State California FGC Sec 6900-6930 Generally SALMON, STEELHEAD TROUT, AND ANADROMOUS FISHERIES PROGRAM ACT (Fish) FISH AND GAME CODE SECTION 6900-6930 6900. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries Program Act. 6901. The Legislature, for purposes of this chapter, finds as follows: (a) According to the department, the natural production of salmon and steelhead trout in California has declined to approximately 1,000,000 adult chinook or king salmon, 100,000 coho or silver salmon, and 150,000 steelhead trout. (b) The naturally spawning salmon and steelhead trout resources of the state have declined dramatically within the past four decades, primarily as a result of lost stream habitat on many streams in the state. (c) Much of the loss of salmon and steelhead trout and anadromous fish in the state has occurred in the central valley. (d) Protection of, and an increase in, the naturally spawning salmon and steelhead trout resources of the state would provide a valuable public resource to the residents, a large statewide economic benefit, and would, in addition, provide employment opportunities not otherwise available to the citizens of this state, particularly in rural areas of present underemployment. (e) Proper salmon and steelhead trout resource management requires maintaining adequate levels of natural, as compared to hatchery, spawning and rearing. (f) Reliance upon hatchery production of salmon and steelhead trout in California is at or near the maximum percentage that it should occupy in the mix of natural and artificial hatchery production in the state. Hatchery production may be an appropriate means of protecting and increasing salmon and steelhead in specific situations; however, when both are feasible alternatives, preference shall be given to natural production. (g) The protection of, and increase in, the naturally spawning salmon and steelhead trout of the state must be accomplished primarily through the improvement of stream habitat. (h) Funds provided by the Legislature since 1978 to further the protection and increase of the fisheries of the state have been administered by the Department of Fish and Game in a successful program of contracts with local government and nonprofit agencies and private groups in ways that have attracted substantial citizen effort. (i) The department's contract program has demonstrated that California has a large and enthusiastic corps of citizens that are eager to further the restoration of the stream and fishery resources of this state and that are willing to provide significant amounts of time and labor to that purpose. (j) There is need for a comprehensive salmon, steelhead trout, and anadromous fisheries plan, program, and state government organization to guide the state's efforts to protect and increase the naturally spawning salmon, steelhead trout, and anadromous fishery resources of the state. 6902. The Legislature, for purposes of this chapter, declares as follows: (a) It is the policy of the state to significantly increase the natural production of salmon and steelhead trout by the end of this century. The department shall develop a plan and a program that strives to double the current natural production of salmon and steelhead trout resources. (b) It is the policy of the state to recognize and encourage the participation of the public in privately and publicly funded mitigation, restoration, and enhancement programs in order to protect and increase naturally spawning salmon and steelhead trout resources. (c) It is the policy of the state that existing natural salmon and steelhead trout habitat shall not be diminished further without offsetting the impacts of the lost habitat. 6903. It is the policy of the state and the department to encourage nonprofit salmon release and return operations subject to this code operated by, or on behalf of, licensed commercial salmon fishermen for the purpose of enhancing California's salmon populations and increasing the salmon harvest by commercial and recreational fishermen. The department shall, to the extent that funds and personnel are available, cooperate with fishing organizations in the siting and establishment of those operations to ensure the protection of natural spawning stocks of native salmon. The organizations conducting the operations may receive salmon eggs and juvenile salmon for the purposes of the operation, and, where appropriate, shall have priority to receive salmon eggs and juvenile salmon for those purposes after the needs of habitat mitigation efforts, and state hatcheries are met. 6903.5. The department shall encourage other nonprofit hatcheries and nonprofit artificial propagation operations, operated by, or on behalf of, licensed fishermen, for the purpose of rebuilding or enhancing marine fish populations, including, but not limited to, those for Dungeness crab, sea urchin, and California halibut, consistent with the protection of these species in the wild, in order to provide sustainable marine fish populations for harvest by commercial and recreational fishermen. The department shall, to the extent funds and personnel are available, cooperate with these nonprofit hatcheries and nonprofit artificial propagation operations in determining the feasibility, siting, and establishment of those activities and sharing technical information to ensure the protection of the marine environment. 6910. Unless the context clearly requires a different meaning, the definitions in this article govern the construction of this chapter. 6911. "Production" means the survival of fish to adulthood as measured by the abundance of the recreational and commercial catch together with the return of fish to the state's spawning streams. 6912. "Program" means the program for protecting and increasing the naturally spawning salmon and steelhead trout of the state provided for in Article 3 (commencing with Section 6920). 6920. (a) The department shall, with the advice of the Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead Trout and the Commercial Salmon Trollers Advisory Committee, prepare and maintain a detailed and comprehensive program for the protection and increase of salmon, steelhead trout, and anadromous fisheries. (b) The department shall consult with every public agency whose policies or decisions may affect the goals of this program to determine if there are feasible means for those public agencies to help the department achieve the goals of this program. 6921. The program shall identify the measures the department will carry out to achieve the policies set forth in Section 6902. 6922. The program shall include, but is not limited to, all of the following elements: (a) Identification of streams where the natural production of salmon and steelhead trout can be increased primarily through the improvement of stream and streambank conditions without effect on land ownership, land use practices, or changes in streamflow operations. (b) Identification of streams where the natural production of salmon and steelhead trout can be increased only through the improvement of land use practices or changes in streamflow operations. (c) Identification of streams where the protection of, and increase in, salmon and steelhead trout resources require, as a result of significant prior loss of stream habitat, the construction of artificial propagation facilities. (d) A program element for evaluating the effectiveness of the program. (e) Recommendations for an organizational structure, staffing, budgeting, long-term sources of funding, changes in state statutes and regulations and federal and local government policy and such other administrative and legislative actions as the department finds to be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this chapter. (f) Identification of measures to protect and increase the production of other anadromous fisheries consistent with policies set forth in Section 6902. (g) Identification of alternatives to, or mitigation of, manmade factors which cause the loss of juvenile and adult fish in California' s stream system. 6923. Measures which are the responsibility of other agencies or persons, such as the repair or replacement of dysfunctional fish screens, are not eligible for funding under the program. 6924. The department shall determine the initial elements of the program and transmit a report describing those elements to the Legislature and the Advisory Committee on Salmon and Steelhead Trout within six months of the effective date of this chapter. 6930. (a) Subject to the availability of funds for the purposes of this section, the department shall contract with the University of California to conduct a study of the effects that reduced waterflows at the mouths and upstream estuaries of rivers selected under subdivision (b) would have on existing salmon and steelhead populations and on existing or prospective salmon and steelhead population restoration or reintroduction programs. (b) The department shall select the rivers to be included in the study and shall limit its selection to rivers that are within the combined river systems described in paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 1215.5 of the Water Code, and that are the subject of an application that has been filed with the State Water Resources Control Board to appropriate water in an amount equal to more than three cubic feet per second or more than 500 acre feet per annum of storage, involving the delivery of water by means other than a pipeline, natural watercourse, well, or aqueduct to any place of use that is outside of the protected area described in paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 1215.5 of the Water Code. (c) The findings of the study conducted under this section shall be a factor in any decision of the State Water Resources Control Board to approve or deny an application to appropriate water from any river selected under this section. If the application involves the delivery of water, by means other than a pipeline, natural watercourse, well, or aqueduct, to any place of use that is outside of the protected area described in paragraph (7) of subdivision (a) of Section 1215.5 of the Water Code, the board may not approve that application until after the study has been completed. (d) Any study conducted pursuant to this section shall conclude within five years of the start of that study. (e) This section applies to the University of California only if the Regents of the University of California, by resolution, make it applicable to the university.