BILL NUMBER: SB 1093 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 21, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 19, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 5, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wiggins
( Coauthor: Assembly Member
Evans )
FEBRUARY 17, 2010
An act to amend Section 8276.4 of Sections
8276.2 and 8276.4 of, and to add Section 8276.5 to, the Fish
and Game Code, relating to fish and game , and making an
appropriation therefor .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1093, as amended, Wiggins. Ocean Protection Council:
Dungeness crab task force. Dungeness crab: pilot
program.
Existing
(1) Existing law establishes the
Ocean Protection Council and requires the council to, among other
things, coordinate activities of state agencies that are related to
the protection and conservation of coastal waters and ocean
ecosystems to improve the effectiveness of state efforts to protect
ocean resources within existing fiscal limitations.
Existing law requires the council to make a grant, upon
appropriation of funding by the Legislature, for the development and
administration of a Dungeness crab task force, and specifies the
membership of the task force. Existing law requires the task force to
cease to exist on January 1, 2011.
This bill would extend that date to January 1, 2014.
(2) Existing law authorizes the Director of Fish and Game to
authorize one or more operators of commercial fishing vessels to take
and land a limited number of Dungeness crab for the purpose of
quality testing according to a testing program and prohibits the sale
of crab taken pursuant to the testing program, except for edible
crab meat, which may be used for charitable purposes.
This bill would instead allow the crab taken pursuant to the
testing program to be sold, provided the proceeds of the sale are
allocated to legitimate costs of the testing program, or used for
charitable purposes.
(3) Existing law, until January 1, 2011, authorizes the placement
of restrictions on a person's eligibility to take crab in state
waters and offshore for commercial purposes.
This bill would extend the operation of this authorization to
January 1, 2014. The bill would also authorize the director to
institute a pilot program for Dungeness crab trap limits for all
California permitholders. The bill would require the pilot program to
contain specified requirements and prohibit the pilot program from
being implemented, modified, eliminated, or added to without at least
2/3 of the non ex officio members of the Dungeness crab task force
voting in favor.
(4) Existing law requires all money collected under the Fish and
Game Code, or under any other law relating to the protection and
preservation of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, or amphibians, to be
deposited into the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, unless otherwise
provided.
The bill would require trap tag fees collected pursuant to the
pilot program to be deposited in the Dungeness Crab Account of the
Fish and Game Preservation Fund, created by this bill, and moneys in
the account would be continuously appropriated to the department for
purposes of administering the pilot program. The bill would authorize
the department to borrow money from the General Fund for purposes of
meeting the necessary expenses of initial organization and operation
of the pilot program.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 8276.2 of the Fish
and Game Code is amended to read:
8276.2. (a) The director may order a delay in the opening of the
Dungeness crab fishery after December 1 in Districts 6, 7, 8, and 9
in any year. The delay in the opening shall not be later than January
15 of any year.
(b) On or about November 1 of each year, the director may
authorize one or more operators of commercial fishing vessels to take
and land a limited number of Dungeness crab for the purpose of
quality testing according to a testing program conducted by, or on
behalf of, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission or an
entity approved by the department. The department shall not approve a
testing program unless it is funded by the entity authorized to
conduct the testing program. Crab taken pursuant to this section
shall not be sold; however, any edible crabmeat recovered
from the crabs tested shall not be wasted and may be
sold, provided the proceeds of the sale are allocated to legitimate
costs of the testing program as determined by the director, or
used for charitable purposes.
