BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1287 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1287 (McGuire) As Amended August 18, 2016 Majority vote SENATE VOTE: 39-0 -------------------------------------------------------------------- |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 | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- SB 1287 Page 2 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 SB 1287 Page 3 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 SB 1287 Page 4 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 SB 1287 Page 5 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 SB 1287 Page 6 (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. SB 1287 Page 7 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 SB 1287 Page 8 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 Page 9