BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER Senator Fran Pavley, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: SB 1287 Hearing Date: April 12, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |McGuire | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Version: |March 28, 2016 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant:|Katharine Moore | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Commercial fishing: Dungeness crab BACKGROUND AND EXISTING LAW Existing law provides for the regulation of the Dungeness crab fishery. The Dungeness Crab Task Force (task force) is a forum for diverse industry interests to review and evaluate Dungeness crab fishery issues and make management recommendations to the Legislature, the Department of Fish and Wildlife (department) and the Fish and Game Commission. According to the task force, the state's commercial Dungeness crab fishery is one of the most productive fisheries, by value, in the state, with an average value of about $48.3 million per vessel per calendar year. The department-managed commercial California Dungeness crab fishery is a restricted fishery (in other words, only those who meet certain criteria may purchase the appropriate permits to participate in the fishery). In order to obtain a Dungeness crab vessel permit, the owner must possess a valid commercial fishing license, a valid commercial boat registration and must have a valid earlier Dungeness crab vessel permit to renew. In addition to these requirements, permits for the traps that will be used must also be obtained. California has a tiered crab trap limit fishery where, based upon historical landings, a certain number of traps are authorized for each permit holder in a given tier, as specified. The biennial fees for these traps include a crab trap limit permit (of not more than $1,000) and trap tags (of not more than $5 per trap) (see Fish and Game Code §8276.5). Each trap has a permanent tag with the owner's name and phone number on it and each trap tag has the valid SB 1287 (McGuire) Page 2 of ? department Dungeness crab permit number and year on it. The buoy attached to the trap to help mark its location at the water surface has the commercial fishing license number of the owner attached to it. The original task force was created by SB 1690 (Wiggins, c. 727, Statutes of 2008) and "sunsetted" in 2011. The task force was re-established by SB 369 (Evans, c. 335, Statutes of 2011) later that same year. SB 369 contained the provisions that established the tiered crab limit fishery. The task force continues to review and evaluate fishery issues, including the tiered crab limit fishery and is required to provide recommendations to the Legislature by January 1, 2017. The task force and related Dungeness crab fishing statutory provisions all sunset on April 1, 2019. On January 15, 2016, the task force released a list of initial recommendations. These include, among others: 1)Expressing concern about whale entanglements in Dungeness crab gear. 2)Establishing a statewide industry-funded program to retrieve lost fishing gear (with departmental involvement). 3)Allowing waivers from certain crab permit fees for those whose mandatory military service obligations will not allow participation in the fishery for a season or seasons. 4)Allowing vessels containing traps with valid Oregon and Washington trap tags to transit the state's waters without state-required permits if certain conditions are met. 5)Revising state law that prohibits commercial Dungeness crab trap permitholders from fishing in multiple management areas for 30 days when one management area opens for fishing after another due to start-delaying conditions (these are "fair start" provisions). There were 61 whale entanglements in fishing gear off the US West Coast in 2015. This is the highest total since records started being kept in 1982. As recently as 2002 fewer than 5 entanglements were reported per year. Entangled whales include those, such as the humpback, that are protected under the Endangered Species Act and/or the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It is not known with certainty what factors are responsible for this recent steep rise in entanglements. Changes in whale number, fishery location and efforts, and ocean conditions, among others, have been suggested as possible contributors. SB 1287 (McGuire) Page 3 of ? Although most of the gear responsible for the entanglements is not specifically known, at least 11 of the entanglements were associated with the Dungeness crab fishery. Over the last two commercial Dungeness crab seasons, pilot projects implementing voluntary lost fishing gear recovery programs have been operated statewide. The SeaDoc Society in partnership with Humboldt State University and the Half Moon Bay Seafood Marketing Association in partnership with the Natural Conservancy have both administered fishermen-led programs that have resulted in the recovery of hundreds of lost and abandoned traps. Results ranged from 18 traps and additional equipment in one day of retrieval effort to about 300 traps over 7 days of retrieval effort. The department, in collaboration with the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Ocean Protection Council, has held public and stakeholder meetings to explore how to reduce entanglements. Task force members have participated in these meetings. Short-term strategies to address entanglement included training fishermen, establishing a state-wide lost gear retrieval program, improving data collection and enhancing reporting, potential gear modifications, the development of best practices and more. 