SB 1287: Fishing.

(1)Existing law authorizes the Director of Fish and Wildlife to order the closure of any waters or otherwise restrict the taking under a commercial fishing license in state waters of any species of fish if the Director of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, in consultation with the State Public Health Officer, determines that the species or subspecies of fish is likely to pose a human health risk from high levels of toxic substances. The closure or restriction is required to be adopted by emergency regulation, as specified. Under existing law, any violation of the Fish and Game Code, or of any rule, regulation, or order made or adopted under the code, is generally a misdemeanor.

This bill would expand this authority to all fishing. The bill would require the Director of Fish and Wildlife, after ordering the closure of any waters or restricting the taking of any species of fish, to notify the Fish and Game Commission and request that the commission schedule a public discussion of the closure or restriction at its next scheduled full meeting. The bill would remove the requirement that the closure or restriction be adopted by emergency regulation and would instead exempt a closure or restriction from the Administrative Procedure Act. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

(2)Existing law regulates the Dungeness crab fishery and requires the Director of Fish and Wildlife to adopt a program for Dungeness crab trap limits for all California permits. The program requires participants to pay a $5 crab trap tag fee and a $1,000 crab trap limit fee on a biennial basis, as provided, and requires a Dungeness crab trap that is fished to contain a trap tag that is fastened to the main buoy, and an additional tag attached to the trap. Existing law makes the program inoperative on April 1, 2019.

This bill would require the department to issue a waiver from the biennial crab trap tag fee to a participant who is unable to fish due to mandatory military service, as provided. The bill would authorize a vessel to transit state waters with Dungeness crab traps that are not marked in the above-described manner if the traps contain either valid Oregon or Washington tags, no crab is onboard the vessel, and the traps are not deployed in state waters.

(3)Existing law prohibits a person from using any vessel to take Dungeness crab for commercial purposes without a Dungeness crab vessel permit. Existing law prohibits a person from taking Dungeness crab for commercial purposes from a vessel in specified ocean waters for 30 days after the opening of the Dungeness crab fishing season if the opening of the season has been delayed in those waters and that person has taken, possessed, or landed Dungeness crab in other specified waters prior to that opening. Existing law requires the Fish and Game Commission to revoke the Dungeness crab vessel permit of any person who violates these provisions. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on April 1, 2019.

This bill would limit the 30-day start prohibition to a situation in which a person uses the same vessel that was used to take Dungeness crab in specified waters before the delayed opening of the season in the areas subject to the prohibition.

(4)Existing law regulating commercial fishing traps makes it unlawful, except as specified, to willfully or recklessly disturb, move, or damage any trap that belongs to another person and that is marked with a buoy identification number. Existing law, until April 1, 2019, authorizes the department, in consultation with the Dungeness crab task force, to develop regulations as necessary to provide for the retrieval of lost or abandoned commercial crab traps.

This bill would require the department, as part of the above-described regulations, to establish a retrieval permit program that would grant a person who obtains a retrieval permit the authority to retrieve during the closed season of the Dungeness crab commercial fishery lost or abandoned Dungeness crab traps belonging to another person and to receive compensation for that retrieval on a per trap basis. The bill would require the department to establish a fee to be charged to a Dungeness crab vessel permitholder for each trap belonging to the permitholder that is retrieved through the program. The bill would prohibit the department from renewing a Dungeness crab vessel permit until any fee imposed pursuant to the program has been paid.

(5)The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

(6)This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 131052 of the Health and Safety Code, proposed by SB 1473, to be operative only if SB 1473 and this bill are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.