Posted by Rocky Daniels on October 13, 2000 at 14:33:00:
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 17:10:45 -0000
From: "Rocky Daniels"
Subject: RAAC 9/30/00 Meeting Summary
The Recreational Abalone Advisory Committee (RAAC) in Oakland on
September 30. This was the second RAAC meeting this year and we
covered a number of issues. Here's a summary of some of the more
interesting ones:
1) Budget Issues
Abalone continues to be one of California's highest marine
priorities. Unlike most of the 1990s when the state's budget
barely
paid for two marine biologists and game wardens had to pay for their
own gas, this year's "abalone" budget totals more than
$2,900,000.
Of that total, only 12% comes from abalone stamp sales.
Abalone stamp sales for 2000 are running a little ahead of the 1999
sales and has so far generated $385,000. Combined with the
accumulations from the past couple of years, the abalone stamp fund
is now sitting at $735,000. After subtracting reserve and committed
funds from that total, there's a bit of money leftover. How to spend
that extra money was the subject of much discussion by the RAAC.
Believe it or not, spending state money isn't as easy as you would
think. Here's why.
In order for the state to spend money, two things are required.
First, you have to have the money. Second, you have to have the
authorization to actually spend the money you have. As I've already
reported, the first part is well covered for now. The second part,
the authorization, is where things get a bit stickier. Authorization
is part of the state's budgeting process and runs a year or more
ahead of when the money actually gets spent. The 2000 fiscal year
limit on stamp fund spending is $306,000. Of that, $220,000 has
already been committed to pay the annual salaries of two and a half
marine biologists (there's a joke in there somewhere)and a full time
Special Operations Unit warden plus $36,000 for paying overtime to
uniformed and undercover wardens working abalone enforcement. That
leaves $86,000 of spending authority to cover $152,500 in funding
requests on RAAC's agenda. That's why there was so much
discussion
at this meeting over budget issues. The results of those discussions
were the following additional spending recommendations from the RAAC
to the Director of Fish and Game:
- $10,000 to outfit electronics and a davit on a new research
boat.
- $20,500 additional overtime funding for uniformed wardens
working abalone enforcement was recommended for the 2000/2001 season.
- $55,000 for two temporary, part-time tech support.
- $25,000 to begin work building a DNA database. This spending
is subject to an increase in the spending authorization and is tied
to matching funds coming from the accumulated tax money collected
from commercial abalone divers during their last few years of harvest
activity. With this recommendation, it is possible for this project
to enter the proposal phase with actual funding to begin late this
fiscal year (subject to the increased spending authorization) or
early next.
2) Changes to Sport Regulations
Recent underwater surveys off the north coast reveal very few abalone
less than 5" in size. This fact suggests that there has not been a
successful spawning event since 1993. Having a multi-year gap
between major spawning events is apparently not unusual for abalone.
However, until a new wave of baby abalone appears on the scene,
there's cause for concern.
Another bit of bad news is that deep water surveys reveal many fewer
abalone than what was seen during surveys of the same locations 10
and more years ago. Because it is believed that those deep water
stocks have been the key to northern California's successful abalone
fishery, this news is another source of concern.
In response to these concerns, CDFG biologists are beginning to
examine possible changes in sport harvesting regulations that will go
into effect with the 2002 season. The list of potential changes was
discussed and included the following:
- reduce the open season by one or more months,
- reduce the daily bag limit from 4 to 3, 2, or 1 (note that a
reduction to a 3 per day bag limit was a foregone conclusion in the
remaining items on the list),
- reduce the annual take limit from the current 100 abalone to 30,
24, 12, 8, or 6 per year,
- change the punch card to a trip limit card and limit harvesters
to 10 trips per year (10 * 3 abalone per day = 30 abalone),
- reduce the punch card to 12 or 8 abalone but allow the purchase
of a 2nd card (requires a legislative change).
A few of these possibilities generated some agitated discussion. The
10/year trip limit, for example, was floated apparently as a result
of combining biological goals (reduced annual take) with ease of law
enforcement. Obviously, as the regulatory process enters its public
comment period next year, your help in getting changes we can live
with will be critical. So stay tuned. In meantime, if you have
thoughts on these proposals (or proposals of your own), Jerry
Kashiwada would like to hear from you. He can be reached at: 19160
S. Harbor Dr., Fort Bragg, CA 95437.
Tentatively, the next meeting of the RAAC will be March 31, 2001 in
Santa Rosa.
Rocky Daniels
RAAC Member - Northern California Recreational Representative
http://www.sonic.net/~rocky