach called shore crabs, limit 10 per day and each person has to hold there own container, no licence required.

Collection in state parts is prohibited.

You can collect anything you have a licence or permit to collect like other species of crab, salmon, rockfish and anything else that is regulated by the department.

What you do with it after you have harvested it legally, is your business.

Washing DOT may have some regulations for transporting live marine animals commercial, but I believe personal use does not fall under these regulations. You should check into it your self if your concerned.

 

[eww]

It appears that 1" thick acrylic may do the trick. Hmmm... That's what I love about this place. I learn something new almost every day.

 

[ac7av]

I wish I had the space for a nice corner cold water tank. We have some amazingly colorful things around these parts like the pink tip surf anemone that seem to do good even warm water tanks. The color is amazing under reef lighting. The red feather dusters around here are also impressive in color. They put the Hawaiian feather dusters to shame in the vibrant color department.

It would be really easy to put together a nice collection of local items. The equipment is more of the problem. Thermal glass or over thickness acrylic tanks, insulated water lines and tron sucking chillers and lots more water changes. There is a guy on the island that has one in his garage made with a normal acrylic tank and he said he doesn’t really have a condensation problem but again that not in the house. 50degrees or what ever the average temp around here is in a normal glass tank in the house would certainly be a mess.

 

[1guydude]

ya i was thinkin i would keep it in the garage cuz of the coldness....would i still need a chiller u pps think?
The water is so green here...i was thinkin taking a couple 5gal buckets of it and than using made up water for the rest!

Im not a fan of acrylic DTs...i dont wanna scratch it and i hear they are real easy to scratch!
hmm something i may need to look into in the future! Reef tanks are awsome but having a nativfe themed tank would be kool too!

 

[mojoreef]

Hey I used to pick up a lot of ladies at the beach!! But I swear only a couple might have been illegal!!!! lol

The main issue with cold water tanks is algae, they are so nutrient rich (because the critter you can collect from cold water usually are major filter feeders) so your in a battle all the time to control it.

Mojo

 

[1guydude]

well wat if u had some creatures to eat the algae or plenty of filter feeders! Im pondering the filter though....dont know how i would run that! Lights would be easy LOL

 

[mojoreef]

It can be done, steve did it for a while. The concept is that you need to feed alot of algae and other planktonic critters, so it how do you feed all that and then still maintain the nutrient levels in the overall system??

Mojo

 

[1guydude]

ya it would be quite a challenge especially for someone as new as me i thinks...
i would do a turf scrubber and idk really! LOL...It may have to wait 1-10yrs lol...
id have to get the parameters all correct and check the water out their! Guess thats where id start...than see if i could even keep the water at the correct temp and stuff before i start my gathering... Id try and keep it fish only i think...

 

[returnofsid]

I'm wondering a few things...

In a cold water tank, would the use of a refugium, with cold water species of macro algae, still be beneficial to filtration?
Would a skimmer still be beneficial?

I'm assuming that the answer to both would be YES, but I'm unsure.

I also think a algae scrubber, of some kind, would also be beneficial, but am unsure what species of algae you'd want to seed it with.

I'd also consider a bucket DSB, for denitrification purposes.

Would one still use manufactured salt, such as Instant Ocean? I understand there wouldn't be as much of a need for Calcium, but I'd think you'd still wanna make your own salt water, to avoid potential pollutants from NSW collection.

 

[1guydude]

great questions.... :/

wats a bucket of DSB too?

 

[user 26995]

DSB = Deep Sand Bed