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 authorizes the department, in consultation with the crab task force to develop regulations as necessary to provide for retrieval of lost or abandoned commercial crab traps. PROPOSED LAW This bill would establish the "Whale Protection and Crab Gear Retrieval Act" which, beyond the retrieval program, includes additional provisions related to the Dungeness crab fishery that are recommended by the task force. Specifically the bill would: 1)Revise the department's existing requirement to develop regulations for the retrieval of lost or abandoned commercial Dungeness crab traps consistent with the following: a) The establishment of a retrieval permit that allows the permit holder to retrieve lost or abandoned commercial Dungeness crab traps belonging to others during the closed SB 1287 (McGuire) Page 4 of ? season of the fishery. b) The trap retrieval permit program shall be funded by a fee levied on a Dungeness crab vessel permitholder for each trap owned by the permitholder retrieved through the trap retrieval program. The fee shall be set to cover the reasonable regulatory costs associated with the program and to provide reasonable per trap compensation to a retrieval permitholder, as specified. The retrieval permit holder shall receive compensation on a per retrieved trap basis from this fee. c) The owner of the retrieved trap must pay the retrieval trap fee prior to having the trap returned, and the retrieved trap owner's Dungeness crab vessel permit shall not be renewed until any fees due under the retrieval permit program are paid. d) The department shall determine how retrieved traps will be stored and owners of the retrieved traps will be notified. In addition the department has the authority to adopt and implement any other necessary requirements for the trap retrieval permit program e) The department shall provide the proposed program to the task force for review, as specified, and the department shall not implement the program until the task force has had at least 60 days to review and recommend changes, if any, to the program. If the task force recommends it, the director may implement the program earlier. 2)Revise the "fair start" provisions to apply to a person using the same Dungeness crab vessel to take crab in specified waters before moving to different areas where the opening has been delayed, as specified. 3)Provide that the department shall waive the biennial fee for trap tags for participants who are unable to fish due to mandatory military service and the participant requests the waiver at the same time the biennial crab trap limit permit is renewed, as specified. A recipient of a waiver may apply to fish for crab during the 2nd year, but must pay the full biennial cost of the tags. There is no limit on the number of times this waiver may be sought. 4)Provide that a vessel may transit state waters carrying traps without California tags if the traps have Oregon or Washington tags, no crab are onboard and the traps are not deployed in state waters. 5)Make legislative findings related to the retrieval program. 6)All provisions in this bill sunset as of April 1, 2019, as SB 1287 (McGuire) Page 5 of ? specified. ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT According to the Trinidad Bay Fishermen's Marketing Association, the SB 1287 crab trap retrieval program is needed because "[t]his problem has existed since crab fishing began. Some of the gear left behind is stuck and abandoned. Some of the gear has been moved around by rough ocean, floating kelp, etc. and is truly lost." They continue to describe their success participating in one of the pilot gear recovery programs and state that "our goal now, through this bill, is to establish a program with the help of the [department] that accomplishes the same great results. The difference being it will be funded by mandatory fees charged to the owners of the retrieved gear. [?] The fees will provide financial incentive for boats to retrieve gear that has been left after the end of the season. More importantly, this will motivate the owners to take care of much of their derelict gear before the season ends to avoid the mandatory fees." "We have not seen a bad winter in a lot of years, but one will come, and there will be thousands of derelict pots, instead of hundreds, to retrieve. Instead of having a big mess and no good way to deal with it, we will have the solution to the problem in place (SB 1287). No matter what kind of winter we have, this program will always be necessary." "We feel it is our duty to leave the ocean environment free from derelict crab gear. This will reduce entanglement hazards for marine mammals, gear that is actively being fished, and other mariners." ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION None received COMMENTS Solves existing problems . There is no legal way for a boat carrying commercial Dungeness crab traps to use state waters unless the crab traps have California tags. In the existing "fair start" provisions, all of the vessels of a single owner are treated as one entity. Therefore fishing by one vessel in a location restricts where other vessels owned by the same person may fish. Similarly lost trap retrieval by someone other than SB 1287 (McGuire) Page 6 of ? the owner of the trap is currently illegal. While lost gear from other fisheries likely contributes to the whale entanglement problem, lost commercial Dungeness crab traps have been linked to entanglements. The camel's nose ? The Dungeness crab fishery is restricted. Permits must be renewed every year (or, as possible, transferred, if necessary, and renewed) to remain valid. To the best of Committee staff's knowledge, all commercial fishing permits and licenses must be renewed every year and paid in full for the permit to remain valid. It is unknown how many members of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery may benefit from the fee waiver provision in this bill (although informal estimates are a handful). The military fee waiver provision in this bill would set a precedent for commercial fisheries. Work-in-progress . The sunset date for the provisions in this bill is before the official end of the 2018/2019 commercial season. There would be two possible seasons for the department's lost gear retrieval program - after the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 seasons. The bill's language provides for the time allotted for the task force's review of the program to be abbreviated, but this may not be the driving factor in the time needed for the development and implementation of the program. Should the bill pass this Committee, the author may wish to consider further how to ensure timely implementation of the lost gear retrieval program. Delayed opening of the 2015/2016 commercial Dungeness crab season . Due to high concentrations of domoic acid found in crab, the commercial Dungeness crab fishery opening (among other crab fisheries) was delayed from November 15, 2015 due to public health concerns. Domoic acid, a potent neurotoxin, was produced by a large algal bloom. Regular testing of crab continued and the health advisories for Dungeness crab and other crab species were subsequently lifted for crab caught in much of the state's coastal waters. On March 26, 2016 the commercial Dungeness crab fishery opened in coastal waters south of the Sonoma/Mendocino County line. In early February, Governor Brown requested federal declarations of a fishery disaster and a commercial fishery failure due to the domoic acid-forced closure in an effort to obtain economic assistance. The state's current commercial Dungeness crab fishery . The crab SB 1287 (McGuire) Page 7 of ? trap limit program was implemented for the 2013/2014 season. According to the department, as of October 2015 there were 561 Dungeness crab trap limit permits which allowed for a maximum of 174,125 traps in state waters. Approximately 1,400 trap tags were replaced during the 2014/2015 season and another 11,700 were replaced after it. Not all permit holders replaced tags and those that did replaced as few as 1 tag to as many as 500. The tags replaced between seasons likely included tags for traps that were being replaced. Related recent legislation SB 1363 (Monning, 2016) would require the formation of the Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Program, as specified (pending before the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee) AB 1470 (Alejo, 2016) would establish the Harmful Algal Bloom task force, as specified (held in the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee) AB 2363 (Chesbro, c.546, Statutes of 2012) revised some of the Dungeness crab fishery requirements and added the requirement that the department develop regulations for a lost gear program. SUPPORT Blue Fisheries California Coastkeeper Alliance Californians Against Waste Cap'n Zach's Crabhouse Inc. - FV Miss Phyllis Center for Biological Diversity Crescent City Commercial Fishermen's Association Earthjustice FV Corregidor Golden Gate Fishermen's Association Golden Gate Salmon Association Half Moon Bay Groundfish Marketing Association/Half Moon Bay Commercial Fisheries Trust Humboldt Area Saltwater Anglers, Inc. the Marine Mammal Center Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen's Association, Inc. Natural Resources Defense Council Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom Northcoast Environmental Center Oceana Ocean Conservancy SB 1287 (McGuire) Page 8 of ? Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations Sierra Club California Surfrider Foundation Trinidad Bay Fishermen's Marketing Association, Inc. OPPOSITION None Received -- END --