Section 6590 Of Article 8. Ocean Fishery Research From California Fish And Game Code >> Division 6. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 8.
6590
. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Substantial declines in various species of desirable fish that
are caught in southern California ocean waters have adversely
affected recreational and commercial fishing and their related
industries.
(b) Research and development of artificial propagation, rearing,
and stocking techniques and equipment have been sufficiently
developed. The purpose of this article is to determine if
hatchery-released fish can artificially enhance certain stocks of
various desirable species, through increased hatchery production of
fish and increased monitoring of fisheries to assess the contribution
of hatchery-released fish to that enhancement.
(c) Funding for research pertaining to enhancement and artificial
propagation, rearing, and stocking are most appropriately borne by a
special fund derived from user fees on recreational and commercial
fishermen who stand to directly benefit from the resurgence of
depressed marine fisheries.
(d) The department has continuing resource management,
administrative, and policy review responsibility in marine resources
issues.
(e) Volunteers from the recreational fishing community have
developed and operated grow-out facilities with private funding.
These volunteer activities greatly enhance the effectiveness of the
program and are fully compatible with the overall program objectives.
(f) As white sea bass hatchery production is established,
additional grow-out facilities will be required and coordination
between these facilities will be necessary. The ocean resources
enhancement advisory panel may encourage contracts to carry out
coordination activities and recommend to the director that this
coordination remain a high priority. Those coordination activities
may be funded with fees collected by the department pursuant to this
article.
(g) The use of federal matching funds, including sportfish
restoration account funds, shall be a high priority for use to match
state dollars for this program.