BILL ANALYSIS
SB 21
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Date of Hearing: 06/15/2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Jared William Huffman, Chair
SB 21 (Simitian) - As Amended: June 10, 2010
SENATE VOTE : 23-10
SUBJECT : Derelict fishing gear
SUMMARY : Directs the Department of Fish and game to publicize
telephone numbers and web addresses to which derelict fishing
gear can be reported. Specifically, this bill :
1)Directs the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), on or before
January 1, 2012, to include on all fishing licenses and in all
appropriate official brochures any toll-free telephone
numbers, if available, for the purpose of reporting derelict
fishing gear, and any available addresses for Internet Web
sites that maintain a reporting system for derelict fishing
gear.
2)Authorizes the Ocean Protection Council (OPC) to develop
recommendations for identification, removal and disposal of
derelict fishing gear.
3)Contains related legislative intent and definitions pertaining
to derelict fishing gear and its effects.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Generally gives DFG and Fish and Game Commission (FGC)
jurisdiction over commercial fishing and responsibility for
administration and enforcement of the Fish and Game Code.
2)Requires set nets and set lines (nets or lines anchored to the
bottom on each end and not free to drift with the tide or
current) to be marked with the fisherman's identification
number. Requires lost set nets that can not be recovered to
be reported within 72 hours after returning to port following
the loss. Authorizes FGC to revoke the owner's permit for
failure to comply with these requirements, and to require the
owner of a lost or abandoned set net recovered by DFG to pay
the recovery costs.
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3)Directs the OPC to coordinate activities of state agencies
that involve protection of the ocean ecosystem. Authorizes
monies in the Ocean Protection Trust Fund to be used for
grants and loans to, among other things, encourage development
and use of more selective fishing gear.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : This bill intends to reduce the negative effects of
derelict (illegally discarded or lost) fishing gear, commonly
known as "ghost fishing", which are best summarized as "wasted
seafood and needless damage to marine resources and habitat".
Because modern fishing gear (such as fishing nets and fishing
line) is made from synthetic materials that do not degrade for
many years, it persists in the marine environment where it
creates a suite of well-documented problems. The dangers of
lost fishing gear include entangling divers and swimmers;
trapping and wounding or killing fish, shellfish, birds and
marine mammals; degrading sensitive habitats (by accumulating on
the sea floor, for example); damaging propellers and rudders of
recreational boats, commercial and military vessels; and
potentially endangering boat crews and passengers.
There is also increasing evidence of the economic damage from
the lost fishing gear. A recently published peer-reviewed study
(Gilardi et al., 2010) found that a single derelict gill net
could be responsible for entangling and killing 4368 crab,
resulting in a loss to Dungeness crab fishery of $19,656. The
benefit-cost ratio of removing such a derelict net was a high
14.5:1 ($14.50 saved for every $1 spent).
In California, an ongoing cleanup project illustrates the
magnitude of the problem. SeaDoc Society at the University of
California, Davis Wildlife Health Center launched the California
Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project in 2005 to remove lost
fishing gear from selected locations. This project also
established fishing line recycling bins on public fishing piers,
and encouraged ocean users to report the presence of lost gear.
Since May 2006, the Project has retrieved nearly 11 tons of gear
from around the California Channel Islands. In addition, the
Project has cleaned more than 1400 pounds of recreational
fishing gear off public fishing piers from Santa Cruz to
Imperial Beach including more than 1 million feet of fishing
line. This project is on-going, pending available funding.
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However, according to the bill's author, one of the biggest
hurdles in the recovery of derelict gear is lack of knowledge
about what to do when gear is found. In current law,
regulations are written by DFG for individual fisheries and, as
a result, the regulations are unclear about whether a fisher is
legally allowed to have derelict gear from his/her own fishery
or another fishery entirely on board while actively fishing.
This lack of clarity could be interpreted by the fishers to mean
that all derelict gear collected while fishing must be thrown
back overboard to remain in compliance with the issued fishing
license. By providing a telephone number and website for any
regional gear recovery organization on fishing licenses and DFG
brochures, information would be available for individuals and
fishers, which are most likely to encounter derelict gear.
Several states - Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana,
Maryland, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, and Washington - have
implemented programs to address the problem of derelict fishing
gear. These programs include steps such as development of
effective methods for removal of lost gear, elimination of
regulatory barriers to gear removal, and discouragement of
further gear loss.
In 2007, the OPC adopted a resolution on reducing and preventing
marine debris, which established a Marine Debris Steering
Committee (committee) consisting of the California Integrated
Waste Management Board, Department of Conservation, Department
of Toxic Substances Control, Coastal Commission, and the State
Water Resources Control Board. The resolution directed this
committee to propose a plan by December 1, 2007 for achieving
target reductions of derelict fishing by 2015. The OPC released
a draft Ocean Litter Implementation Strategy, however this draft
does not include any targets for derelict fishing gear
reductions.
Last year, DFG opposed, because of cost concerns, a much more
comprehensive bill (SB 899, Simitian) that was similar to the
original version of this bill; SB 899 was ultimately vetoed by
Governor Schwarzenegger. The current version of SB 21 likely
imposes only minimal cost requirements on DFG. Nevertheless,
DFG questions the need for this bill, and they point out that
the telephone number for reporting the lost fishing gear
(888-491-GEAR) can be found at the bottom of the DFG "marine
region" webpage (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine), as can the link
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to the SeaDoc Society Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project. The
committee may wish to consider whether the information listed on
a website is truly accessible to recreational or commercial
fishers when they are out on the ocean (where they are likely to
actually encounter lost fishing gear).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Environment California
Heal the Bay
Five individuals
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Igor Lacan / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096