BILL NUMBER: SB 778 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 2, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wiggins
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to amend Section 7860 of the Fish and Game Code, relating
to commercial fishing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 778, as amended, Wiggins. Commercial fishing: salmon stamp.
Existing law, until January 1, 2012, prohibits specified persons
from taking salmon for commercial purposes unless the person has a
commercial fishing salmon stamp affixed to his or her commercial
fishing license. Existing law requires the Department of Fish and
Game to issue a commercial fishing salmon stamp, upon application for
the stamp and payment of a base fee of $85. That base fee is
required to be adjusted during specified commercial salmon seasons.
However, existing law prohibits the total fees, as adjusted, from
exceeding $260.
This bill would, instead, require payment of a fee of $350
for a commercial fishing salmon stamp. The bill also would
delete an obsolete reference and make other technical, nonsubstantive
changes in those provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) California's salmon fishery is in a state of severe decline.
Healthy populations of salmonid stock have decreased dramatically in
recent years and are teetering on the edge of extinction, indicating
the need for urgent, immediate action.
(b) Department of Fish and Game biologists estimate that, in 2008,
only 66,000 adult salmon returned to spawn in the Sacramento and San
Joaquin rivers, the lowest return on historical record.
(c) A similar alarming population decline in 2007 led the National
Marine Fisheries Service to ban ocean salmon fishing in California
and most of Oregon in 2008, and a ban is expected again in 2009.
(d) In 2008, more than 2,200 fishermen, fisherwomen, and
fishing-related business workers lost their jobs. Fishing communities
and fishing-related businesses lost more than two hundred fifty
million dollars($250,000,000).
(e) The salmon stamp program has a long history of voluntary
participation and cooperation among a wide range of commercial
fishing interests because they recognize their livelihood depends on
the abundance of salmon.
(f) With an impending drought year, and a second year of a ban on
ocean fishing because of severe salmonid population decline, the
industry is prepared to bolster and improve state fishery restoration
efforts through its self-taxation mechanism.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature to request the Department
of Fish and Game to provide an accounting for funds generated from
commercial salmon fishing permits, known as salmon stamps and to
increase the price of commercial salmon fishing stamps to strengthen
oversight of the program and to ensure that the funding goes directly
to priority projects in a timely manner.
SECTION 1. SEC. 2. Section 7860 of
the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
7860. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (f) or (g), a person
who is 18 years of age or more and less than 70 years of age, on or
before April 1 of the current license year, shall not take salmon for
commercial purposes or be on board a vessel on which salmon are
taken for commercial purposes while salmon are being taken or
transported, unless that person has a commercial fishing salmon stamp
issued pursuant to this section affixed to his or her commercial
fishing license.
(b) Except as provided in subdivision (f) or (g), the operator of
a vessel on which salmon are taken for commercial purposes shall not
permit a person on board that vessel while salmon are being taken or
transported, unless that person was less than 18 years of age or 70
years of age or more on April 1 of the current license year or that
person has a commercial fishing salmon stamp affixed to the person's
commercial fishing license.
(c) Except as provided in this subdivision, the department shall
issue a commercial fishing salmon stamp upon application therefor and
payment of the fee of eighty-five dollars ($85). For any commercial
salmon season preceded by a commercial salmon season in which the
commercial troll salmon landings in this state equal or exceed
3,000,000 pounds dressed weight, as determined by the department, the
fee shall be increased by twelve dollars and fifty cents ($12.50)
for every 250,000 pounds over 3,000,000 pounds of dressed weight
landings, except that the total fees as adjusted shall not exceed two
hundred sixty dollars ($260).
(c) The department shall issue a commercial fishing salmon stamp
upon application therefor and payment of the fee of three hundred
fifty dollars ($350).
(d) A commercial fishing salmon stamp is valid during the
commercial salmon season of the year in which it is issued.
(e) Notwithstanding Section 1053, upon application and payment of
an additional fee equal to that prescribed in subdivision (c), the
department may issue an additional commercial fishing salmon stamp
for a crewmember to the owner or operator of a vessel who holds a
commercial fishing salmon stamp.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), one crewmember of a vessel
for which a commercial fishing salmon stamp is issued pursuant to
subdivision (e) may be aboard that vessel and take salmon for
commercial purposes as a crewmember on that vessel without obtaining
a commercial fishing salmon stamp under the following conditions:
(1) The crewmember is designated by name and commercial fishing
license number on a form furnished by the department before salmon
are taken on the vessel when that crewmember is aboard.
(2) The crewmember has a valid commercial fishing license issued
under Section 7850.
(3) The commercial fishing salmon stamp for the crewmember is
affixed to the form prescribed in paragraph (1) on which the vessel
registration number of the vessel is entered and on which the
crewmember who is exempted by this subdivision is designated by the
last entered name and commercial fishing license number.
(g) Persons who are exempt from the license requirements, or who
are not required to be licensed, pursuant to Section 7850, are exempt
from the requirements of this section.