Bill Text: CA SB1114 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Commercial fishing: swordfish.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [SB1114 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SB1114-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 1114 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 11, 2016
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 29, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Allen
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Bloom and Mullin )
FEBRUARY 17, 2016
An act to amend Section 8569 of, to add Section 8570 to, to add
Article 16.5 (commencing with Section 8584) to Chapter 2 of Part 3 of
Division 6 of, and to amend, repeal, and add Sections 8561.5 and
8567 of, the Fish and Game Code, and to amend Section 35650 of the
Public Resources Code, relating to commercial fishing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1114, as amended, Allen. Commercial fishing: swordfish.
(1) Existing law prohibits a person from using or operating, or
assisting in using or operating, a boat, aircraft, net, trap, line,
or other appliance to take fish or amphibians for commercial purposes
unless the person holds a commercial fishing license issued by the
Department of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law prohibits the taking of
shark and swordfish for commercial purposes with drift gill nets
except under a valid drift gill net shark and swordfish permit issued
to that person that has not been suspended or revoked and is issued
to at least one person aboard the boat, except as provided. Existing
law authorizes a permit to be transferred under certain
circumstances. Existing law establishes an annual fee of $330 for a
permit. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions is a
crime.
This bill would prohibit the department from issuing any drift
gill net permit after March 1, 2017. permit.
The bill would require the department to revoke all latent
drift gill net permits, as defined, within 12 months of a
federal authorization to use deep set buoy gear or similar gear to
take swordfish and would require the department to revoke all
drift gill net permits if the department has not been notified of any
landings under any drift gill net permit during any 2 successive
fishing seasons. The bill, beginning March 1,
31, 2017, would limit the circumstances under which a drift
gill net permit can be transferred to a situation where the permittee
permanently retires the permit by transferring the permit to an
entity engaged in retiring permits or where a person exchanges the
permit for a deep set buoy gear permit. The bill, beginning March
1, 31, 2017, would increase the fee for
a drift gill net permit to $1,500 and would authorize the department
to increase the fee to fully recover its costs in administering the
drift gill net program.
This bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations
establishing a deep set buoy gear fishery for swordfish. The bill
would require the department, upon a federal authorization to use
deep set buoy gear or similar gear to take swordfish, to issue
initial permits to specified persons and would authorize the
department to issue additional permits 5 years after the federal
authorization to use this gear, subject to specified requirements.
The bill would prohibit the use of deep set buoy gear to take
swordfish for commercial purposes, except under these permits issued
by the department. Because a violation of this provision would be a
crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The
bill would require the department to set an annual fee for the permit
and a fee for transferring a permit. The bill would require the
department to establish measures and incentives that are needed to
prevent, reduce, and eliminate the incidence of derelict deep set
buoy gear left at sea to the extent that these measures are not
established pursuant to federal law.
(2) The California Ocean Protection Act establishes the Ocean
Protection Council and requires the council, among other things, to
coordinate activities of state agencies that are related to the
protection and conservation of coastal waters and ocean ecosystems,
and to establish policies to coordinate the collection and sharing of
scientific data related to coastal and ocean resources among
agencies. The act creates the California Ocean Protection Trust Fund
in the State Treasury and authorizes moneys deposited in the fund,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be expended by the council
for projects and activities authorized by the council consistent with
the purposes of the act.
This bill would authorize the council to expend funds for the
innovation and adoption of sustainable commercial fishing methods for
swordfish and to expend funds to develop marketing and business
structures to support a high and stable price for swordfish landed
under a deep set buoy gear permit.
(3) 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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) It is in the best interest of the people of the state, the
commercial fishing industry, and California's marine resources that
fishermen use the most sustainable fishing gear available to harvest
seafood off the California coast.
