SECTIONS 35600-35625 - California Statutes

PUBLIC RESOURCES CODE

SECTION 35600-35625

35600. (a) The Ocean Protection Council is established in state
government. The council consists of the Secretary of the Resources
Agency, the Secretary for Environmental Protection, the Chair of the
State Lands Commission, and two members of the public appointed by
the Governor.
(b) The two public members shall each serve a term of four years,
and may each be reappointed to one additional term. The public
members of the board shall be appointed on the basis of their
educational and professional qualifications and their general
knowledge of, interest in, and experience in the protection and
conservation of coastal waters and ocean ecosystems. One of the
public members shall have a scientific professional background and
experience in coastal and ocean ecosystems.
(c) Except as provided in this section, members of the council
shall serve without compensation. A member shall be reimbursed for
actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of his or
her duties, and in addition shall be compensated at one hundred
dollars ($100) for each day during which the member is engaged in the
performance of official duties of the council. Payment for actual
and necessary expenses shall be paid only to the extent that those
expenses are not provided or payable by another public agency. The
total number of days for which a member shall be compensated may not
exceed 25 days in any one fiscal year.

35605. At the council's first meeting in a calendar year, the
council shall elect a chair from among its voting members.

35610. One Member of the Senate, appointed by the Senate Committee
on Rules, and one Member of the Assembly, appointed by the Speaker of
the Assembly, shall meet with the council as nonvoting, ex officio
members.

35612. (a) The council's meetings shall be open to the public.
(b) The council may sponsor conferences, symposia, and other
public forums, to seek a broad range of public advice when
establishing priorities for ocean resource protection, enhancement,
and restoration.

35615. The council shall do all of the following:
(a) (1) Coordinate activities of state agencies that are related
to the protection and conservation of coastal waters and ocean
ecosystems to improve the effectiveness of state efforts to protect
ocean resources within existing fiscal limitations, consistent with
Sections 35510 and 35515.
(2) Establish policies to coordinate the collection, evaluation,
and sharing of scientific data related to coastal and ocean resources
among agencies.
(3) (A) Establish a science advisory team of distinguished
scientists to assist the council in meeting the purposes of this
division. At the request of the council, the science advisory team
may convene to identify, develop, and prioritize subjects and
questions for research or investigation, and review and evaluate
results of research or investigations to provide information for the
council's activities.
(B) The science advisory team shall include scientists from a
range of disciplines that are a part of the council's purview.
(C) The science advisory team shall provide an independent and
timely analysis of reports and studies, identifying areas of
scientific consensus or uncertainty, using the best available science
by drawing on state, national, and international experts.
(D) Scientists selected as members of the science advisory team
shall serve without compensation, except for reimbursement of
expenses and subject to the terms of an existing contract with the
state.
(4) Contract with the California Ocean Science Trust and other
nonprofit organizations, ocean science institutes, academic
institutions, or others that have experience in conducting the
scientific and educational tasks that are required by the council.
(5) Transmit the results of research and investigations to state
agencies to provide information for policy decisions.
(6) Identify and recommend to the Legislature changes in law
needed to achieve the goals of this section.
(b) (1) Identify changes in federal law and policy necessary to
achieve the goals of this division and to improve protection,
conservation, and restoration of ocean ecosystems in federal and
state waters off the state's coast.
(2) Recommend to the Governor and the Legislature actions the
state should take to encourage those changes in federal law and
policy.

