BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2363
Author: Chesbro (D), et al.
Amended: 8/7/12 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER COMM. : 9-0, 6/12/12
AYES: Pavley, La Malfa, Cannella, Evans, Fuller, Kehoe,
Padilla, Simitian, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 69-1, 5/25/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Commercial Fishing: Dungeness crab
SOURCE : Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens
Associations
DIGEST : This bill modifies conditions under which
limited entry commercial fishery and Dungeness crab vessel
permits can be transferred, and modifies the Fish and Game
Commission's authority to approve bottom trawling in state
waters.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/7/12 were technical.
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes the Director of the
Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to authorize one or more
operators of commercial fishing vessels to take and land a
limited number of Dungeness crab for the purpose of quality
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testing, as provided. Existing law prohibits DFG from
approving a testing program unless it is funded by the
entity authorized to conduct the testing program and
prohibits the sale of the crab taken for testing.
This bill deletes the above prohibitions, including the
prohibition on the sale of the tested crab meat and
requires DFG, in consultation with specified entities, to
develop suggested guidelines for the management of the
funds from the sale, among other guidelines.
Existing law requires the Director of DFG to adopt a
program, as provided, for Dungeness crab trap limits for
all California permits, that includes, among other things,
seven tiers of Dungeness crab trap limits based on all
California landings receipts under California permits, as
specified. Existing law authorizes an individual to submit
an appeal of a trap tag allocation by March 31, 2014, as
provided. Existing law requires the individual requesting
the appeal to pay all expenses, including a nonrefundable
filing fee, as determined by DFG, to pay for DFG's
reasonable costs associated with the appeal that is heard
and decided by an administrative law judge.
This bill authorizes an individual to apply to the
administrative law judge for a waiver of these appeal fees.
This bill authorizes the administrative law judge to
consider certain factors when making this determination,
including medical hardship.
Existing law relating to limited entry fisheries requires
DFG to transfer a permit for a limited entry fishery, upon
application, to a parent, spouse, child, or sibling of a
permittee whose death was the result of an accident that
occurred after January 1, 1986.
This bill requires DFG to transfer a permit for a limited
entry fishery, upon application, to a parent, spouse,
child, sibling, domestic partner, or other natural person
who is an heir of a permittee whose death occurred after
January 1, 2010, without reference to the cause of death.
Existing law regulating the Dungeness crab fishery permits
the owner of a vessel to whom a Dungeness crab vessel
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permit has been issued, upon the written approval of DFG,
to temporarily transfer the permit to another replacement
vessel for which use in the Dungeness crab fishery is not
permitted, for a period of not more than six months during
the current permit year, under specified circumstances.
Existing law also permits the transfer of a permit to
another vessel in the event of loss or destruction of a
permitted vessel, within two years after the loss or damage
of the original vessel.
This bill requires the owner of a vessel to whom a
Dungeness crab vessel permit has been issued to have had
Dungeness crab landings of not less than 5,000 pounds
cumulative for the past two years. The bill also requires
the replacement vessel to be equivalent in size and
capacity, as specified, to the vessel from which the permit
is transferred.
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.
This bill authorizes a commercially permitted Dungeness
crab vessel to retrieve and bring to shore Dungeness crab
traps in ocean waters under specified circumstances. The
bill authorizes DFG, in consultation with Dungeness crab
permitholders or their representatives, to establish
regulations as necessary to implement and enforce the trap
retrieval provisions. Those provisions would become
inoperative on April 1, 2019, and repealed on January 1,
2020.
Existing law authorizes expenditures from the fish and
wildlife propagation fund of any county to be made for
specified purposes, including for reasonable administrative
costs, as provided. Existing law defines "reasonable cost"
as an amount that does not exceed three percent of the
average amount received by the fund during the previous
three-year period, or $3,000 annually, whichever is
greater, as provided.
This bill defines "reasonable cost" as an amount that does
not exceed 15 percent of the average amount received by the
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fund during the previous three-year period, or $10,000
annually, whichever is greater.
Background
Limited entry fishery . A limited entry fishery is a
fishery where the number of people or the number of vessels
who may participate in taking a specific species of fish or
invertebrate is limited by statute or regulation. Most
limited entry commercial fisheries specifically address the
circumstances in which a permit may be transferred.
Dungeness crab fishery . Dungeness crab Cancer magister was
first taken commercially in California off the coast of San
Francisco around 1848. Since that time, the Dungeness crab
fishery has expanded to cover ocean waters between San Luis
Obispo County and the California-Oregon border. The
Dungeness crab fishery has also become one of California's
most valuable fisheries, bringing in an average of $30.4
million every year. Almost all of California's commercial
Dungeness crab is captured in traps. Management of the
commercial Dungeness crab fishery is by the Legislature,
instead of the Fish and Game Commission who manages most of
the other commercial fisheries. In 1992, in response to
population declines, the Legislature started a restricted
access program by requiring anyone landing Dungeness crab
for commercial purposes to have an annual permit. In 1994,
the program was reviewed and it was determined it was
necessary to limit the number of vessels to protect the
fishery. According to the 2012 California Legislative
Fisheries Forum Report, there are currently less than 600
commercial Dungeness crab permits, although only about 395
of those are active. There is concern that an increase in
the use of the inactive permits could cause over-fishing
and worsen over-crowding on fishing grounds.
In 2008, the Legislature designated a Dungeness Crab Task
Force to review and evaluate Dungeness crab fishery
management measures, including a new trap limits program
for California permits, and provide its recommendations to
the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, DFG, and
the Fish and Game Commission. Membership of the Task Force
includes sport and commercial fishing interests, and
nonvoting members from DFG, non-governmental organizations,
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and SeaGrant.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/8/12)
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations
(source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, the
restriction under current law on transfer of limited entry
permits only in the case of an accidental death has created
hardships for families or beneficiaries of deceased permit
holders when the person dies of natural causes other than
an accident. There does not seem to be a logical reason
for limiting such transfers to accidental deaths. In
addition, the current law allows transfers to a spouse,
parent, child or sibling, but not to a domestic partner or
the decedent's estate. This bill addresses those issues by
allowing for such transfers.
The restriction on emergency transfers of Dungeness crab
vessel permits to vessels of comparable size is proposed in
response to alleged abuses which occurred last year when
permits from some tsunami-damaged vessels in Crescent City
with little or no recent crab landings were transferred to
large out-of-state crab boats allowing them to participate
in the California crab fishery.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 69-1, 5/25/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Beall, Block,
Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan,
Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng,
Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto,
Gordon, Gorell, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller,
Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby,
Olsen, Pan, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Smyth,
Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski,
Yamada, John A. Pérez
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NOES: Beth Gaines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Atkins, Bill Berryhill, Fletcher, Grove,
Hall, Knight, Ma, Perea, Silva, Williams
CTW:n 8/8/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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