(c) The director shall order the opening of the Dungeness crab
season in Districts 6, 7, 8, and 9 on December 1 if the quality tests
authorized in subdivision (b) indicate the Dungeness crabs are not
soft-shelled or low quality. The entity authorized to conduct the
approved testing program may test, or cause to be tested, crabs taken
for quality and soft shells pursuant to the approved testing
program. If the tests are conducted on or about November 1 and result
in a finding that Dungeness crabs are soft-shelled or low quality,
the director shall authorize a second test to be conducted on or
about November 15 pursuant to the approved testing program. If the
second test results in a finding that Dungeness crabs are
soft-shelled or low quality, the director may order the season
opening delayed for a period of 15 days and may authorize a third
test to be conducted on or about December 1. If the third test
results in a finding that Dungeness crabs remain soft-shelled or of
low quality, the director may order the season opening delayed for a
period of an additional 15 days and authorize a fourth test to be
conducted. This procedure may continue to be followed, except that no
tests shall be conducted after January 1 for that season, and the
season opening shall not be delayed by the director later than
January 15.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on April 1, 2012, and,
as of January 1, 2013, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute
that is enacted before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends the dates
on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SECTION 1. SEC. 2. Section 8276.4 of
the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
8276.4. (a) The Ocean Protection Council shall make a grant, upon
appropriation of funding by the Legislature, for the development and
administration of a Dungeness crab task force. The membership of the
Dungeness crab task force shall be comprised of all of the
following:
(1) Two members representing sport fishing interests.
(2) Two members representing crab processing interests.
(3) One member representing commercial passenger fishing vessel
interests.
(4) Two ex officio members representing nongovernmental
organization interests.
(5) One ex officio representative of Sea Grant.
(6) Two ex officio members representing the department.
(7) Seventeen members representing commercial fishery interests,
elected by licensed persons possessing valid Dungeness crab permits
in their respective ports and production levels, as follows:
(A) Four members from Crescent City.
(B) One member from Trinidad.
(C) Two members from Eureka.
(D) Two members from Fort Bragg.
(E) Two members from Bodega Bay.
(F) Two members from San Francisco.
(G) Two members from Half Moon Bay.
(H) One member from ports south of Half Moon Bay.
(I) One member who has a valid California nonresident crab permit.
(b) For ports with more than one representative, elected members
and their alternates shall represent both the upper and lower, and in
some cases middle, production levels. Production levels shall be
based on the average landing during the previous five years, of valid
crab permitholders who landed a minimum of 25,000 pounds of crab
during the same period.
(c) The Dungeness crab task force shall do all of the following:
(1) Under the guidance of a professional facilitator hired by the
Ocean Protection Council for this purpose, review and evaluate
Dungeness crab management measures with the objective of making
recommendations to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture,
the department, and the commission no later than January 15, 2010.
(2) Make recommendations, including, but not limited to, the need
for a permanent Dungeness crab advisory committee, refining sport and
commercial Dungeness crab management, establishing a Dungeness crab
marketing commission, and the need for statutory changes to
accomplish task force objectives.
(3) In considering Dungeness crab management options, prioritize
the review of pot limit restriction options, harvest allocation,
current and future sport and commercial fishery effort, season
modifications, essential fishery information needs, and short- and
long-term objectives for improved management.
(d) The task force may establish subcommittees of specific user
groups from the task force membership to focus on issues specific to
sport fishing, commercial harvest, or crab processing. The
subcommittees shall report their recommendations, if any, to the task
force.
(e) The Ocean Protection Council may include in a grant funding to
cover department staffing costs, as well as task force participant
travel.
(f) A recommendation shall be forwarded to the Joint Committee on
Fisheries and Aquaculture, the department, and the commission upon an
affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the task force members.
(g) The task force shall cease to exist on January 1, 2014.
(h) Eligibility to take crab in state waters and offshore for
commercial purposes may be subject to restrictions, including, but
not limited to, restrictions on the number of traps utilized by that
person, if either any of the following
occurs occur :
(1) A person holds a Dungeness crab permit with landings of less
than 5,000 pounds between November 15, 2003, and July 15, 2008,
inclusive.
(2) A person has purchased a Dungeness crab permit on or after
July 15, 2008, from a permitholder who landed less than 5,000 pounds
between November 15, 2003, and July 15, 2008, inclusive.
(3) The director institutes a pilot program for Dungeness crab
trap limits pursuant to Section 8276.5.
