BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1287
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
1287 (McGuire)
As Amended August 18, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 39-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
|Water |11-4 |Levine, Gallagher, |Bigelow, Harper, |
| | |Dodd, Eggman, Cristina |Mathis, Olsen |
| | |Garcia, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Gomez, Lopez, | |
| | |Nazarian, Salas, | |
| | |Williams | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
|Appropriations |11-4 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, |Jones, Obernolte |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Weber, Wood, | |
| | |McCarty | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SB 1287
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SUMMARY: Requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to
establish a crab trap retrieval program, and makes other changes
relative to Dungeness crab permits. Specifically, this bill:
1)States legislative findings and declarations regarding the
Dungeness crab task force and the benefits of establishing a
trap retrieval program to reduce risk of whale entanglements.
States that the act enacted by this bill shall be known as the
Whale Protection and Crab Gear Retrieval Act. States that the
crab gear retrieval program should be efficient and
cost-effective and utilize entities in addition to the DFW,
including nongovernmental organizations, to implement the
program.
2)Requires the DFW to issue waivers to participants in the
Dungeness crab trap limit program from the biennial fee for
each trap tag if the participant is unable to fish due to
mandatory military service. Authorizes a participant who
receives a waiver to apply to the DFW to fish for Dungeness
crab during the second year of the waiver if the participant
pays the full cost of the trap tags.
3)Authorizes a vessel to transit state waters with Dungeness
crab traps that are not tagged with California trap tags if
the traps contain a valid Oregon or Washington state trap tag,
no crab species are on board, and the traps are not deployed
in state waters.
4)Requires the DFW to establish a lost or abandoned crab gear
retrieval permit program. Requires that the program include a
retrieval permit that authorizes the holder to retrieve lost
or abandoned Dungeness crab traps belonging to another person
during the closed season for the fishery, and to receive
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compensation for that retrieval on a per trap basis. Provides
that the compensation shall be paid from revenue generated
from fees paid by the owners of the lost crab traps.
5)Requires the DFW to charge a fee to Dungeness crab vessel
permit holders for each lost trap belonging to the permit
holder that is retrieved. Requires the DFW to set the fee at
a level sufficient to cover the reasonable regulatory costs of
the program and to provide reasonable compensation to the
persons who retrieve the lost traps on a per trap basis.
Provides that reasonable regulatory costs include but are not
limited to administrative costs, storage costs, and costs
associated with disposing unusable traps or traps whose owners
cannot be identified.
6)Prohibits a lost Dungeness crab trap that is retrieved from
being returned to the trap owner until the owner has paid the
fee. Prohibits the DFW from renewing a Dungeness crab vessel
permit until any fees owed for retrieved crab traps is paid.
7)Authorizes the DFW to use entities, including nongovernmental
organizations, to help implement the program.
8)Authorizes the DFW to adopt additional requirements necessary
to implement the crab trap retrieval program. Requires the
DFW to submit the proposed crab trap retrieval program to the
Dungeness crab task force for review, and prohibits the
program from being implemented until the task force has had 60
days or more to review the proposed program and recommend any
proposed changes. Authorizes the DFW to implement the program
earlier than 60 days after it is submitted to the task force
for review if recommended by the task force.
9)Includes a sunset clause providing that the crab trap
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retrieval program shall become inoperative on April 1, 2019,
and as of January 1, 2020, is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute deletes or extends the sunset date.
10)Exempts emergency fishery closures due to human health risk
from high levels of toxic substances from the Administrative
Procedures Act, and clarifies that once the DFW receives the
notification from the State Public Health Officer that the
fishery can be reopened the DFW shall do so in a manner that
promotes a fair and orderly fishery.
11)Requires the DFW, following the closure of any waters for
health risk reasons, to notify the Fish and Game Commission
and request that the Fish and Commission schedule a public
discussion of the closure at its next scheduled full
Commission meeting.
12)Makes other technical and conforming changes, including
technical provisions to avoid chaptering out problems with SB
1473 (Committee on Natural Resources and Water).