(b) Large scale pelagic drift gill nets have been banned on the
high seas in many countries worldwide and are banned or are no longer
authorized in all other states because of the unavoidable impacts to
marine wildlife, including whales, dolphins, sharks, pinnipeds, and
sea turtles, including the California state marine reptile, the
pacific leatherback sea turtle. Many California species affected by
the drift gill net fishery are protected under state and federal law
or covered under international agreements, such as the sperm whale,
leatherback sea turtle, loggerhead sea turtle, Bigeye
bigeye thresher shark, and scalloped hammerhead
shark.
(c) Impacts to California's marine and coastal resources have been
a persistent concern with the use of drift gill nets. According to
data collect collected pursuant to the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's observer program,
California's drift gill net fishery kills or injures approximately
seven times more whales and dolphins than all other observed
fisheries in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska combined, and
13 times more than any other single observed fishery on the West
Coast.
(d) California should set the standard for sustainable swordfish
fishing globally and follow the lead of the other states in
implementing sustainable alternatives. California's standards for
sustainability and low environmental impacts in commercial fishing
are critical for addressing impacts in foreign fisheries, since these
standards frame the scope of international efforts to push for
stronger international standards, both diplomatically and as a matter
of federal law. Continuing the use of destructive fishing gears in
California enables the use of similar gears in fisheries that import
into the United States and limits efforts to reduce impacts from
those imports.
(e) Deep set buoy gear has been deployed on the East Coast where
the gear has proven to be among the most selective and sustainable
gears used to catch swordfish. This gear should be used to improve
the fishing practices of the north Pacific swordfish stock in
California. Deep set buoy gear used under federal exempted fishing
permits is proving to be successful in California, and the fishing
fleet needs regulatory flexibility to continue to innovate more
sustainable and economic gear.
(f) Given the economic and environmental benefits to the people of
the state, California should prioritize financial support for the
deployment of innovative sustainable gear types. It is the intent of
the Legislature to direct new entrants into the swordfish fishery
toward the use of lower impact fishing gears for a modern fishery,
while allowing current participants in the aging drift gill net
fishery to continue those practices until retirement.
SEC. 2. Section 8561.5 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to
read:
8561.5. (a) Notwithstanding Section 8102, a permit issued
pursuant to this article may be transferred by the permittee only if
one of the following conditions is met:
(1) The permittee has held the permit for three or more years.
(2) The permittee is permanently injured or suffers a serious
illness that will result in a hardship, as determined in a written
finding by the director, to the permittee or his or her family if the
permit may not otherwise be transferred or upon dissolution of a
marriage where the permit is held to be community property.
(3) The permittee has died and his or her surviving spouse, heirs,
or estate seeks to transfer the permit within six months of the
death of the permittee or, with the written approval of the director,
within the length of time that it may reasonably take to effect the
transfer.
(b) A permit may be transferred only to a person who holds a valid
general gill net permit issued to that person pursuant to Section
8681 that has not been suspended or revoked.
(c) The transfer of a permit shall only become effective upon
notice from the department. An application for transfer shall be
submitted to the department with such reasonable proof as the
department may require to establish the qualification of the person
the permit is to be transferred to, the payment to the department of
a transfer fee of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500), and a
written disclosure, filed under penalty of perjury, of the terms of
the transfer.
(d) Any restrictions on participation that were required in a
permit transferred pursuant to Section 8102 before January 1, 1990,
are of no further force or effect.
(e) This section shall become inoperative on March 31, 2017, and,
as of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 3. Section 8561.5 is added to the Fish and Game Code, to
read:
8561.5. (a) Notwithstanding Section 8102 or any other law, a
permit issued pursuant to this article may be transferred by the
permittee only in one of the following circumstances:
(1) The permittee permanently retires the permit by transferring
the permit to an entity engaged in retiring permits.
(2) The permittee exchanges the permit pursuant to Section 8584.2
for a deep set buoy gear permit.
(b) This section shall become operative on March 31, 2017.
