SECTIONS 15500-15516 - California Statutes

FISH AND GAME CODE

SECTION 15500-15516

15500. Upon the recommendation of the department and after
consultation with the Aquaculture Disease Committee created pursuant
to this chapter, the commission shall compile a list of diseases and
parasites and the aquatic plants and animals they are known to infect
or parasitize. All government activities relating to aquaculture
disease detection, control, and eradication that do not affect human
health and safety are the responsibility of the department.

15501. The department may enter, under an inspection warrant issued
pursuant to Title 5 (commencing with Section 1822.50) of Part 3 of
the Code of Civil Procedure, at any time, any car, warehouse, depot,
ship, or growing area where any aquatic plants or animals are held or
stored, for the purpose of making an examination to ascertain
whether the aquatic plants or animals are infected, diseased, or
parasitized.

15502. The director, in consultation with the Aquaculture Industry
Advisory Committee and the Interagency Committee for Aquaculture
Development, shall appoint an 11-member Aquaculture Disease Committee
consisting of at least six industry producers selected to represent
geographic, specie, and other diverse aspects of the industry; two to
represent the department; one to represent the Department of Food
and Agriculture; an academic scientist who is an expert in aquatic
diseases; and one representative of the University of California
Cooperative Extension. Members of the committee shall serve without
compensation, but shall be paid their necessary expenses.

15503. The Aquaculture Disease Committee may recommend regulations
to the commission designed to safeguard wild and cultured organisms
from the list of harmful organisms compiled pursuant to Section
15500.

15504. Regulations recommended under Section 15503 and adopted by
the commission may include all of the following:
(a) Routine monitoring procedures.
(b) Standardized diagnostic procedures.
(c) A requirement for the confirmation of the diagnosis by the
state through at least one other independent and qualified
laboratory.
(d) Criteria for ordering quarantine, condemnation, or
destruction.
(e) A stated maximum time period between diagnosis and
destruction.
(f) Methods to be employed in animal destruction and facility
cleanup.
(g) Procedures for determining fair and rapid compensation.
(h) Any other related procedures that the commission may determine
are necessary.

15505. If any of the diseases or parasites listed pursuant to
Section 15500 is found to exist which the director, in consultation
with the Aquaculture Disease Committee and consistent with the
regulations adopted under Section 15504, deems to be detrimental to
the aquaculture industry or to wild stocks of aquatic plants and
animals, the director may do any of the following:
(a) Establish the area to be quarantined and list the aquatic
plants and animals affected by it.
(b) Post notices describing, as nearly as possible, the boundaries
of an area within which specific disease or parasite infestations
are found. Notices posted pursuant to this subdivision shall be
published once a week for four successive weeks in a newspaper of
general circulation in the county in which the infected area is
located. If there is no newspaper of general circulation in that
county, then the notice shall be published in a newspaper of general
circulation published in an adjoining county.
(c) Hold and impound diseased or parasitized plants and animals.
(d) Forbid, prevent, or restrict the movement of all plants and
animals subject to the disease or parasite from or into the area, or
from place to place within it, during the existence of the
quarantine.
(e) Order the destruction and disposal of diseased or parasitized
plants and animals consistent with Section 15504.

15506. Except for those diseases in the list compiled pursuant to
Section 15500, infected plants or animals shall not be quarantined or
destroyed, unless the director, in consultation with the Aquaculture
Disease Committee, finds that an outbreak of aquatic disease among
privately cultured plants or animals presents a threat to the
aquaculture industry or to fish life or plant life.

15507. If the director, in consultation with the Aquaculture
Disease Committee, finds that a disease is present in a nearby
government operated facility or in nearby wild stocks, infected
plants or animals in a private aquaculture facility shall not be
quarantined or destroyed unless similar action is taken with respect
to the government facility and wild stocks.

15508. Reports of those diseases and parasites compiled pursuant to
Section 15500 shall be immediately forwarded by the director to the
Aquaculture Disease Committee and shall be promptly investigated by
the department.

15509. No person may move, or allow to be moved, any of the aquatic
plants or animals which are subject to a quarantine established
pursuant to Section 15505 across the quarantine line which is
established, unless the person has first obtained a permit from the
director authorizing the movement.
The director may issue a permit after inspection, if the aquatic
plants or animals, premises, transportation vehicles, and equipment
which are subject to the quarantine established pursuant to Section
15505 are properly cleaned and disinfected.

15510. If the director determines that any disease designated
pursuant to Section 15500 exists among domestic aquatic plants and
animals, or that aquatic plants and animals have been exposed, or may
have been exposed, to the disease, or to the vectors of the disease,
in any other state or territory in the United States or in any
foreign country, and the importation of aquatic plants or animals
from the state, territory, or foreign country may transmit, carry, or
disseminate the disease to domestic plants and animals within this
state, the director shall notify the commission which may, after
consulting the State Department of Health Services and the Department
of Food and Agriculture, issue a regulation restricting or
prohibiting the importation of the diseased or infected aquatic
plants or animals into this state from any other state, territory, or
foreign country.

15512. (a) If aquatic plants or animals are destroyed pursuant to
subdivision (e) of Section 15505, the owner shall be promptly paid
from the General Fund an amount equal to 75 percent of the
replacement value of the plants or animals, less the value determined
by the department of any replacement stock provided by the
department under subdivision (b) if the claim is submitted pursuant
to Section 15513. If the replacement value is not settled between the
owner and the department, the replacement value shall be determined
by an appraiser appointed by the director and an appraiser appointed
by the owner. Appraiser's fees shall be paid by the appointing party.
Disputes between these two appraisers shall be submitted to
arbitration under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American
Arbitration Association.
(b) If the department provides replacement stock to an
aquaculturist whose plants or animals are destroyed pursuant to
subdivision (e) of Section 15505, the amount to be paid to the
aquaculturist pursuant to this section shall be reduced by the value
of the replacement stock, as determined by the department.
(c) The result of the arbitration or the amount settled between
the owner and the department, reduced by the value determined by the
department of any replacement stock provided under subdivision (b),
may be submitted as a claim by the owner to the California Victim
Compensation and Government Claims Board pursuant to Section 15513.

15513. Claims against the department arising under this chapter may
be submitted pursuant to Section 905.2 of the Government Code.

15514. No claim arising under this chapter shall be paid where the
director, in consultation with the Aquaculture Disease Committee,
finds that the claimant's management practices were negligent or in
violation of law, and that the negligence or violation was the
proximate cause of the disease or infection prompting the order of
destruction or finds the claimant willfully violated any provision of
Section 15505.

15516. The owner of an aquaculture product who does not diligently
pursue the eradication of a disease from its facility when ordered to
do so by the director shall be responsible for paying to the
director the full costs of the department for all disease eradication
efforts conducted by the department to eradicate the disease.
Payment of the costs under this section shall not excuse compliance
with the provisions of law, regulations of the commission, and orders
of the director, nor be a defense in any criminal or civil
proceedings.