35617. (a) The Ocean Protection Council shall develop and implement
a voluntary sustainable seafood promotion program for the state.
(b) The program shall consist of all of the following:
(1) A protocol to guide entities on how to be independently
certified to internationally accepted standards for sustainable
seafood. The protocol must be developed in a transparent process and
adopted by the council in a public meeting. The council shall
identify in a public document that the provisions of subdivision (c)
of Section 35550 have been met.
(2) (A) A marketing assistance program for seafood caught in
California that is independently certified to internationally
accepted standards for sustainable seafood. The council shall consult
with the Department of Food and Agriculture in implementing this
paragraph.
(B) Consistent with subparagraph (A), the marketing assistance
program shall consist of competitive grants and loans for discrete
and limited activities to benefit participants in the fishing
industry in California.
(3) A competitive grant and loan program, only in years in which
funds are appropriated by the Legislature to the California Ocean
Protection Trust Fund, for eligible entities, including, but not
limited to, fishery groups and associations, for the purpose of
assisting California fisheries in qualifying for certification to
internationally accepted standards for sustainable seafood. This
program may be implemented in coordination with other state and
private programs to maximize its effectiveness.
(4) The design of a label or labels that may be used exclusively
to identify seafood caught in California that is certified to
internationally accepted standards as sustainable seafood.
(c) Seafood produced through aquaculture or fish farming shall not
be certified as sustainable under this division until nationally or
internationally accepted sustainability standards have been developed
and implemented.

35620. (a) Consistent with this chapter, and subject to the
availability of funding, the council shall support state agencies'
use and sharing of scientific and geospatial information for coastal-
and ocean-relevant decisionmaking, including marine spatial
planning, by taking all of the following actions:
(1) Assess the needs of California's public agencies with respect
to their abilities to gather, manage, use, and share information and
decision-support tools relevant to ecosystem-based management in the
coastal and ocean environment.
(2) Subject to a determination of need in paragraph (1) and in
consultation with the relevant coastal or ocean management agency,
increase the amount of baseline scientific and geospatial information
that is available to public agencies in a publicly accessible,
electronic, and geospatial format with respect to the following
aspects of coastal and ocean ecosystems:
(A) Ecosystem health, structure, functioning, productivity,
resilience, and vulnerability to threats.
(B) The effects of climate change.
(C) The cumulative effects of human-caused and natural sources of
stress.
(D) Existing and predicted patterns of human activities, including
activities that present conflicting or compatible demands on coastal
and ocean ecosystems or those that require the use of a
precautionary approach.
(E) Social, economic, and cultural values, including the value of
coastal and ocean ecosystems for providing ecosystem services.
(F) Distinguishing ecological characteristics, including habitat
heterogeneity, species abundance, and biodiversity.
(G) Other physical, biological, economic, social, and cultural
information that the council determines is relevant to marine spatial
planning.
(3) Support public agencies' collaborative management and use of
scientific and geospatial information relevant to ecosystem-based
management.
(4) Help identify decision-support tools relevant to
ecosystem-based management, and, where appropriate, support the
adaptation of those tools or the creation of new tools to serve the
state's needs.
(b) Subject to available funding, and consistent with their
individual mandates, each agency, board, department, or commission of
the state with ocean or coastal management interests or regulatory
authority shall cooperate with the council to achieve all of the
goals described in subdivision (a).

35621. Consistent with the council's authority and responsibility
under this chapter to coordinate activities of state agencies with
ocean or coastal management interests or regulatory authority, to
improve the effectiveness of state efforts to protect ocean
resources, and to establish policies to coordinate the collection and
sharing of scientific data related to coastal and ocean resources
among agencies, the council may award grants, enter into interagency
agreements, and provide assistance to public agencies and nonprofit
organizations to support this effort, including grants to improve
geospatial data collection, interagency data sharing and
collaboration, and tools for visualizing and analyzing these data. In
allocating grants and assistance, the council shall give preference
to public agencies that are meeting the goals described in Section
35620.

35625. (a) Under the direction of the Secretary of the Resources
Agency, the executive officer of the State Coastal Conservancy shall
act as secretary to the council, administer its affairs, and provide
the staff services that the council needs to carry out this division,
including, but not limited to, both of the following:
(1) Administering grants and expenditures authorized by the
council from the fund or other sources, including, but not limited
to, block grants from other state boards, commissions, or
departments.
(2) Arranging meetings, agendas, and other administrative
functions in support of the council.
(b) The Legislature may make appropriations to be used for the
purposes of this division directly to the State Coastal Conservancy,
for expenditures authorized by the council. If an expenditure has
been approved by the council for the purposes of this division,
approval of the State Coastal Conservancy is not required, except in
the case of block grants provided by the council to be administered
by the State Coastal Conservancy.