On Wednesday, April 8 – the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) met and discussed the items described below. We are limiting our review to marine issues impacting fishing and fisheries and does not touch on hunting or other non-fishing related items. If you are so interested, you can watch or listen to recordings of the meeting at http://www.cal-span.org/media.php?folder[]=CFG. For convenience, we will follow the revised Agenda for the April FGC meeting which is available at – http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings/2015/Apr/04080915agd.pdf. We previously published a preview of this meeting – which you can see here. In the interest of time and space, we will not repeat the information contained in the earlier meeting preview document.
Agenda Item 1 – Public Forum
Issues raised here may or may not result in future actions by the DFW. If something brought up here resonates with a Commissioner or Commissioners, they may task the DFW with looking deeper in the issue. Topics raised during the Public Comment period included:
- Started with Commissioners Baylis and Sutton talking about the Commission’s focus being on both consumptive and non-consumptive users and that being stewards of California’s fish and wildlife is of primary importance. A recent article in the S.F. Chronicle which highlighted this was mentioned; but we could not find such article after searching Google for it.
- Plastic debris from oyster farm operations in Tomales Bay. Commissioner Rogers expressed concerned about this and Commissioner Sutton highlighted the overlapping jurisdiction between the DFW, CCC, Feds, etc. Sustainable mariculture is a great thing so long as it doesn’t create a big plastic pollution problem in the Bay. Sounds like this will be referred to the Commission’s Marine Resource Committee.
- A number of speakers spoke to Steelhead sportfishing in Northern California.
Issues here involve current 150 cubic feet per second (CFS) flow rate regulations with a request to reduce that to 75 CFS on the Gualala and 100 CFS on the Navarro as the higher CFS rates may restrict fishing opportunity and how those flow rates may negatively impact adult populations 2-3 years after the fact. Other steelhead related comments include the inconvenience in having three different call-in numbers for statuses of the different rivers, some of the assumptions made by decision-makers don’t align with years of observational data gathered by fishermen, for example: tidally affected waters reduce numbers of fish going upstream, catch-and-release fisheries cause stress which hinders spawning, catch-and-release fisheries result in increased mortality to steelhead – very low mortalities associated with the use of flies and artificial lures (Or, Wa and British Columbia have catch-and-release fisheries which do not allow the use of live bait as that has higher levels of mortality in such fisheries).
Commissioner Sutton opined that the Commission (and by extension the DFW) needs to listen to the fishermen as their experiences and observations are something which can be learned from.
- Sardines and the impending closure of the directed commercial fishery.
- The high number of baby sea lion strandings and deaths.
- Abalone start time.
- Is there a management plan on sea lions and are there carrying capacity issues? The Commissioners reminded the speaker that the State has no jurisdiction over pinniped populations but would love to be able to address the issue.
- The Gualala River mouth opened earlier this week which allowed trapped steelhead to escape. Sea lions had migrated up to those areas (past the North Fork) to feed on the trapped steelhead and by removing fishermen (closing that area to fishermen) an unintended consequence was increased numbers of sea lions moving to those areas during daylight hours.
Agenda Item 4 – Marine Resources Committee
A brief overview of the Marine Resources Committee meeting held in Marina, Ca on March 4. Items discussed included Agency updates (Ocean Protection Council and CDFW); Update on Red Abalone Fishery Management Plan; Update on Spiny Lobster Fishery Management Plan and possible endorsement of proposed implementing regulations; Identify and discuss possible amendment to ocean sportfishing regulations for the 2016 season; Presentation by Ca Sportfishing League on enhancing participation in ocean sport fishing; Presentation by US FWS requesting consideration of special closures for seabird marine mammal protection along the central coast; Review of regulations for issuing experimental squid fishing permits under the California Code of Regulations; California’s fishing communities – challenges and opportunities; Updates on items previously before the Committee – Pacific Herring FMP, Fisheries Bycatch Workgroup and Other.
