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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.