SECTIONS 76600-76605 - California Statutes

FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE

SECTION 76600-76605

76600. The Legislature finds and declares that the provisions of
this chapter are enacted in the exercise of the power of this state
for the purposes of protecting and furthering the public health and
welfare.

76601. The Legislature further finds and declares that the salmon
fishery of this state is affected with a public interest, in that,
among other things:
(a) The harvesting, processing, manufacturing, and distributing of
salmon and salmon 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 thousands of its population, but which also
furnishes essential foods that are vital to the public health and
welfare.
(b) The development of the salmon fishery requires, in addition to
the protection and restoration of spawning and nursery habitat in
rivers, rearing programs designed to rebuild salmon populations, the
full utilization and efficient operation of mitigation fish
hatcheries, and existing regulations that assure adequate returns of
spawning salmon, an aggressive marketing program, and a program to
allow for the purchase, during years of low abundance, of the
allocation of fish provided to other salmon users in order to assure
that the commercial salmon fishery has the maximum access to healthy
salmon populations.
(c) The stabilization, maintenance, and expansion of the salmon
fishery of California, and of the state, nationwide, and foreign
markets for its products are necessary to assure the consuming public
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 salmon
fishery, and to maintain existing employment.
(d) The essentiality of salmon, low in fat and calories and
naturally rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, in 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, by the
dissemination of accurate and scientific information relative to the
healthful qualities of salmon and salmon 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 salmon
and salmon products of the highest standards of quality.

76602. The Legislature declares that the purposes of this chapter
are as follows:
(a) To enable the salmon fishery, with the aid of the state, to
develop, maintain, and expand the state, nationwide, and foreign
markets for salmon and salmon products harvested, processed,
manufactured, sold, or distributed in this state for human
consumption, and the use and consumption of salmon and salmon
products in those markets.
(b) To enable the salmon fishery to purchase, where there are
willing sellers, the allocation rights to harvest salmon, as they may
exist, of other salmon user groups to provide fishermen, and thereby
the salmon fishery, greater access to salmon stocks than otherwise
may have been provided pursuant to a conservation, management, or
allocation agreement.
(c) In aid, but not in limitation, of the purpose in subdivision
(a), to authorize and enable the director to formulate and
effectuate, directly or in cooperation with other agencies,
organizations, including the Oregon Salmon Commission, the West Coast
Fisheries Development Foundation, and the National Fish and Seafood
Promotion Council, and instrumentalities which are specified in this
chapter, sales stimulation and consumer, or other educational
programs designed to increase the use and consumption of salmon and
salmon products for human consumption.
(d) To provide funds for the administration and enforcement of
this chapter by mandatory fees to be collected in the manner which is
prescribed in this chapter.

76603. This chapter shall be liberally construed.

76604. If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof
to any person or circumstances is held invalid, that invalidity does
not affect other provisions or applications of the act which can be
given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to
this end the provisions of this act are severable.

76605. A violation of this chapter is a misdemeanor.