SECTIONS 8550-8559 - California Statutes

FISH AND GAME CODE

SECTION 8550-8559

8550. Herring may be taken for commercial purposes only under a
permit, subject to regulations adopted by the commission. The
commission may, whenever necessary to prevent overutilization, to
ensure efficient and economic operation of the fishery, or to
otherwise carry out this article, limit the total number of permits
that are issued and the amount of herring that may be taken under the
permits.
The commission, in limiting the total number of permits, shall
take into consideration any restriction of the fishing area and the
safety of others who, for purposes other than fishing, use the waters
from which herring are taken.

8550.5. (a) A herring net permit granting the privilege to take
herring with nets for commercial purposes shall be issued to licensed
commercial fishermen, subject to regulations adopted under Section
8550, as follows:
(1) To any resident of this state to use gill nets, upon payment
of a fee of two hundred sixty-five dollars ($265).
(2) To any nonresident to use gill nets, upon payment of a fee of
one thousand dollars ($1,000).
(b) The commission shall not require a permit for a person to be a
crewmember on a vessel taking herring pursuant to this article.

8552. (a) It is unlawful to take herring for roe on a vessel
unless the operator holds a herring permit issued by the department
pursuant to commission regulations. The permit may be transferred
pursuant to Sections 8552.2 and 8552.6.
(b) No person may be issued more than one herring permit, and the
department shall not issue a herring permit to more than one person
except as provided in Section 8552.6.
(c) Herring permits shall only be issued to and shall be held only
by a natural person.
(d) Herring permits shall not be used as any form of security for
any purpose, including, but not limited to, financial or performance
obligations.
(e) The permittee shall be on board the vessel at all times during
herring fishing operations, subject only to exceptions provided for
in this code and regulations adopted under this code.

8552.1. The commission, in consultation with the department and
representatives of the commercial roe herring fishery, and after
holding at least one public hearing, may adjust the fees charged for
permits; including fees for the issuance or transfer of permits, to a
level that will not discourage the transfer of permits or limit
entry into the fishery, and that will ensure sufficient funds to
cover reasonable department costs associated with the management of
the fishery, including research and enforcement costs.

8552.2. Notwithstanding Section 1052, a herring permit may be
transferred from a herring permitholder to a nonpermitholder having a
minimum of 20 or more herring fishery points, as follows: The
permitholder shall mail, by certified or registered mail, to the
department and every individual listed on the department's list of
maximum 20 or more point herring fishery participants, his or her
notice of intention to transfer his or her herring permit, which
notice shall specify the gear type to be used under the herring
permit; the name, address, and telephone number of the transferor and
proposed transferee; and the amount of consideration, if any, sought
by the transferor. Sixty days after mailing the notice, the
transferor may transfer the permit to any person having 20 or more
experience points without the necessity for giving further notice if
the transfer occurs within six months of the date the original notice
was given. Transfers after that six-month period shall require
another 60-day notice of intention to be given. No person may hold
more than one herring permit. A true copy of the notice of intention
to transfer a permit shall be filed with the department by the
transferor under penalty of perjury and shall be available for public
review.

8552.3. The commission may, in consultation with representatives of
the commercial herring roe fishery, and after holding at least one
public hearing, adopt regulations intended to facilitate the transfer
of herring permits, including, but not limited to, regulations that
would do the following:
(a) Allow an individual to own a single permit for each of the
different herring gillnet platoons in San Francisco Bay.
(b) Eliminate the point system for qualifying for a herring
permit.
(c) Allow a herring permit to be passed from a parent to child, or
between husband and wife.

8552.4. Herring permits that are revoked or not renewed may be
offered by the department for a drawing to persons having 20 or more
experience points in the fishery on the first Friday of August of
each year.

8552.5. The commission shall revoke any herring permit if the
holder of the herring permit was convicted of failing to report
herring landings or underreported herring landings or failed to
correctly file with the department the offer or the acceptance for a
permit transferred pursuant to Section 8552.2.

