Posted by Chris on September 06, 2002 at 10:44:04:
6:09/11. CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE PASSES BILL TO HELP
STATE'S FISHERIES: On 22 August, the California Legislature passed
and sent to Governor Gray Davis a measure, AB 2888, designed to give
some regulatory help to the State's commercial fishermen. The bill,
requested by PCFFA, did not receive a single "no" vote in the
Legislature. It was opposed by the Recreational Fishing Alliance and
United Anglers of Southern California. "This legislation won't create
more rockfish, nor increase the prices paid to fishermen for their
salmon, but it will help a lot of California's fishing men and women
from Crescent City to San Diego," said Virginia Strom-Martin
(D-Duncan Mills), the bill's author. "Quite simply it was what we could
do in a year when there just weren't any state funds available."
Strom-Martin chairs the Legislature's Joint Committee on Fisheries &
Aquaculture. AB 2888:
a) Removes the requirement that persons holding swordfish/shark
permits have to catch a minimum number of swordfish or shark every
two years to maintain their permits. This is one of only two fisheries in
the state still requiring minimum catches to maintain permits. This
requirement has been removed from other fisheries because it forces
fishermen to fish in years when fish populations may be down, creating
more stress on the fish stocks, or to fish during periods when prices are
down and gearing up the fishery would be a money-losing proposition.
b) Allows persons who sell directly to the public from their vessels to
also be able to transport the fish they may sell to licensed wholesalers
using a Fish & Game transportation ticket.
c) Allows the Commercial Salmon Stamp Committee to augment the
salmon stamp fund through the sale to the public of salmon stamp
artwork. The salmon stamp program is an important source of revenue
for the State of California for salmon stock rebuilding and habitat
restoration, but funds have dwindled in recent years because of a
combination of fewer commercial salmon fishermen and reduced
catches of salmon.
d) Indicates the intent of the State of California to participate in any
federal groundfish vessel/permit buyback program. Currently there is
more fishing capacity in this fishery than the fish stocks can sustain.
The Pacific Fishery Management Council has set a target of reducing
this capacity by 50 percent and there are bills in the Congress aimed at
establishing a program for buying back some of this excess fishing
capacity. This language in AB 2888 tells Congress of California's desire
to participate in such a federal program (similar to Oregon) if one is
established.
For more information on the bill, contact Fisheries & Aquaculture
Committee Consultant Mary Morgan at: mary.morgan@asm.ca.gov. An
end of the session Legislative report will appear in next Sublegals.
BILL NUMBER: AB 2888 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2002
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 14, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 12, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2002
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 17, 2002
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Strom-Martin
FEBRUARY 25, 2002
An act to amend Sections 8045, 8047, 8568, and 8569 of, to add
Sections 7862.5 and 8568.5 to, and to add Article 1.3 (commencing
with Section 7630) to Chapter 1 of Part 3 of Division 6 of, the Fish
and Game Code, relating to fishing, making an appropriation therefor,
and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2888, Strom-Martin. Fishing.
(1) Existing law, until January 1, 2007, establishes the
Commercial Salmon Trollers Advisory Committee to recommend programs
and a budget from the Commercial Salmon Stamp Account to the
Department of Fish and Game.
This bill would authorize the committee to recommend to the
Director of Fish and Game that a nonprofit organization or the
California Salmon Council be authorized to create or contract to
create salmon or salmon fishing artwork and other materials based on
that artwork, including a stamp, and offer those items for sale to
the public during 2003 and thereafter, for the purpose of augmenting
funding for the Commercial Salmon Trollers Enhancement and
Restoration Program established under existing law.
The bill would prohibit the committee from recommending a
nonprofit organization or the California Salmon Council, as
specified, unless all of certain conditions are met.
The bill would authorize the director, upon receiving the
recommendation of the committee, and upon finding that there will be
no new costs to the department, to authorize the recommended entity
to create or contract to create salmon or salmon fishing artwork and
other materials based on that artwork, including a stamp, and offer
those items for sale to the public, for the specified purposes.
The bill would prohibit any person or entity, including any
nonprofit organization, from using the name of the Commercial Salmon
Stamp, the Commercial Salmon Trollers Advisory Committee, or the
Commercial Salmon Trollers Enhancement and Restoration Program for
the sale of artwork and other materials, unless that person or entity
has been approved by the director under these provisions for that
purpose. Because a violation of this prohibition would be a
misdemeanor under other provisions of existing law, the bill would
establish a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
The approval of the director under these provisions would be for
one year, after which the approval could be renewed for an additional
year, upon recommendation of the committee.
The bill would require that proceeds from the sales of artwork and
other materials sold under these provisions, after deduction of all
reasonable costs borne by the nonprofit organization or the
California Salmon Council for creation of the artwork and conducting
the sales, be deposited in the Commercial Salmon Stamp Account, a
continuously appropriated account in the Fish and Game Preservation
Fund. By requiring a new source of revenue to be deposited in a
continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
(2) Existing law requires each commercial fisherman or his or her
designee, who transports, causes to be transported, or delivers to
another person for transportation, any fish, except herring, taken
from the waters of this state or brought into this state in fresh
condition, to fill out a transportation receipt according to the
instructions and on forms provided by the department at the time the
fish are brought ashore.
This bill would authorize any fisherman's retail licensee who is
selling his or her fish to a licensed receiver to use a
transportation receipt to transport those fish to the licensed
receiver, who would be required to complete a landing receipt for
those fish. The bill would prescribe the information required to be
included in the transportation receipt. Because a violation of these
provisions would be a misdemeanor under other provisions of existing
law, the bill would establish a state-mandated local program by
expanding the scope of an existing crime.
(3) Existing law requires the names used in certain landing
receipts for designating the species of fish dealt with to be those
in common usage, unless otherwise designated by the department.
This bill would make that requirement applicable also to the names
used in transportation receipts, and would modify various other
requirements relating to transportation receipts. Because a
violation of these provisions would be a misdemeanor under other
provisions of existing law, the bill would establish a state-mandated
local program by expanding the scope of an existing crime.
(4) Existing law requires that a drift gill net shark and
swordfish permit be issued to any prior permittee who possesses a
valid drift gill net shark and swordfish permit issued under existing
law, but only if the permittee meets certain requirements, including
that during one of the 2 immediately preceding permit years, the
permittee either have landed at least 2,500 pounds of swordfish or
1,000 pounds of shark or have landed shark or swordfish for which the
permittee was paid at least $1,000.
This bill, instead of the specified condition, would provide that
any person holding a valid drift gill net shark and swordfish permit
on or after January 1, 2000, who did not make, on or after January 1,
2000, the minimum landings specified above, is eligible for the
specified permit when that person meets all other qualifications for
the permit.
(5) Existing law continuously appropriates the money in the Fish
and Game Preservation Fund to the department and the commission to
carry out the Fish and Game Code.
By imposing new duties on the department and the commission, the
bill would make an appropriation.
(6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
(7) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Appropriation: yes.