Agenda Item 5 – Update on timeline for Spiny Lobster FMP and rulemaking, and receive DFW’s recommended proposed regulations
The Department presented all of the consensus items which came out of the Lobster Advisory Committee (“LAC”) process and recommended the Commission accept those as presented. The LAC consensus items are available here – http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings/2015/Apr/Exhibits/5_3_Memo_DFW_Spiny_Lobster_03272015.pdf. The Department advised the Commission that they will not support the LAC recommendation restricting the use of mechanized pullers by the recreational sector; but are presenting it to as per the LAC. The adoption hearing is still scheduled for December of this year; but that is subject to change given that the courtesy draft FMP is still undergoing peer review. The Department laid out the current timeline as follows:
April 2015 – Receive DFW and Commission recommendations of regulatory options
Mid-May 2015 – Final reports submitted to DFW on Peer Review results
June 2015 – Presentation to Commission which provides an overview of the FMP, including harvest control rules. Based on post presentation discussion with the Commission, ascertain regulatory option to include in the Initial Statement of Reasons (required in the regulatory process)
August 2015 – This will be the notice hearing at the Commission whereby the DFW introduces the regulatory language and receives OK from the Commission to move forward with publishing the Regs
December 2015 – Discussion and possible adoption of the FMP and implementing regulations.
New regulations to be effective for the 2016-17 season.
Note – there is a Commission meeting in LA on Oct 7; but as that is near the opening of lobster season, lobster will not be agendized for that meeting.
The Commission received the package and will provide further guidance at the June meeting; but the discussion does not lead me to believe any of the above recommendations will be problematic.
Agenda Item 7 – Adoption of proposed changes to sportfishing fillet requirements for tunas and bad and possession limits for Pacific bluefin tuna for consistency with federal rules in 2015-16. (Sections 27.65 and 28.38, Title 14, CCR)
Back in February we wrote a post about this issue – click here. This is the adoption hearing effectuates the regulations proposed earlier. After the Department gave its presentation, the Commission approved – but made it abundantly clear that if they had any say in the matter they would have closed our Bluefin tuna fisheries (commercial and recreational). We can’t report any public comments are none were given.
As a reminder – new filet regulations, in effect south of Point Conception will require fillets of Bluefin, Yellowfin, Albacore and Skipjack to individually bagged, with the species name written on the bag, retaining all of the skin and in the six pieces pictured below – four loins aka quarters, collar with pectoral fins attached, and belly option with vent and pelvic fins attached.
The fillet regulations are designed to allow law enforcement to determine whether the fillets are from a bluefin tuna compared to any of the other covered species.
Agenda Item 8 – Adoption of proposed changes to Pacific halibut sportfishing regulations for consistency with federal rules in 2015. (Section 28.20, Title 14, CCR)
In addition to being granted an increase in the State’s quota (to 25,220 lbs) this fishing season – the State has agreed to in-season monitoring giving NMFS the power to close the fishery when the quota is expected to be met. Additionally, anglers will be limited to no more than 1 line and 2 hooks and authorizes use of a harpoon to assist in landing Pacific halibut.
The State, in conjunction with the PFMC, set the season for Pacific halibut is as follows: May 1 – May 15; June 1 – 15; July 1 – 25; Aug 1 – 15 with all of September and October being open. If the quota is met before the end of October, the fishery will be subject to in-season closures in accordance with NMFS policies and procedures. The Department shed some light on how they will be tracking landings as fishermen begin to catch Pacific halibut. The tracking program relies on sample data from the recreational fisheries which are then used to estimate (proxy estimate) of what the take is. Not to get all technical – but a correlation analysis was done using sampled fish and historic landing data over the past 6 or 7 years to try and estimate pounds landed. The results will be shared with NMFS and when it is determined the quota will be met, an appropriate fishery closure date will be announced.
The Department will make the closure notice available via press release from the DFW, on the Pacific halibut webpage on the DFW’s website at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/pacifichalibut.asp, on the DFW Recreational Groundfish Fishing Regulations Hotline at (831) 649-2801, and through the NMFS Halibut hotline at (800) 662-9825.
As expected, the Commission approved the regulations but not without urging the Department to continue to seek additional halibut opportunities for California fishermen.
