(1) Beach management districts may be created for the purpose of controlling and removing aquatic plants or vegetation. These districts must develop a plan for these activities, in consultation with appropriate federal, state, and local agencies. The plan must include an element addressing nutrient loading from land use activities in a subbasin that is a tributary to the area targeted for management. The plan must be consistent with the action agenda approved by the Puget Sound partnership, where applicable.

     (2) Plans for the control and removal of aquatic plants or vegetation must, to the greatest extent possible, meet the following requirements:

     (a) Avoid or minimize the excess removal of living and nonliving nontarget native vegetation and organisms;

     (b) Avoid or minimize management activities that will result in compacting beach sand, gravel, and substrate;

     (c) Minimize adverse impacts to: (i) The project site when disposing of excessive accumulations of vegetation; and (ii) other areas of the beach or deep water environment; and

     (d) Retain all natural habitat features on the beach, including retaining trees, stumps, logs, and large rocks in their natural location.

     (3) Seaweed removal under this section may only occur on the shore of a saltwater body that lies between the extreme low tide and the ordinary high water mark, as those terms are defined in RCW 90.58.030.

     (4) The control or removal of native aquatic plants or vegetation shall be authorized in the following areas:

     (a) Beaches or near shore areas located within at least one mile of a ferry terminal that are in a county with a population of one million or more residents; and

     (b) Beaches or near shore areas in a city that meets the following:

     (i) Is adjacent to Puget Sound;

     (ii) Has at least eighty-five thousand residents;

     (iii) Shares a common boundary with a neighboring county; and

     (iv) Is in a county with a population of one million or more residents.

[2008 c 301 § 2.]