BILL NUMBER: AB 2063 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 14, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 1, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 15, 2010
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 amended, Huffman. Fish: Chinook and Coho salmon.
Existing law establishes the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and
Anadromous Fisheries Program 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 legislative findings and declarations to the
act. The bill would proclaim a legislative goal of restoring Chinook
and Coho salmon populations to sustainable levels, sufficient to
support viable recreational, commercial, and tribal fisheries, within
a decade. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature, in
implementing this goal, that the department utilize the
best available science , a life cycle analysis, and
scientifically driven hatchery operations in determining
where to focus and prioritize conservation planning efforts for
recovery of Chinook salmon and other salmonid species. The 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 and other salmonids 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 overfishing 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 and
coastal Coho salmon species, 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 was closed in 2008 and 2009, due to a
dramatic drop in the number of returning fish, which dropped 95
percent from 769,868 in 2002, to 87,940 in 2007, 64,456 in 2008, and
39,530 in 2009, an all-time low, and the third consecutive year that
the number of returning fish has fallen below the 122,000 minimum
escapement criteria necessary for long-term sustainable fishing. In
2004, 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 salmon season in
2008 and 2009 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. The extremely limited
duration of the 2010 commercial and recreational salmon seasons may
be inadequate to support all of the remaining businesses.
(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) California's salmon populations 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) Recovery of California's salmon populations 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 and
Coho 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 and Coho salmon in
California. In implementing this goal, it is the intent of the
Legislature that the department utilize best available
science, a life cycle analysis, and scientifically driven hatchery
operations in determining where to focus and prioritize conservation
planning efforts for recovery of Chinook salmon and other salmonid
species. the best available science in determining
where to focus and prioritize conservation planning
efforts for recovery of Chinook salmon and other salmonid species.
This includes, but is not limited to, an integrated management
approach to ensure the health of the ecosystems the salmonids depend
upon, a life cycle analysis, conservation of salmonid genetic
diversity to promote population resilie nce, and
sufficient data collection efforts to support and adaptively manage
scientifically defensible hatchery operations.
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.