BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1287
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 3, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
SB 1287
(McGuire) - As Amended June 29, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill establishes a program and fee for the retrieval of
lost or abandoned Dungeness crab traps and makes other changes
relative to Dungeness crab permits and emergency fisheries
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closures. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to
establish a lost or abandoned crab gear permit retrieval
program to authorize a permit holder to receive compensation
for retrieving other people's crab traps during closed season.
2)Requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to
establish a fee to be charged to every Dungeness crab vessel
permit holder for each trap that is retrieved. Requires DFW
to set the fee at a level sufficient to cover reasonable
regulatory costs and provide reasonable compensation for those
who retrieve the lost traps.
3)Provides the crab trap retrieval program is inoperative on
April 1, 2019, and is repealed on January 1, 2020.
4)Requires DFW to waive the biennial crab trap tag fees for
military personnel if the participant is unable to fish due to
mandatory military service as specified.
5)Allows fishing vessels from Oregon and Washington to transit
state waters with Dungeness crab traps that are not tagged if
the traps contain a valid tag from the home state, no crab
species are on board, and the traps are not deployed.
6)Expands the authority of the DFW Director to allow the
Director to order the closure of any water or restrict all
fishing that poses a human health risk without adopting the
restriction through emergency regulations or limiting the
restriction to commercial fishing only. Requires the DFW
Director to notify the Fish and Game Commission and request
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the commission schedule a public discussion of the closure or
restriction.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)First-year DFW costs of approximately $185,000 (Fish and Game
Preservation Fund) to adopt regulations, and contract with a
non-governmental organization to operate the program.
2)Ongoing DFW annual costs of approximately $110,000 per year
(Fish and Game Preservation Fund) for program tracking and
oversite.
Regulatory costs and costs of providing compensation for the
retrieval of crab traps are intended to be offset by the new
fee.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, there is currently no
regulatory program with adequate incentives to retrieve lost
and abandoned Dungeness crab fishing gear. Lost and abandoned
fishing gear pose a navigational hazard to boats, and is
extremely dangerous for migratory whales that become entangled
in lost crab trap lines.
According to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFW), the
number of whales entangled in fishing gear along the West
Coast increased from an average of 10 per year between 2000
and 2012, to a record high in 2015 of 61 whales, including 57
off the coast of California alone. This bill, advanced by the
Dungeness crab task force, is designed to respond to the
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problems caused by lost crab fishing gear.
2)Task Force Recommendations. The Dungeness crab task force was
established by the Legislature in 2008 to provide
recommendations on managing the crab fishery. In their most
recent report, the task force recommended the establishment of
a statewide industry-funded lost fishing gear recovery
program.
According to the author, this bill is based on a pilot project
that has been recovering fishing gear on a limited basis in a
few select ports. The program has gathered approximately
1,500 crab pots over the last two seasons. This bill would
expand the voluntary pilot project to create a statewide
industry-funded crab gear retrieval program to remove lost and
abandoned gear from the oceans, making it safer for whales and
other marine life and fishermen. While the gear retrieval
program would be implemented through new fees, the fees are
supported by the crab fishing industry and other recreational
and commercial fishing organizations which are promoting this
bill.
Additionally, the task force recommends allowing tag fee
waivers for permit holders who are unable to fish due to
mandatory military service, and allowing vessels with only
Oregon or Washington tags to transit California waters,
provided no crab species are onboard and no traps are deployed
without a valid California buoy tag. These recommended
changes are also included in this bill.
The latest author's amendments add a provision to allow the
DFW to expedite fishery closures when necessary to protect
public health, such as the domoic acid health risk that
resulted in closure of the Dungeness crab fishery this past
year.
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3)Previous Legislation. SB 1690 (Wiggins), Chapter 727,
Statutes of 2008, established the Dungeness crab task force.
The task force is composed of representatives of the
recreational and commercial crab fisheries, crab processors,
commercial passenger fishing vessels, and several nonvoting
members from nongovernmental organizations and the DFW. The
task force was continued in effect by SB 369 (Evans), Chapter
335, Statutes of 2011. SB 369 also established a tiered
Dungeness crab trap limit program.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081