BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1287| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: SB 1287 Author: McGuire (D), et al. Amended: 5/31/16 Vote: 21 SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 8-1, 4/12/16 AYES: Pavley, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson, Monning, Vidak, Wolk NOES: Stone SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/27/16 AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen SUBJECT: Commercial fishing: Dungeness crab SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill establishes the "Whale Protection and Crab Gear Retrieval Act" that includes, beyond the retrieval program, additional provisions related to the Dungeness crab fishery. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1) Provides for the regulation of the Dungeness crab fishery. SB 1287 Page 2 2) Establishes the Dungeness crab task force as 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 (commission). 3) Establishes certain requirements for participation in the state's Dungeness crab fishery. The Dungeness crab fishery is a restricted fishery, and the ability to purchase appropriate permits to participate in the fishery is limited to those who meet certain criteria. a) The criteria include limits on the number of traps each permit holder may obtain and biennial fees for these traps including a crab trap limit permit (of not more than $1,000) and trap tags (of not more than $5 per trap). The state 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. 4) Prohibits a person from using any vessel to take Dungeness crab for commercial purposes without a Dungeness crab vessel permit. Additionally, it 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. (This is a "fair start" provision.) 5) Regulates commercial fishing traps and 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. 6) 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 SB 1287 Page 3 crab traps. 7) Sunsets the Dungeness crab task force, the tiered crab trap program, the vessel permit requirement to take Dungeness crab, the season opening crab fishing restrictions and the Department's authorization to develop regulations to retrieve lost or abandoned commercial crab traps on April 1, 2019. This bill establishes the "Whale Protection and Crab Gear Retrieval Act" that includes, beyond the retrieval program, additional provisions related to the Dungeness crab fishery recommended by the Dungeness crab task force and to close fisheries to protect public health. Specifically, this bill: 1) Revises 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 season of the fishery. b) The trap retrieval permit program shall be funded by a fee levied on a Dungeness crab vessel permit holder for each trap owned by the permit holder retrieved through the trap retrieval program, as specified. The owner of the retrieved trap must pay the fee in order to have the trap returned and cannot renew his or her Dungeness crab vessel permit until any fees due under the trap retrieval program are paid. The Department is directed to set fees to recover the reasonable regulatory costs of the program. The program shall be cost-effective and efficient and the Department may receive help from non-governmental organizations to implement it. c) The Department shall determine certain aspects of the retrieval program and shall provide the proposed retrieval SB 1287 Page 4 program to the Dungeness crab task force to review, as specified. 2) Revises 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) Provides that the Department shall waive the biennial fee for trap tags for participants who are unable to fish due to mandatory military service, as specified. 4) Provides 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) Makes legislative findings related to the retrieval program. 6) Sunsets this bill's provisions related to the Dungeness crab fishery on April 1, 2019, as specified. Background The Dungeness crab task force was created in 2008, briefly sunsetted in 2011 and was re-established in revised form later that same year. 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. 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. SB 1287 Page 5 2)Establishing a statewide industry-funded program to retrieve lost fishing gear with the Department's involvement. 3)Allowing waivers from certain crab permit fees for those whose mandatory military service obligations bar 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 on management area opens for fishing after another due to start-delaying conditions. There were 61 whale entanglements in fishing gear off the U.S. west coast reported in 2015. This is the highest total since records started being kept in 1982. Engtangled 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 what factors have contributed to the steep rise in reported entanglements. At least 11 entanglements were associated with the Dungeness crab fishery. Recent crab fishery closure. In late 2015, domoic acid levels in certain crab species, including Dungeness crab, reached levels that posed a public health risk. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, in collaboration with the Department of Public Health, notified the Department director who then sought to close relevant fisheries through emergency regulations approved at an emergency meeting of the commission. The fisheries were officially closed when emergency regulations went into effect some weeks later. The Department had asked fishing efforts to stop as soon as the public health risk was identified. Regular monitoring of domoic acid concentrations continued and the crab fisheries were slowly reopened across the state. In early February, Governor Brown requested federal declarations of a fishery disaster and a SB 1287 Page 6 commercial fishery failure due to the domoic acid-forced closure in an effort to obtain economic assistance. 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 almost $50 million per vessel per calendar year. As of late May, the commercial and recreational Dungeness crab fishery was open statewide. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: Approximately $500,000 annually for staffing and equipment costs. This cost may be significantly reduced by the use third parties to administer the program, and may be in part or entirely funded by fees assessed on Dungeness crab vessel operators whose traps are retrieved under the program. Unknown, but likely minimal, costs to issue waivers from the biennial fee for each trap tag for participants who are unable to fish due to mandatory military service. SUPPORT: (Verified5/27/16) California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom 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 Del Norte County Board of Supervisors Earthjustice FV Corregidor Golden Gate Fishermen's Association Golden Gate Salmon Association Half Moon Bay Groundfish Marketing Association/Half Moon Bay SB 1287 Page 7 Commercial Fisheries Trust Humboldt Area Saltwater Anglers, Inc. Marine Mammal Center Monterey Bay Aquarium Morro Bay Commercial Fishermen's Organization, Inc. Natural Resources Defense Council Northcoast Environmental Center Oceana Ocean Conservancy Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations Sierra Club California Surfrider Foundation Trinidad Bay Fishermen's Marketing Association, Inc. OPPOSITION: (Verified5/27/16) None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the Trinidad Bay Fishermen's Marketing Association, Inc., 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 SB 1287 Page 8 ocean environment free from derelict crab gear. This will reduce entanglement hazards for marine mammals, gear that is actively being fished, and other mariners." Prepared by:Katharine Moore / N.R. & W. / (916) 651-4116 6/1/16 10:00:12 **** END ****