BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1299
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1299 (Huffman) - As Amended: April 11, 2011
Policy Committee: Water, Parks and
Wildlife Vote: 9-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes as state policy, assurance of the
conservation, sustainable use, and restoration of California's
populations of forage species-specifically defined in the bill
but generally meaning species of marine life that are the base
of the food system, such as sardines, anchovies, herring and
small squid. The bill also requires the Department and Fish and
Game (DFG) and the Fish and Game Commission to regulate forage
species in keeping with the policy. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires, as of January 1, 2012, all management decisions and
regulations made by DFG and the commission to be consistent
with the forage species policy.
2)Requires the commission to restrict development of an emerging
fishery or significant expansion of an established fishery in
which forage species are a significant portion of the catch
unless scientific information indicates that development or
establishment of the fishery would be unlikely to
significantly harm the population of forage species.
FISCAL EFFECT
DFG reports that revision of existing fisheries management plans
(FMPs), of which there are three, and a related recovery
management plan in keeping with the policy objectives of this
bill would entail costs of approximately $4.4 million dollars
over a four year period. In addition, the department reports
costs of approximately $2.5 million to revise existing
regulation to confirm with the policy of the bill. (Fish and
Game Preservation Fund.)
AB 1299
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(DFG costs, to a large extent, result from an interpretation of
the bill that requires all DFG and commission management
decisions and regulations to be consistent with the policy
established by the bill. This interpretation is consistent with
the bill language. The bill sponsor, however, claims it intends
the bill to apply only to future DFG and commission actions and
to a limited set of FMPs. Were the language to accurately
reflect the sponsor's intent, it is likely that costs would be
reduced significantly.)
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. Noting the vital importance of forage species to
ocean ecosystem health and marine-dependent economic activity,
the author and sponsor contend a state policy of sustainable,
ecosystem-based management, as required by this bill, is
needed to ensure the health of forage species populations.
These proponents describe the increasing stress placed upon
forage species, such as fishing, ocean acidification, and
climate change, and decry the inadequacy of existing marine
protective laws, such as the Marine Life Management Act, to
protect forage species in particular.
2)Background. Enacted in 1999 with the passage of AB 1241
(Chapter 1052, Keeley), the Marine Life Management Act (MLMA)
requires marine resources to be managed to assure long-term
economic, recreational, ecological, cultural and social
benefits. In this way, the MLPA differs from previous marine
life management efforts, which typically were limited to
specific considerations, such as the population of a single
species or catch volumes.
Key to the MLMA are fisheries management plans (FMPs), which
are science-based planning documents that consider species
population, habitat, ecosystem role and economic and social
factors for a given fishery. The MLMA requires DFG to prepare
FMPs for all regulated fisheries, which are publicly reviewed
and considered for adoption by the commission. DFG has
established three FMPs and that others are in development.
3)Related Legislation. SB 209 (Chapter 318, Statutes of 2001,
Sher) required adoption of an FMP for market squid, the
state's largest fishery by volume.
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4)Support . This bill is supported by Oceana (sponsor) and many
other organizations dedicated to ecosystem and wildlife
conservation.
5)Opposition . The bill is opposed by the City of Monterey and
numerous industry, commercial fishing and related
organizations who contend there is no evidence indicating
forage species are in need of the protections in this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081