BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2684
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 8, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON WATER, PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Anthony Rendon, Chair
AB 2684 (Stone) - As Amended: March 27, 2014
SUBJECT : Hatchery Practices; Salmon and Steelhead
SUMMARY : Requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to
implement specified policies and practices for hatchery salmon
and steelhead reared and released in California waters,
including a requirement that all hatchery chinook salmon, coho
salmon, and steelhead be tagged with coded-wire tags before
being released. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the DFW to implement policies and practices for
hatchery salmon and steelhead reared and released in
California waters by adopting all of the following:
a) Hatchery practices that improve the survival and fitness
of the hatchery population;
b) Hatchery practices that reduce the genetic and
ecological risks posed by hatchery juveniles and adults to
wild and native populations;
c) A requirement that hatchery chinook salmon, coho salmon
and steelhead trout released in California waters be
externally marked on the top fin at a level to be
determined by DFW, and that all hatchery chinook salmon,
coho salmon and steelhead trout be coded-wire tagged prior
to their release.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the Fish and Game Commission (FGC) to establish fish
hatcheries for stocking the waters of the State with fish, and
requires DFW to maintain and operate the hatcheries.
2)Authorizes DFW to enter into agreements with counties,
nonprofit groups, and private entities for the management and
operation of rearing facilities for salmon and steelhead, for
the purpose of providing additional fishing resources and to
augment natural runs.
3)Requires mitigation of significant environmental impacts to
salmonid species listed under the state or federal endangered
species acts from approved projects. In some cases, salmon
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hatcheries have been approved as one method of mitigating
environmental impacts of projects such as dams and other water
infrastructure that impact fish passage and habitat.
4)Establishes the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous
Fisheries Program Act, which states findings regarding the
need to increase natural production of salmon and steelhead
trout, and establishes a state policy to significantly
increase natural production. Requires DFW to prepare and
maintain a comprehensive program for protection and increase
of salmon, steelhead trout and anadromous fisheries.
Anadromous fish are fish that are born in freshwater, migrate
to sea and live most of their lives in salt water, and migrate
back to the fresh water stream of their birth to spawn.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : This bill would implement some of the
recommendations from a scientific California Hatchery Review
Report published in 2012. Specifically, this bill would require
further external fin marking, at a level to be determined by
DFW, and 100% coded-wire tagging of all salmon and steelhead
trout released from California hatcheries in order to allow for
collection of better scientific data aimed at revitalizing
salmon populations and fisheries, and to better protect wild and
native fish. Coded wire tags contain microscopic data that can
be detected with an electronic device, allowing real time
identification of all hatchery-origin fish, plus additional
information such as hatchery of origin and run-type.
The author notes that wild salmon in California have declined
from being some of the largest salmon runs in North America to
the point that some of the runs are now listed on the endangered
species list. Most losses in population numbers have been
attributed to habitat loss through the building of dams and
other operations to divert water. Seven salmon hatcheries built
as mitigation for these projects have been a key tool in
attempts to revitalize stocks, but there is insufficient data to
further address and restore salmon populations. The author also
notes that research to evaluate the effect of hatchery
operations on wild runs, funded by the federal government and
conducted by the California Hatchery Scientific Review Group
(HSRG), identified the need to control for undesirable impacts
of hatchery salmon on natural salmon, including displacement,
genetic and ecological risks posed by reduced diversity, and
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inaccurate counts of natural populations. The author asserts
that the dual goals of conservation and abundant commercial
harvest have yet to be achieved due to a lack of data and the
inability to distinguish wild fish from hatchery fish. Current
hatchery tagging operations make use of coded-wire tagging for a
small subset of hatchery-origin salmon, but the usefulness of
the data is limited. In general, hatchery operations have only
been able to attain a 25% rate of coded-wire tagging of hatchery
fish.
California Hatchery Review Report : A comprehensive scientific
review of reforms needed to improve California's salmon
hatcheries was conducted and a report with recommendations
released in June 2012. The report was prepared by the
California HSRG with federal funding. The members of the HSRG
include representatives from federal and state fishery agencies,
including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA Fisheries,
California DFW, and the Pacific States Marine Fisheries
Commission, as well as scientists affiliated with academic
institutions, including the University of California at Davis
and Humboldt State University. The report includes detailed
technical recommendations on management specific to each of the
nineteen hatcheries currently operating in the Klamath-Trinity
Basin and the Central Valley of California, as well as proposed
statewide hatchery standards and guidelines.
In addition to the marking and tagging recommendations, which
are the focus of this bill, the report makes a number of
important general findings, including that:
While many factors have contributed to significant declines
from earlier levels of salmon and steelhead abundance in
California, habitat loss, degradation and modification
associated with construction of dams and water diversion is
the single greatest cause of population declines in the
Central Valley. The loss of Chinook salmon spawning and
rearing habitat probably exceeds 75% and may be as high as
95%.
Fish hatcheries in the Central Valley and Klamath-Trinity
Basin were constructed to mitigate for habitat loss associated
with a number of major dams. Currently, hatchery-origin
chinook salmon make up a substantial percentage of Central
Valley salmon runs. As abundance of natural-origin fish
continues to decline, hatchery production has become
increasingly important to support commercial and recreational
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salmon fisheries.
