SECTIONS 1725-1728 - California Statutes

FISH AND GAME CODE

SECTION 1725-1728

1725. This act shall be known as the Trout and Steelhead
Conservation and Management Planning Act of 1979.

1726. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that it is the
policy of the state to do all of the following:
(a) Establish and maintain wild trout stocks in suitable waters of
the state that are readily accessible to the general public as well
as in those waters in remote areas.
(b) Establish angling regulations designed to maintain the wild
trout fishery in those waters by natural reproduction.
(c) Discourage artificial planting of hatchery-raised hybrid and
nonnative fish species in wild trout waters or in other areas that
would adversely affect native aquatic species.

1726.4. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that the
department, in administering its existing wild trout program, shall
conduct a biological and physical inventory of all California trout
streams and lakes to determine the most suitable angling regulations
for each stream or lake. The department shall determine for each
stream or lake whether it should be managed as a wild trout fishery,
or whether its management should involve the planting of native trout
species to supplement wild trout populations. In making that
inventory, the department shall give priority to those streams and
lakes where public use is heaviest, which have the highest biological
potential for producing sizeable wild trout, which are inhabited by
rare species, or where the quality of the fishery is threatened or
endangered. Biological and physical inventories prepared for each
stream, stream system, or lake shall include an assessment of the
resource status, threats to the continued well-being of the fishery
resource, the potential for fishery resource development, and
recommendations, including necessary changes in the allowed take of
trout, for the development of each stream or lake to its full
capacity as a fishery.
(b) This section does not provide any public entity or private
party with any new or additional authority to affect the management
of, or access to, any private land without the written consent of the
owner. Privately owned lakes and ponds not open to the use of the
general public shall be subject to the provisions of this section
only with the written consent of the owner. This chapter shall not be
construed as authorizing or requiring special treatment of adjacent
land areas or requiring land use restrictions. It is the intent of
the Legislature that this chapter should not diminish the existing
authority of the department, nor should it interfere with the
department's existing fisheries management planning process.

1726.5. The Legislature further finds and declares that activities
and programs mandated by this chapter are a continuation and
perpetuation of the department's existing wild trout program and
other programs, and as such they shall be funded from existing
budgetary resources.

1727. (a) In order to provide for a diversity of available angling
experiences throughout the state, it is the intent of the Legislature
that the commission maintain the existing wild trout program, and as
part of the program, develop additional wild trout waters in the
more than 20,000 miles of trout streams and approximately 5,000 lakes
containing trout in California.
(b) The department shall prepare a list of no less than 25 miles
of stream or stream segments and at least one lake that it deems
suitable for designation as wild trout waters. The department shall
submit this list to the commission for its consideration at the
regular October commission meeting.
(c) The commission may remove any stream or lake that it has
designated as a wild trout fishery from the program at any time. If
any of those waters are removed from the program, an equivalent
amount of stream mileage or an equivalent size lake shall be added to
the wild trout program.
(d) The commission shall in January of each year submit a report
to the Legislature regarding progress in implementing this chapter.
In that report, the commission shall state its reasons why any stream
or lake listed by the department as suitable for consideration as a
wild trout water was or was not included in the program. The
commission shall also state its reasons for removing and replacing
any waters within the program.
(e) The department shall prepare and complete management plans for
all wild trout waters not more than three years following their
initial designation by the commission, and to update the management
plan every five years following completion of the initial management
plan.

1728. For purposes of this chapter, "trout" includes steelhead
trout.