8552.6. (a) Notwithstanding Section 8552, a herring permit may be
issued to two individuals if one of the following criteria is met:
(1) The individuals are married to each other and file with the
department a certified copy of their certificate of marriage and a
declaration under penalty of perjury, or a court order, stating that
the permit is community property.
(2) The individuals meet both of the following requirements:
(A) They are both engaged in the herring roe fishery either by
fishing aboard the vessel or by personally participating in the
management, administration, and operation of the partnership's
herring fishing business.
(B) There is a partnership constituting equal, 50 percent,
ownership in a herring fishery operation, including a vessel or
equipment, and that partnership is demonstrated by any two of the
following:
(i) A copy of a federal partnership tax return.
(ii) A written partnership agreement.
(iii) Joint ownership of a fishing vessel used in the herring
fishery as demonstrated on federal vessel license documents.
(b) For purposes of this section, a herring permit does not
constitute a herring fishing operation. A herring permit may be
transferred to one of the partners to be held thereafter in that
partner's name only if that partner has not less than 10 points
computed pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section
8552.8 and there has been a death or retirement of the other partner,
a dissolution of partnership, or the partnership is dissolved by a
dissolution of marriage or decree of legal separation. A transfer
under this section shall be authorized only if proof that the
partnership has existed for three or more consecutive years is
furnished to the department or a certified copy of a certificate of
marriage is on file with the department and the permit is community
property as provided in subdivision (a). The transferor of a permit
shall not, by reason of the transfer, become ineligible to
participate further in the herring fishery or to purchase another
permit.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), in the event of the death of
one of the partners holding a herring permit pursuant to this
section, where the partnership existed for longer than six months but
less than three years and the surviving partner does not have the
minimum points pursuant to subdivision (b) to qualify for a permit
transfer, the permit may be transferred on an interim basis for a
period of not more than 10 years to the surviving partner if an
application is submitted to the department within one year of the
deceased partner's death and the surviving partner participates in
the fishery for the purpose of achieving the minimum number of points
to be eligible for a permit transfer pursuant to Section 8552.2. The
interim permit shall enable the surviving partner to participate in
the herring fishery. At the end of the interim permit period, the
surviving partner, upon application to the department, may be issued
the permit if he or she has participated in the fishery and gained
the minimum number of experience points for a permit.

8552.7. The department shall reissue a herring permit which has
been transferred pursuant to Section 8552.2 or 8552.6 upon payment of
a transfer fee by the transferee of the permit. Before April 1,
1997, the transfer fee is two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500),
and, on and after April 1, 1997, the transfer fee is five thousand
dollars ($5,000). The fees shall be deposited in the Fish and Game
Preservation Fund and shall be expended for research and management
activities to maintain and enhance herring resources pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 8052.

8552.8. (a) For purposes of this article, the experience points for
a person engaged in the herring roe fishery shall be based on the
number of years holding a commercial fishing license and the number
of years having served as a crewmember in the herring roe fishery,
and determined by the sum of both of the following:
(1) One point for each year in the previous 12 years (prior to the
current license year) that the person has held a commercial fishing
license issued pursuant to Section 7852, not to exceed a maximum of
10 points.
(2) Five points for one year of service as a paid crewmember in
the herring roe fishery, as determined pursuant to Section 8559,
three points for a second year of service as a paid crewmember, and
two points for a third year as a paid crewmember, beginning with the
1978-79 herring fishing season, not to exceed a maximum of 10 points.
(b) The department shall maintain a list of all individuals
possessing the maximum of 20 experience points and of all those
persons holding two points or more, grouped in a list by number of
points. The list shall be maintained annually and shall be available
from the department to all pointholders and to all herring
permittees. All pointholders are responsible for providing the
department with their current address and for verifying points
credited to them by the department.
(c) A herring permittee may use the department's list and rely
upon that list in making offers for transfer of his or her permit
until the date of the annual distribution of the new list. On and
after the date of the annual revision of the list, the permittee
shall use the new list.
(d) The point provisions in this section are for purposes of sale
of a permit or transfer to a partner of a coowned permit.