(i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2014, and as of that date is repealed unless a later enacted statute,
which is enacted before January 1, 2014, deletes or extends that
date, or it is rendered inoperative by commission regulations.
SEC. 3. Section 8276.5 is added to the
Fish and Game Code , to read:
8276.5. (a) In accordance with paragraph (1) of subdivision (b),
the director may institute a pilot program for Dungeness crab trap
limits for all California permitholders. Except as provided in
paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), the pilot program shall include all
of the following requirements:
(1) The program shall contain seven tiers of Dungeness crab trap
limits based on California landings between November 15, 2003, and
July 15, 2008, as follows:
(A) The 55 vessels with the highest landings shall receive a
maximum allocation of 500 trap tags.
(B) The 55 vessels with the next highest landings to those in
subparagraph (A) shall receive a maximum allocation of 450 trap tags.
(C) The 55 vessels with the next highest landings to those in
subparagraph (B) shall receive a maximum allocation of 400 trap tags.
(D) The 55 vessels with the next highest landings to those in
subparagraph (C) shall receive a maximum allocation of 350 trap tags.
(E) The 55 vessels with the next highest landings to those in
subparagraph (D) shall receive a maximum allocation of 300 trap tags.
(F) The 172 vessels with the next highest landings to those in
subparagraph (E) shall receive a maximum allocation of 250 trap tags.
(G) The final 141 vessels with the lowest landings shall receive a
maximum allocation of 175 trap tags.
(2) The department shall do either or both of the following:
(A) Obtain new funding to cover the costs of the pilot program
from the council or other funding sources.
(B) Collect a fee for each trap tag issued pursuant to paragraph
(1) that covers the pro rata share of costs of the pilot program,
including, but not limited to, informing permitholders of the
program, collecting the fees, acquiring and sending trap tags to
permitholders, and monitoring the results of the program.
(3) The Dungeness crab task force shall choose members from the
task force to form a hardship subcommittee to consider revising
upward any trap tag allocation based on evidence presented by a
permitholder that his or her landings during the period between
November 15, 2003, and July 15, 2008, were reduced as a result of
unusual circumstances and that these circumstances constitute an
unfair hardship, taking into account the overall landings history of
the permitholder.
(4) The director shall not institute a pilot program for a period
longer than two years.
(5) Unless new funding is made available specifically for
enforcement of the pilot program, the department shall not expend
more time or funds on the enforcement of the pilot program than is
normally accorded to the crab fishery.
(6) With assistance from the council, and if funding is available,
the department shall monitor the results of the pilot program.
(b) (1) Prior to implementing the pilot program, the director,
with the assistance of the council, shall seek the concurrence of the
Dungeness crab task force. The program shall not be implemented
without at least two-thirds of the non ex officio members of the
Dungeness crab task force voting in favor of concurrence. Dungeness
crab task force nonconcurrence may be based on any factor or factors
the task force considers significant, including, but not limited to,
the amount of the proposed fee collected pursuant to subparagraph (B)
of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).
(2) The pilot program shall not be modified, eliminated, or added
to without the concurrence of at least two-thirds of the non ex
officio members of the Dungeness crab task force voting in favor.
(c) The Dungeness Crab Account is hereby established in the Fish
and Game Preservation Fund and the fees collected pursuant to
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) shall be
deposited in that account. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the
Government Code, the money in the account is continuously
appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, to the department for
purposes of administering the pilot program.
(d) If the director implements a pilot program, for purposes of
meeting the necessary expenses of initial organization and operation
of the pilot program until fees may be collected pursuant to
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), or other
funding sources may be received, the department may borrow money as
needed for these expenses from the General Fund in the State
Treasury. The borrowed money shall be repaid with interest within one
year from the fees collected, or other funding sources received, as
provided in this section.
(e) For purposes of this section, "council" means the Ocean
Protection Council established pursuant to Section 35600 of the
Public Resources Code.