Agenda Item 9 – Request for authorization to publish notice of intent to amend Dungeness crab and crab trap sportfishing regulations (Sections 29.80 and 29.85, Title 14, CCR)
In our preview, we predicted that “because this appears to have widespread support, we envision this will move forward as proposed.” We were wrong. This was contentious with good arguments and information from both sides. Impetus for the proposed regulations was a request from Coastside Fishing Club which sought to make size and bag limits uniform throughout the State. The Department added additional measures which are thought to support a more orderly fishery. Much was made over the fact that the Commission has no authority over the commercial aspect of the Dungeness fishery (that is managed by the Legislature which has delegated certain discrete components to the DFW); and at least one Commissioner wants to go to the Legislature and seek to have management of the commercial side given back to the Commission. Repeatedly mentioned was the frustration with the inconsistencies in the rules as the impact commercial and recreational fisheries.
The main issues brought up during public testimony were: (1) a request to allow CPFVs (sportboats) to set gear 18 hours before the season opener to promote safety as under current regulations they cant set their traps until midnight on the opener; (2) some CPFV operators oppose the 10 crab limit because the 6 crab limit works and by going to 10 they will be forced to buy more traps which take up more of the limited space on their vessels and by increasing the number of crabs which will make a limit, it will force them to run fewer trips as it will take longer to fill everyone’s limits; (3) reducing the size limit may have adverse impacts on the fishery’s sustainability in the future; (4) data poor in the sense that we really don’t know how many crabs the sport/recreational fleet takes in a given year; and (5) increasing the limit from 6 to 10 should be accompanied by an increase in the number of crab pots allowed on a CPFV.
After the presentation and public comments, the Dept withdrew its request to move forward with these regulations in order to complete additional scoping based on new and additional information presented during the meeting. The Commission tasked the Department with looking more closely at pre-soak setting, increasing fines for failures to return Dungeness crab CPFV logbooks as required, will reducing the size limit and/or increasing daily bag limit negatively impact the resource, the amount of crab taken in the recreational fishery compared to that taken by the Commercial aspect of the fishery and looking at changing the start time of the fishery from midnight to noon.
Agenda Item 10 – Request for authorization to publish notice of intent to amend commercial market squid light regulations and market squid logbooks (Section 149 and Appendix A, Title 14, CCR)
Based on public comments received prior to the meeting, the Department withdrew its request to move forward with the proposed regulations at this time. Instead they are going to go back and verify statements made by the commenter and determine if the regulations are called for at this time.
Agenda Item 11 – Receive Department summary of proposed changes to marine protected area regulations to be included in proposed rulemaking scheduled for notice in August
This was merely a scoping topic whereby the DFW seeks guidance from the Commission regarding it ideas to proposed changes to MPA regulations.
After the Department’s presentation Commissioner Sutton noted there are likely two ways MPA’s may be changed (1) as clean-up packages as done here; and (2) in line with the Commission’s commitment regarding adaptive management of MPAs – based on extensive monitoring and/or enforcement we may actually be involved in enlarging, combining, decreasing them in size or opening them up. Dr. Shuman clarified that in his view (as Marine Regional Manager) these proposals are an example of adaptive management – that “simple boundary changes” are not simple and not trivial by any stretch of the imagination.
Agenda Item 18 – Discussion of proposed changes to Central Valley river salmon sport fishing regulations (Subsections 7.50(b)(5), (b)(68) and (b)(156.5), Title 14 CCR)
This was originally scheduled as an Action item; but any action to be taken on this has been moved to the April 17 teleconference. The agenda for that call is available at – http://www.fgc.ca.gov/meetings/2015/Apr/041715agd.pdf. In addition to an emergency action request for Central Valley river salmon issues, that meeting will be finalizing recreational salmon regulations that were approved by the PFMC earlier in the week. Because this is a very important item involving a number of complex issues, we have decided to provide a more full report.
