Section 2762 Of Chapter 8. Fisheries Restoration From California Fish And Game Code >> Division 3. >> Chapter 8.
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. (a) The Fisheries Restoration Account is hereby created in
the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. The moneys in the Fisheries
Restoration Account are hereby appropriated to the department for
expenditure in fiscal years 1991-92 to 1993-94, inclusive, pursuant
to subdivision (b).
(b) The moneys in the Fisheries Restoration Account may be
expended for the construction, operation, and administration of
projects designated in the plan developed by the department in
accordance with the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries
Program Act (Ch. 8 (commencing with Sec. 6900), Pt. 1, Div. 6), and
projects designed to restore and maintain fishery resources and their
habitat that have been damaged by past water diversions and projects
and other development activities. Expenditures shall not be
authorized for a project to be funded under this subdivision before a
date which is 30 days after the department has furnished a copy of
the proposal for the project to be funded, together with supporting
descriptions, to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture and
to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. These projects shall have
as their primary objective the restoration of fishery resources
identified in the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries
Program Act. Projects may include, but shall not be limited to,
watershed assessments, fisheries restoration planning, acquisition of
lands, restoration of habitat, restoration or creation of spawning
areas, construction of fish screens or fish ladders, stream
rehabilitation, and installation of pollution control facilities.
Projects for restoration or creation of spawning areas shall utilize
natural spawning rather than hatcheries to the extent possible.
Under no circumstances shall any water project be absolved under
this subdivision of any mitigation requirements which are placed upon
it under existing law.
No land shall be acquired pursuant to this chapter by eminent
domain proceedings.
(c) Priority for funding shall be given to projects that employ
fishermen, fish processing workers, and others who are unemployed or
underemployed due to the elimination of a commercial fishing season
as a result of restrictions imposed by federal regulations. This
priority shall remain in effect only as long as those restrictions
are in force.
(d) Expenditures shall not be authorized for multiyear projects
funded under subdivision (b) before a date which is 30 days after the
department has submitted an annual progress report on the project
and a copy of the work schedule for subsequent year funding of the
project to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture and to
the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
(e) The department shall conduct a preproject and postproject
evaluation on each project recommended in the plan and program
developed by the department in accordance with the Salmon, Steelhead
Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries Program Act for which money has been
appropriated from the Fisheries Restoration Account.
(f) The department may expend not more than 5 percent of the funds
annually appropriated from the Fisheries Restoration Account for the
administration of projects.
(g) The department may contract for services for the purpose of
conducting a preproject and postproject evaluation or for the
administration of projects.
(h) The department shall, during the last fiscal year of funding,
conduct a review of all previous and ongoing projects to determine if
the elements of the plan and program developed by the department
pursuant to the Salmon, Steelhead Trout, and Anadromous Fisheries
Program Act are being met, including the goal of doubling the 1988
population of salmon and steelhead trout, as declared in Section
6902.