CA Fish & Game Code Section 8276.4

(a)

The Ocean Protection Council shall make a grant, upon appropriation of funding by the Legislature, for the development and administration of a Dungeness crab task force. The membership of the Dungeness crab task force shall be comprised of all of the following:

(1)

Two members representing sport fishing interests.

(2)

Two members representing crab processing interests.

(3)

One member representing commercial passenger fishing vessel interests.

(4)

Two nonvoting members representing nongovernmental organization interests.

(5)

One nonvoting representative of Sea Grant.

(6)

Two nonvoting members representing the department.

(7)

Seventeen members representing commercial fishery interests, elected by licensed persons possessing valid Dungeness crab permits in their respective ports and production levels, as follows:

(A)

Four members from Crescent City.

(B)

One member from Trinidad.

(C)

Two members from Eureka.

(D)

Two members from Fort Bragg.

(E)

Two members from Bodega Bay.

(F)

Two members from San Francisco.

(G)

Two members from Half Moon Bay.

(H)

One member from ports south of Half Moon Bay.

(I)

One member who has a valid California nonresident crab permit.

(b)

For ports with more than one representative, elected members and their alternates shall represent both the upper and lower, and in some cases middle, production levels. Production levels shall be based on the average landing during the previous five years, of valid crab permitholders who landed a minimum of 25,000 pounds of crab during the same period.

(c)

The Dungeness crab task force shall do all of the following:

(1)

Review and evaluate the Dungeness crab management measures described in Section 8276.5, with initial recommendations to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, the department, and the commission, no later than January 15, 2015, and final recommendations to those entities no later than January 15, 2017.

(2)

Make recommendations by January 15, 2015, on all of the following: the need for a permanent Dungeness crab advisory committee, the economic impact of the program described in Section 8276.5 on permitholders of different tiers and the economies of different ports, the cost of the program to the department, including enforcement costs, the viability of a buyout program for the permitholders described in subparagraph (G) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 8276.5, refining sport and commercial Dungeness crab management, and the need for statutory changes to accomplish task force objectives.

(3)

In considering Dungeness crab management options, prioritize the review of pot limit restriction options, current and future sport and commercial fishery effort, season modifications, essential fishery information needs, and short- and long-term objectives for improved management.

(d)

The task force may establish subcommittees of specific user groups from the task force membership to focus on issues specific to sport fishing, commercial harvest, or crab processing. The subcommittees shall report their recommendations, if any, to the task force.

(e)

The Ocean Protection Council may include in a grant funding to cover department staffing costs, as well as travel costs for task force participants as specified in paragraph (6) of subdivision (a).

(f)

Except as otherwise provided in Section 8276.5, a recommendation shall be forwarded to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, the department, and the commission upon an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the task force members.

(g)

Eligibility to take crab in state waters and offshore for commercial purposes may be subject to restrictions, including, but not limited to, restrictions on the number of traps utilized by that person, if either of the following occurs:

(1)

A person holds a California Dungeness crab permit with California landings of less than 5,000 pounds between November 15, 2003, and July 15, 2008, inclusive, as reported in California landings receipts.

(2)

A person has purchased a Dungeness crab permit on or after July 15, 2008, from a permitholder whose California landings were less than 5,000 pounds between November 15, 2003, and July 15, 2008, inclusive, as reported in California landings receipts.

(h)

This section shall become inoperative on April 1, 2019, and, as of January 1, 2020, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.