BILL NUMBER: AB 2063	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Huffman
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Chesbro and Evans)
   (Coauthors: Senators Leno and Wiggins)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2010

   An act to add Section 6902.5 to the Fish and Game Code, and to add
Section 425.11 to the Government Code, relating to fish.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2063, as introduced, Huffman. Fish: Chinook salmon.
   Existing law establishes the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and
Anadromous Fisheries Protection Act to protect and increase the
naturally spawning salmon, steelhead trout, and anadromous fishery
resources of the state. Existing law defines anadromous fish as fish
that spawn in fresh water and spend a portion of their lives in the
ocean.
   This bill would add specified legislative findings and
declarations to the act and would state the intent of the Legislature
that the department utilize best available science and a life cycle
analysis in determining where to focus and prioritize conservation
planning efforts for recovery of Chinook and other salmonid species.
This bill would also designate the Chinook salmon as the official
state anadromous fish.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 6902.5 is added to the Fish and Game Code, to
read:
   6902.5.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) The Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), a fish native
to many California streams for thousands of years, is an extremely
important ecological, economic, and cultural resource to all the
people of California.
   (2) Chinook salmon are anadromous fish that are born in fresh cold
water streams, migrate hundreds of miles to the ocean where they
spend most of their adult life, and then return to spawn and lay
their eggs in the stream of their birth.
   (3) Salmonids have a long history of interactions with humans,
appearing as images in Cro-Magnon cave art of 10,000 or more years
ago, and have been an important food source for indigenous peoples
throughout the salmonids' geographic range, including Native American
tribes in California. The first commercial harvest of Chinook salmon
began in the Sacramento River in the 1850s when it provided food for
the gold rush.
   (4) Chinook salmon have managed to survive and evolve over
hundreds of years in California, showing extraordinary resilience in
the face of tremendous change, including, but not limited to, the
damming and diversion of most major California rivers, hydraulic
mining during the gold rush, past timber harvesting and over-fishing
practices, loss of cold water and riparian habitat, competing demands
for water, and changing ocean conditions.
   (5) Despite their resilience and cultural, historical, aesthetic,
and economic importance, salmonid fishes, including Chinook salmon,
are in severe decline in most of their native habitats and many
populations have been extirpated.
   (6) All Chinook salmon runs in California have declined
dramatically. Of the four separate Central Valley Chinook salmon
runs, two are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973
and the California Endangered Species Act and are currently
threatened with extinction.
   (7) The Central Valley fall run, the strongest of the four Central
Valley Chinook salmon runs, has been the backbone of the
recreational and commercial salmon fishing industry in California.
However, the salmon fishing season has been closed the last two years
due to a dramatic drop in the number of returning fish, which
dropped 90 percent from 738,000 in 2002, to 66,000 in 2008, an all
time low. Fishery scientists anticipate 2010 will be the third year
in a row where the number of returning fish drop below 122,000, the
minimum escapement necessary for long-term survival of the species.
In 2007, the National Marine Fisheries Service placed the Chinook
salmon from the Central Valley fall run on their "Species of Special
Concern" list.
   (8) The economic impact of the closure of the Central Valley fall
run is estimated at over $2 billion, with as many as 23,000 jobs
lost. The California salmon industry supports thousands of
recreational fishers, over 1,000 licensed commercial boats (down from
a high of over 8,000 boats in the 1970s), and hundreds of related
businesses. Many of these businesses were forced to shut down in 2008
and 2009, while others managed to stay open through receiving
federal disaster assistance. It is anticipated that if the salmon
season is closed again in 2010 as many as 30 percent of the remaining
businesses will fail.
   (9) It is estimated that recovery of the Central Valley fall run
could produce over $5 billion in economic revenues and as many as
94,000 jobs.
   (10) Chinook salmon need freshwater habitat that includes cold,
clean water; appropriate water depth, quantity, and flow velocities;
upland and riparian vegetation to stabilize soil and provide shade;
clean gravel for spawning and egg-rearing; large woody debris to
provide resting and hiding places; adequate food; and varied channel
forms.
   (11) Bringing Chinook salmon back from the brink of extinction
will not be easy, but it is possible, thanks to the inherent
adaptability of California's salmonids to changing conditions.
However, accomplishing this task will require renewed commitment and
coordination on the part of the Legislature, state and federal
fishery agencies, the fishing community, and other interested
parties.
   (b) The Legislature proclaims the goal of restoring Chinook salmon
populations to sustainable levels, sufficient to support viable
recreational, commercial, and tribal fisheries, within a decade. To
accomplish this goal, it is the intent of the Legislature that the
Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Game Commission work
together collaboratively with other public and private partners,
including, but not limited to, the Ocean Protection Council, the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries), the United States
Fish and Wildlife Service, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council,
fishing men and women, fishing businesses, local fishing
communities, and other interested parties to restore thriving and
sustainable populations of Chinook salmon in California. In
implementing this goal, it is the intent of the Legislature that the
department utilize best available science and a life cycle analysis
in determining where to focus and prioritize conservation planning
efforts for recovery of Chinook and other salmonid species.
  SEC. 2.  Section 425.11 is added to the Government Code, to read:
   425.11.  The Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) is the
official state anadromous fish.