8553. The commission may make and enforce such regulations as may
be necessary or convenient for carrying out any power, authority, or
jurisdiction conferred under this article.

8554. The commission, in adopting regulations for the commercial
herring fishery, shall provide for the temporary substitution of a
permittee to take herring, if the permittee is ill or injured, by a
crewmember aboard the vessel operated by the permittee. The
commission may require that proof of the illness or injury be
substantiated to the satisfaction of the department.

8555. The director shall periodically meet and confer with
representatives of the commercial herring roe fishery to review
regulations and policies of the commission and the department
concerning that fishery and to receive recommendations on the
regulation and management of that fishery. In particular, those
representatives and their legal counsel may recommend to the
department, for recommendation to the commission for adoption by the
commission as regulations, requirements for the payment of civil
damages that may be imposed in lieu of revoking or suspending a
permit issued pursuant to this article or for violations of
regulations adopted by the commission pertaining to the herring roe
fishery.

8556. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission
shall determine, by regulation, if drift or set gill nets may be used
to take herring for commercial purposes. The commission may also
determine, by regulation, the size of the meshes of the material used
to make such gill nets.

8557. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission
shall determine if round haul nets may be used to take herring in
Districts 12 and 13 and the conditions under which those nets may be
used.

8558. (a) There is established a herring research and management
account within the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. The funds in the
account shall be expended for the purpose of supporting, in
consultation with the herring industry pursuant to Section 8555,
department evaluations of, and research on, herring populations in
San Francisco Bay and those evaluations and research that may be
required for Tomales Bay, Humboldt Bay, and Crescent City and
assisting in enforcement of herring regulations. The evaluations and
research shall be for the purpose of (1) determining the annual
herring spawning biomass, (2) determining the condition of the
herring resource, which may include its habitat, and (3) assisting
the commission and the department in the adoption of regulations to
ensure a sustainable herring roe fishery. An amount, not to exceed 15
percent of the total funds in the account, may be used for
educational purposes regarding herring, herring habitat, and the
herring roe fishery.
(b) The funds in the account shall consist of the funds deposited
pursuant to Sections 8558.1, 8558.2, and 8558.3, and the funds
derived from herring landing taxes allocated pursuant to subdivision
(a) of Section 8052.
(c) The department shall maintain internal accountability
necessary to ensure that all restrictions on the expenditure of the
funds in the account are met.

8558.1. (a) No person shall purchase or renew any permit to take
herring for commercial purposes in San Francisco Bay without first
obtaining from the department an annual herring stamp. The fee for
the stamp shall be one hundred dollars ($100). The revenue from the
fee for the herring stamps shall be deposited into the herring
research and management account established pursuant to Section 8558.
(b) This section shall become operative on April 1, 1997.

8558.2. The amount of the difference between fees for nonresidents
and resident fees, collected pursuant to Section 8550.5, shall be
deposited into the herring research and management account
established pursuant to Section 8558, and all fees for San Francisco
Bay herring permit transfers, collected pursuant to Section 8552.7,
shall also be deposited into the herring research and management
account.

8558.3. One-half of all royalties collected by the department from
the roe-on-kelp fishery collected pursuant to paragraph (2) of
subdivision (f) of Section 164 of Title 14 of the California Code of
Regulations shall be deposited into the herring research and
management account established pursuant to Section 8558.

8559. The commission, in determining experience requirements for
new entrants into the herring fishery after January 1, 1987, shall
require that any person seeking a permit to operate a vessel to take
herring and claiming crew experience shall demonstrate, to the
satisfaction of the department, proof of payment as a crewmember in
the herring fishery based on tax records or copies of canceled checks
offered and accepted as payment for service on a crew in the
California herring roe fishery.