Information given during the Department’s presentation highlighted issues impacting another part of the Sacramento river. In the context of the drought, the winter run Chinook salmon (which is a state and federally endangered species) have experienced many problems. In December – the DFW in collaboration with NMFS and USFWS began to look at the data set for the 2014 brood year (offspring born in 2014) for the winter run Chinook. There are four races of Chinook Salmon in the central valley – winter run, spring run, fall run and late-fall run. The winter run move into the system in winter, remain in the system for up to five months.
They historically migrated by the Shasta Damn and up into the McCloud and Pit River systems where they held in cool water before spawning. These fish are now limited to the reach of the Sacramento river downstream, of the Keswick damn. Depending on the amount of water (and how cold that water is) which is released from Shasta this spawning reach can go all the way down to Deschutes Road (an additional 20+ miles). This year, due to drought and lack of cold water from Shasta, their habitat is limited to about 5.5 miles. Later in the meeting it was mentioned how historically small the snow pack is – 5% of what is normal and the lowest ever recorded.
Couple this with a 95% loss of the 2014 brood year, we had the Agencies taking emergency actions as directed by the Governor in the drought declaration and executive order to take extreme measures to protect winter run stock. As a result, the Agencies tripled their production at the Livingston Stone national fish hatchery, which is the conservation hatchery for winter run – so this year we had about 660,000 smolts that were held there.
Beginning in late March, direct evidence was received of incidental bycatch of adult winter run in a section of the Sacramento River which also happens to be the location of one of the most popular trout fisheries in the state. According to current regulations, there is zero take allowed of salmon from Deschutes Road Bridge to Keswick Damn; however we did document the incidental catch of winter run and concern was raised by all (state and federal managers). The position is that every single winter run this year is absolutely precious; as such we need to maximize the spawning effort in that reach of the river and we need to maximize the ability of the conservation hatchery to collect all mature adults as they come into the system to secure all of the eggs for the hatchery.
When presented with this data, and after careful analysis it was decided that recommending some very uncomfortable measures was warranted to protect these spawning adults. The stress induced by being incidentally caught in other fisheries (even if released) increases the likelihood that the adult females will be unable to provide viable eggs. The belief is that the spawning will be completed by late July at which point the question becomes can the Agencies, working with the water delivery operators, develop proper temperature controls to allow survival of the eggs and juveniles this year and not have a failure like we did last year. The model last year failed and the State Board has required the Department to work with the water operators to figure out what went wrong, what can we do different, what different tools do we need to deploy. Millions of dollars have been invested in additional monitoring equipment to assist in that process.
Extreme measures have been taken to protect winter run over the last 14 – 15 months – rescuing juveniles as the flows dropped, moving them back in the main stem of the river, and putting millions into habitat restoration projects in the head water areas to improve the viability of this population. While it’s a painful place for the DFW to come to the Commission under an emergency and ask you for an emergency temporary closure of this highly popular, economically valuable and viable fishery – there really are no other choices. “The ark is sailing on this fish.”
A public meeting was held in Redding on Tuesday night the 7th where almost 90 people attended. It was highly emotional and the Public presented some alternatives which will be brought to the Commission during the April 17 teleconference meeting. The DFW will likely come in with a single recommendation as discussed here. In anticipation of this meeting, the DFW was able to secure an additional teleconference location within Redding for the public to be able to provide comment.
Commission discussion –
Commissioner Sutton – one of the hardest things about fisheries management is having to recommend the right decision even when that is highly unpopular. He also referenced a document published by San Francisco Estuary and Watershed – that document can be accessed here – https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3vt5z15p. The document concludes that if current trends persist, most – if not all – Central Valley river salmon species will be extirpated (which is a fancy way of saying extinct). Maybe the Chinook in the Central Valley will become a thing of the past; but it should be as the result of something we did or didn’t do.
DFW – we are optimistic that we can use technology to help out; and let’s not forget something very similar was done last year on the American and Russian rivers. Fishermen are not the villains here; but they are part of the solution. The Department is also working with the PFMC to try and reduce impacts to winter run Chinook in the ocean fisheries as well – particularly looking at late fall ocean fisheries off California.
© 2015 West Coast Fisheries Consultants, LLC
All rights reserved
West Coast Fisheries Consultants, LLC's Blog 