SEC. 4. Section 8567 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
8567. (a) The fee for a drift gill net shark and swordfish permit
shall be three hundred thirty dollars ($330).
(b) This section shall become inoperative on March 31, 2017, and,
as of January 1, 2018, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2018, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 5. Section 8567 is added to the Fish and Game Code, to read:
8567. (a) The fee for a drift gill net shark and swordfish permit
shall be one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500), but the
department may increase the amount of the fee to fully recover its
costs in administering this article.
(b) This section shall become operative on March 31, 2017.
SEC. 6. Section 8569 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
8569. Except for a permit revoked pursuant to Section
8570, the The commission may establish
conditions for the issuance of a permit if the person's drift gill
net shark and swordfish permit was revoked during a preceding
season or season, was revoked pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 8570, or if the person possessed a
valid permit during the preceding season but did not apply for
renewal of his or her permit on or before April 30. The applicant for
a permit under this section may appeal to the director for the
issuance of the permit under those conditions.
SEC. 7. Section 8570 is added to the Fish and Game Code, to read:
8570. (a) The Within 12 months of the
authorization for the use of deep set buoy gear or similar gear to
take swordfish pursuant to federal law, the department shall
revoke all latent drift gill net permits.
(b) Notwithstanding Sections 8568 and 8568.5, or any other law,
the department shall not issue any drift gill net shark and swordfish
permit after March 31, 2017. The permit.
Except as provided in Section 8569, the department shall not
transfer or reissue any permit that has been exchanged pursuant to
Article 16.5 (commencing with Section 8584), revoked, or surrendered.
(c) The department shall revoke all drift gill net shark and
swordfish permits if the department has not been notified of any
landings under any drift gill net shark and swordfish permit during
any two successive fishing seasons.
(d) For purposes of this section, "latent drift gill net permit"
means a valid drift gill net shark and swordfish permit issued
pursuant to this article under which no swordfish or thresher shark
was landed in at least three years between 2010 and 2015, inclusive.
SEC. 8. Article 16.5 (commencing with Section 8584) is added to
Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 6 of the Fish and Game Code, to read:
Article 16.5. Deep Set Buoy Gear Swordfish Fishery
8584. For purposes of this article:
(a) "Actively fished drift gill net permit" means a valid drift
gill net shark and swordfish permit issued pursuant to Article 16
(commencing with Section 8561) under which swordfish or thresher
shark have been landed in at least three years between 2010 and 2015,
inclusive.
(b) "Actively fished drift gill net permitholder" means the named
permittee on an actively fished drift gill net permit.
(c) "Latent drift gill net permit" means a valid drift gill net
shark and swordfish permit issued pursuant to Article 16 (commencing
with Section 8561) that does not fall within the definition of an
actively fished drift gill net permit.
(d) "Negligible risk to protected marine wildlife" means no more
than a 20-percent probability, as estimated by appropriate
statistical methodologies, when available, or a comparable standard,
of exceeding take levels established by relevant state and federal
standards, including the lowest of any of the following where
available and applicable:
(1) The zero rate mortality goal or 10 percent of potential
biological removal level, as defined under the federal Marine Mammal
Protection Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1361 et seq.) and
implementing regulations.
(2) Incidental take limits established under the federal
Endangered Species Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et
seq.).
(3) Any other applicable state or federal take limit.
(4) Any take level estimated under the best available scientific
and commercial data to delay the time to recovery by more than 10
percent.
8584.1. Notwithstanding Section 8394, the department may adopt
regulations establishing a deep set buoy gear fishery for swordfish
consistent with the requirements of this article and federal law.
8584.2. Upon authorization of the use of deep set buoy gear or
similar gear to take swordfish pursuant to federal law, the
department shall issue permits for the deep set buoy gear fishery
according to the following criteria:
(a) The department shall issue one deep set buoy gear permit to
each of the following:
(1) An actively fished drift gill net permitholder.