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires the DFW, in consultation with the Dungeness crab task
force, to develop regulations as necessary to provide for
retrieval of lost or abandoned crab traps.
2)Requires the DFW to establish a tiered Dungeness crab trap
limit program, based on Dungeness crab landings. Requires all
participants in the program to pay a biennial fee for each
trap tag issued to cover a pro rata share of the costs of the
program. Requires trap tags to be fastened to each crab trap
and main buoy. Requires all trap tags allocated to each
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permit to be purchased by the permit holder or the permit is
void.
3)Establishes the Dungeness crab task force which is tasked with
reviewing Dungeness crab management measures and making
recommendations to the Legislature's Joint Committee on
Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Fish and Game Commission, and
the DFW.
4)Prohibits a person from taking or possessing Dungeness crab
for commercial purposes from a vessel in ocean waters off
California, Washington or Oregon for 30 days after the opening
of the Dungeness crab fishing season in that state, if the
opening of the season has been delayed in that state and the
same vessel was used to take crab prior to the opening of the
season in one of the other two states.
5)By regulation prohibits a Dungeness crab permitted vessel from
possessing a Dungeness crab trap without a buoy tag assigned
to that vessel, with specified exceptions. The exceptions
allow no more than six derelict Dungeness crab traps to be
retrieved per fishing trip. In addition, an unlimited number
of traps may be retrieved from July 16 through October 31st,
subject to DFW waiver requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee analysis:
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
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(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: This bill requires the DFW to establish a crab gear
retrieval program that authorizes retrieval of lost or abandoned
crab traps during the closed season, and allows persons who
retrieve the traps to be compensated for that retrieval on a per
trap basis. This bill would also establish a fee to be paid by
the owner of the trap to cover the costs of the retrieval
program, and would prohibit the DFW from renewing a Dungeness
crab vessel permit until any fees owed by the permittee for
retrieved gear are paid. This bill also would allow Dungeness
crab fishermen who are unable to fish due to mandatory military
service to obtain a waiver of required crab tag fees.
Every season, thousands of crab traps are lost off the
California coast. Currently, there is 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 have proved to be
extremely dangerous to migratory whales that traverse up and
down the California coast and 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. Humpback whales were the
main species impacted. In response, the program this bill would
establish is being advanced by the State's Dungeness crab task
force.
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The Dungeness crab task force was established by the Legislature
in 2008 to provide recommendations on management of the crab
fishery. 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. In
their most recent report, the task force recommended
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. As recommended by the task force, only owners
of retrieved traps, identifiable by trap or buoy tags, are
responsible for fees. As an economic incentive for compliance,
this bill would prohibit renewing a Dungeness crab vessel permit
until retrieval fees have been paid. While the gear retrieval
program would be implemented through new fees, the fees are
supported by the crab fishing industry and the other
recreational and commercial fishing organizations which are
promoting this bill.
In addition to the gear retrieval program, the task force's
January 2015 report recommended that tag fee waivers be allowed
for permit holders who are unable to fish due to mandatory
military service, and that the law be amended to allow 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.
This bill also allows the DFW to expedite fishery closures when
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necessary to protect public health, such as occurred with the
domoic acid health risk that resulted in closure of the
Dungeness crab fishery this past year. This bill exempts such
emergency closures from the Administrative Procedures Act and
the requirement to adopt emergency regulations.
Supporters of this bill note that lost crab fishing gear
presents problems for navigation, can disrupt fishing activities
such as salmon trolling, and adds to marine debris. Fishing
industry groups in support of this bill indicate that the
fishing industry desires to take steps to remedy these problems.
This bill addresses this problem by creating a permit system
that would allow fishermen to pick up gear left in the ocean
after the close of the fishing season. Fishermen whose gear is
retrieved would be required to pay for the costs of recovery.
This bill put the onus for recovery on the fishing fleet to
ensure that this preventable source of marine debris is managed.
Other supporters note that whale entanglements have become an
increasing concern, and there is broad consensus that immediate
establishment of a statewide gear retrieval program is part of
the solution.
There is no known opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Diane Colborn / W., P., & W. / (916) 319-2096
FN:
0004359
SB 1287
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