Section 78426 Of Article 2. General Provisions From California Food And Agricultural Code >> Division 22. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 23. >> Article 2.
78426
. The Legislature further finds and declares that the
fisheries of this state are affected with a public interest, in that,
among other things:
(a) The harvesting, processing, manufacturing, and distributing of
fishery products constitute a paramount industry of this state,
which not only provides substantial and required revenues for the
state and its political subdivisions and employment and a means of
livelihood for many residents, but which also furnishes essential
foods that are vital to the public health and welfare.
(b) It is through commercial fishermen and receivers that more
than 90 percent of this state's citizens have access to these
healthful foods which are resources that belong to all of the
residents of the state and country.
(c) The stabilization, maintenance, and expansion of the
California commercial fisheries, and of the state, nationwide, and
foreign markets for its products are necessary to ensure the
consuming public access to, and an adequate supply of foods which are
indispensable in, a proper human diet, to protect, for the state and
its political subdivisions, a necessary source of tax revenue, to
provide and maintain an adequate standard of living for a segment of
the population of this state, to maintain proper wage scales for
those engaged in the California commercial fisheries, and to maintain
existing employment.
(d) The essentiality of fish, low in fat and calories, to proper
human nutrition and to the maintenance of a high level of public
health is such as to require that the public be made thoroughly aware
thereof, and be protected against misrepresentation and deception,
through the dissemination of accurate and scientific information
relative to the healthful qualities of fishery and seafood products,
their various classifications and the food values and industrial and
medicinal uses thereof, the methods, care, and precautions necessary
to their proper harvesting, processing, manufacturing, and
distributing, and the necessary costs and expenses thereof, and the
necessity and desirability on the part of the public of using and
consuming fishery products of the highest standards of quality.