(2) A person who has fished with deep set buoy gear under a
federal exempted fishing permit since January 1, 2010.
(3) A person who holds a permit issued pursuant to
Section 8394 who has landed swordfish under that permit in at least
two years between 2010 and 2015, inclusive.
(b) The department may issue two additional deep set buoy gear
permits to each actively fished drift gill net permitholder and each
person who holds a drift gill net permit but who fished with deep set
buoy gear under a federal exempted fishing permit since January 1,
2010, if the person surrenders the drift gill permit to the
department in exchange for the two additional deep set buoy gear
permits within two years of the federal authorization to use deep set
buoy gear or similar gear.
(c) The department may issue one additional deep set buoy gear
permit to each actively fished drift gill net permitholder and each
person who holds a drift gill net permit but who fished with deep set
buoy gear under a federal exempted fishing permit since January 1,
2010, if the person surrenders the drift gill permit to the
department in exchange for the additional deep set buoy gear permit
within four years of the federal authorization to use deep set buoy
gear or similar gear.
(d) The department may issue one deep set buoy gear permit to a
person who held a latent drift gill net permit prior to January 1,
2017.
8584.3. The department shall not issue permits in addition to
those issued pursuant to Section 8584.2 for the deep set buoy gear
fishery until five years after deep set buoy gear or similar gear is
authorized under federal law. The department shall establish a
maximum number of additional permits that may be issued pursuant to
this section. The department may issue permits pursuant to this
section as appropriate to accommodate additional fishing effort and
demonstrated demand for permits if the anticipated levels of fishing
effort by the holders of those permits pose no more than a negligible
risk to protected marine wildlife.
8584.4. Deep set buoy gear shall not be used to take swordfish
for commercial purposes, except under a revocable permit issued by
the department pursuant to this article.
8584.5. (a) The department shall establish measures and
incentives that are needed to prevent, reduce, and eliminate the
incidence of derelict deep set buoy gear left at sea to the extent
that these measures are not established pursuant to federal law.
(b) The measures and incentives established pursuant to
subdivision (a) may include, but are not limited to, all of the
following:
(1) Registration of individual buoy systems under a tag issued by
the department.
(2) Requirements for labeling gear.
(3) Incentives for the retrieval and retention of gear, including,
fees for the issuance of buoy tags to replace lost buoy tags and
time delays for the issuance of replacement buoy tags.
8584.6. The department shall establish an annual fee for a deep
set buoy gear permit issued pursuant to this article at or below a
rate that is sufficient to cover the costs of the department of
administering this article.
8584.7. (a) A person holding a permit issued pursuant
to this article may submit an application to the department to
transfer the permit to any person holding a license issued pursuant
to Section 7850, subject to any requirements established by the
department governing transferability.
(b) The department shall establish a fee to transfer a permit
issued pursuant to this section at or below a rate that is
sufficient to cover the department's administrative costs in
processing an application.
SEC. 9. Section 35650 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
35650. (a) The California Ocean Protection Trust Fund is
established in the State Treasury.
(b) Moneys deposited in the fund may be expended, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, for both of the following:
(1) Projects and activities authorized by the council consistent
with Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 35600).
(2) Upon authorization by the council, for grants or loans to
public agencies, nonprofit corporations, or private entities for, or
direct expenditures on, projects or activities that do one or more of
the following:
(A) Eliminate or reduce threats to coastal and ocean ecosystems,
habitats, and species.
(B) Improve the management of fisheries through grants or loans
for the development and implementation of fishery management plans
pursuant to Part 1.7 (commencing with Section 7050) of Division 6 of
the Fish and Game Code, a part of the Marine Life Management Act of
1998, that promote long-term stewardship and collaboration with
fishery participants to develop strategies that increase
environmental and economic sustainability. Eligible projects and
activities include, but are not limited to, innovative
community-based or cooperative management and allocation strategies
that create incentives for ecosystem improvement. Eligible
expenditures include, but are not limited to, costs related to
activities identified in subdivisions (a), (b), and (d) of Section
7075 of the Fish and Game Code, fishery research, monitoring, data
collection and analysis to support adaptive management, and other
costs related to the development and implementation of a fishery
management plan developed pursuant to this subparagraph.