While harvest opportunities are an important societal benefit,
hatchery operations and programs also have adverse effects on
natural salmon and steelhead productivity. Modifications to
hatchery operations are needed to control undesirable impacts
on natural fish populations.
Hatchery reform alone will not be sufficient to restore
healthy naturally produced fish populations, but need to be
combined with restoration of habitat quantity and quality,
including adequate water flows.
Hatcheries, habitat and harvest management need to be
considered together as an integrated system. Fish production
in hatcheries can have detrimental genetic and ecological
effects on natural salmon populations. Efforts to augment
harvest must be balanced against impacts of fisheries on
natural salmon and steelhead populations.
The report includes a number of detailed recommendations
regarding marking and tagging. Currently, tagging programs for
most California chinook salmon hatcheries consist of a "constant
fractional marking" program, in which 25% of hatchery fish are
externally marked by an adipose fin clip and internally tagged
with a coded-wire tag. The coded-wire tags identify the fish as
belonging to a particular brood year and release location group,
as well as the hatchery of origin. These programs allow
reasonably accurate estimates of proportion of hatchery fish on
natural spawning grounds and in hatchery returns, but does not
allow real-time identification of all hatchery fish as being of
hatchery origin.
With the advent of 100% marking of hatchery fish in other
northwest states, mark-selective fisheries have been instituted
in some areas off the coasts of Oregon and Washington, whereby
fish harvest is restricted to hatchery fish with marked fins.
Mark-selective salmon fisheries have not been introduced in
California and remain a controversial subject. The HSRG did not
reach a consensus on that issue, and therefore did not recommend
100% external marking in California, but did recommend 100%
coded-wire tagging of hatchery produced chinook salmon, with 25%
adipose fin clip marking.
The statewide standards and guidelines recommended by the HSRG
for use at all anadromous salmonid hatcheries with regard to
marking and tagging for the three species in this bill are:
For chinook salmon, tagging 100% of hatchery-released fish
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with coded-wire tagging plus marking 25% of hatchery-released
fish by adipose fin clip. The rationale is that this would
allow all hatchery fish to be identified in real-time at weirs
and hatcheries using electronic detection devices, and allow
stock of origin to be determined when necessary through
removal of the coded-wire tag. The report explicitly notes
that this recommendation is not designed to promote
mark-selective fisheries.
For coho salmon, a hatchery-specific external mark (not an
adipose fin clip) on 100% of fish to distinguish them from
other natural-origin fish and northern hatchery-origin fish
that are part of a mark-selective fishery in Oregon.
For steelhead trout, the report recommends 100% adipose fin
clip marking and Parent-based tagging to enable mark-selective
river fisheries.
The report also includes recommendations on other statewide
hatchery standards beyond the scope of this bill, including:
standards for broodstock management; program size and release
strategies; incubation, rearing and fish health management; and
monitoring and evaluation.
Note : This bill would require coded wire tagging of 100% of all
chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead trout produced in
California hatcheries. However, the HSRG actually only
recommended 100% coded wire tagging for chinook salmon, but not
for coho and steelhead. The recommendations for coho salmon
included a hatchery-specific external mark on 100% of hatchery
fish, and for steelhead, 100% adipose fin clip marking and
Parent-based tagging. Should this bill be amended to match the
HSRG recommendations as described above?
Cost Implications : This bill does not specify how the
requirement for 100% coded wire tagging would be paid for. If
the DFW is not able to secure commitments from all parties
responsible for mitigation, these costs could end up being born
by the state. In some cases, the responsible party is a branch
of the federal government. This is the case for both the
Coleman and Trinity fish hatcheries where funding comes from the
Bureau of Reclamation. The state may not be able to impose
additional costs on the federal government. However, since the
federal fishery agencies were part of the HSRG that made these
recommendations, perhaps they may agree to cover the additional
costs. In some cases the state is one of the responsible
parties. Costs for operations at Merced River Hatchery are
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divided between the Department of Water Resources, DFW, and the
Merced Irrigation District. In other cases, the responsible
party is a water district. For instance, East Bay Municipal
Utility District is responsible for costs of operations at the
Mokelumne Fish Hatchery. Whether DFW can renegotiate the
contracts for the various hatcheries to incorporate the
additional costs mandated by this bill is unclear.
Support Arguments : Supporters assert this bill will provide
needed scientific data that will benefit both the salmon fishery
and conservation of wild and native fish. Supporters also note
that this bill supports the science established by the
California Hatchery Review Report, which built upon the Pacific
Northwest Hatchery Reform process. In both the California
review and the Pacific Northwest review, one of the key
recommendations was identification of hatchery fish so they can
be easily distinguished in real time from wild salmon.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association for Recreational Fishing
California-Nevada Conference of Operating Engineers, of the
International Union of Operating Engineers
Northwest Marine Technology, Inc.
Oceana
Sierra Club California
Union of American Physicians and Dentists
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Diane Colborn / W., P. & W. / (916)
319-2096