BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2146
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 12, 2004 

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                   Judy Chu, Chair

                    AB 2146 (Leno) - As Amended:  April 12, 2004 

          Policy Committee:                              Water, Parks &  
          Wildlife     Vote:                            9-4

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          As proposed to be amended, this bill establishes restrictions  
          and increased penalties related to the commercial dungeness crab  
          (DC) fishery.  Specifically, this bill:

          1)Allows the Fish and Game Commission (FGC) to adopt regulations  
            to ensure protection of DC resources and to provide for an  
            orderly DC fishery and allows the FGC to establish a DC  
            Advisory Committee.

          2)Prohibits, from November 15, 2005 through June 30, 2007 and  
            except along the north coast above Mendocino, a DC fisherman  
            from using more than 250 traps during a season.

          3)Makes it a misdemeanor with a maximum $5,000 or six months in  
            jail, or both, for violating the 250 trap limitation.  (The  
            standard misdemeanor for commercial fishery violations is a  
            maximum $1,000 fine or six months in jail, or both.)

          4)Requires DC traps to be removed from the ocean within 96 hours  
            after the close of the crab season and prohibits these traps  
            from being abandoned in state waters or in federal waters  
            adjacent to the state waters. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Minor potential costs, if any, to the DFG to develop or modify  
            DC fishery regulations and to appoint members to the DC  
            Advisory  Committee (Fish and Game Preservation Fund (FGPF)).

          2)Moderate ongoing costs, about $300,000 annually from FY  








                                                                  AB 2146
                                                                  Page  2

            2005-06 through FY 2006-07, to the DFG to assign additional  
            wardens to enforce the DC trap limitation (FGPF). 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  The author contends that large, corporate DC  
            fishing vessels capable of putting up to 1,000 traps out  
            during a season are effectively crowding out smaller,  
            family-owned DC vessels (based primarily in San Francisco)  
            from the central coast DC fishery.  The 250 trap limit is  
            designed to limit how many dungeness crab can be caught by the  
            large vessels and to better ensure crab will be available to  
            the smaller vessels.
           
          2)Dungeness Crabs  are unique to the North American west coast,  
            with landings brought in from Santa Barbara to Alaska.  Take  
            is limited to mature males.  The DC fishery is considered to  
            be well-managed and is perhaps the most sustainable fishery  
            along the coast.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Steve Archibald / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081