Consistent with subdivision (b) of Section 7072, each fishery management plan or plan amendment prepared by the department shall include a fishery research protocol that does all of the following:
(a)
Describe past and ongoing monitoring of the fishery.
(b)
Identify essential fishery information for the fishery, including, but not limited to, age and growth, minimum size at maturity, spawning season, age structure of the population, and, if essential fishery information is lacking, identify the additional information needed and the resources and time necessary to acquire the information.
(c)
Indicate the steps the department shall take to monitor the fishery and to obtain essential fishery information, including the data collection and research methodologies, on an ongoing basis.