(C) Foster sustainable fisheries, including grants or loans for
one or more of the following:
(i) Projects that encourage the development and use of more
selective fishing gear.
(ii) The design of community-based or cooperative management
mechanisms that promote long-term stewardship and collaboration with
fishery participants to develop strategies that increase
environmental and economic sustainability.
(iii) Collaborative research and demonstration projects between
fishery participants, scientists, and other interested parties.
(iv) Promotion of value-added wild fisheries to offset economic
losses attributable to reduced fishing opportunities.
(v) The creation of revolving loan programs for the purpose of
implementing sustainable fishery projects.
(D) Improve coastal water quality.
(E) Allow for increased public access to, and enjoyment of, ocean
and coastal resources, consistent with sustainable, long-term
protection and conservation of those resources.
(F) Improve management, conservation, and protection of coastal
waters and ocean ecosystems.
(G) Provide monitoring and scientific data to improve state
efforts to protect and conserve ocean resources.
(H) Protect, conserve, and restore coastal waters and ocean
ecosystems, including any of the following:
(i) Acquisition, installation, and initiation of monitoring and
enforcement systems.
(ii) Acquisition from willing sellers of vessels, equipment,
licenses, harvest rights, permits, and other rights and property, to
reduce threats to ocean ecosystems and resources.
(I) Address coastal water contamination from biological pathogens,
including collaborative projects and activities to identify the
sources of pathogens and develop detection systems and treatment
methods.
(J) (i) Provide funding for adaptive management, planning,
coordination, monitoring, research, and other necessary activities to
minimize the adverse impacts of climate change on California's ocean
ecosystem, including, but not limited to, the effects of sea level
rise, changes in ocean productivity, and ocean acidification on
coastal and ocean habitat, wildlife, fisheries, chemistry, and other
key attributes of ocean ecosystems and to increase the state's
understanding of the ocean's role in carbon sequestration. Adaptive
management strategies, planning, research, monitoring, or other
activities shall be designed to improve the management of coastal and
ocean resources or aid the state to adapt to climate change impacts.
(ii) Information or activities developed under clause (i), to the
extent appropriate, shall provide guidance to the State Air Resources
Board for the adoption of early action measures for the elimination
or reduction of emissions from sources or categories of sources
pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
(Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health
and Safety Code).
(K) (i) Provide funding for the innovation and adoption of
sustainable commercial fishing methods for swordfish including deep
set buoy gear and other fishing methods with comparably low
environmental impacts. In providing this funding, the council may
authorize the purchase of all of the following:
(I) Deep set buoy gear for a person who holds an exempted fishing
permit as of January 1, 2016, issued by the National Marine Fisheries
Service to take swordfish in the fishery governed pursuant to the
Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan.
(II) Deep set buoy gear for the first 10 persons who exchange
their permits pursuant to Section 8584.2.
(ii) Develop marketing and business structures to support a high
and stable price for swordfish landed under a permit issued pursuant
to Article 16.5 (commencing with Section 8584) of Chapter 2 of Part 3
of Division 6 of the Fish and Game Code.
(c) Grants or loans may be made to a private entity pursuant to
this section only for projects or activities that further public
purposes consistent with Sections 35510, 35515, and 35617.
(d) Consistent with the purposes specified in Section 35515, and
in furtherance of the findings in Sections 7059 and 7060 of the Fish
and Game Code, the council, in authorizing grants or loans for
projects or expenditures pursuant to this section, shall promote
coordination of state programs and activities that protect and
conserve ocean resources to avoid redundancy and conflicts to ensure
that the state's programs and activities are complementary.
SEC. 10. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
