Title FGC — California Fish & Game Code

The commission may adopt regulations as it determines to be necessary to regulate the taking of fur-bearing mammals or nongame mammals taken under a trapping license.

The provisions of this chapter do not apply to, or prohibit the propagation of, fur-bearing mammals which are confined in accordance with the regulations of the commission. (Enacted by Stats. 1957, Ch. 456.)

(a) Fur-bearing mammals, game mammals, and nongame mammals, when involved in dangerous disease outbreaks, may be taken by duly constituted officials of any of the following: (1) The United States Department of Agriculture. (2) The United States Department of the Interior. (3) The…

It is unlawful to take any red fox for profitmaking purposes.

(a) Subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes, there shall be in the department a program to promote beaver restoration across California by advising on policies and guidelines relating to beavers, coordinating restoration efforts, integrating methods to a…

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), it is unlawful to deposit in, permit to pass into, or place where it can pass into the waters of this state any of the following: (1) Any petroleum, acid, coal or oil tar, lampblack, aniline, asphalt, bitumen, or residuary product of pet…

(a) A person who violates Section 5650 is subject to a civil penalty of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each violation. (b) The civil penalty imposed for each separate violation pursuant to this section is separate, and in addition to, any other civil pen…

Whenever it is determined by the department that a continuing and chronic condition of pollution exists, the department shall report that condition to the appropriate regional water quality control board, and shall cooperate with the board in obtaining correction or abatement in …

(a) It is unlawful to deposit, permit to pass into, or place where it can pass into the waters of the state, or to abandon, dispose of, or throw away, within 150 feet of the high water mark of the waters of the state, any cans, bottles, garbage, motor vehicle or parts thereof, ru…

(a) The use of vacuum or suction dredge equipment by a person in a river, stream, or lake of this state is prohibited, except as authorized under a permit issued to that person by the department in compliance with the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 5653.9. Before a perso…

(a) The issuance of permits to operate vacuum or suction dredge equipment is a project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) and permits may only be issued, and vacuum or suction dredge mini…

Any person required to possess a permit pursuant to Section 5653 shall present his or her dredging equipment for inspection upon request of a state or county fish and game warden.

For purposes of Section 5653, “river, stream, or lake” means the body of water at the current water level at the time of the dredging.

In the event of an unanticipated water level change, when necessary to protect fish and wildlife resources, the department may close areas that were otherwise opened for dredging and for which permits were issued pursuant to Section 5653.

For purposes of Sections 5653 and 5653.3, “person” does not include a partnership, corporation, or other type of association.

The department shall adopt regulations to carry out Section 5653 and may adopt regulations to carry out Sections 5653.3, 5653.5, and 5653.7. The regulations shall be adopted in accordance with the requirements of Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources…

(a) (1) The director, after a notification of a spill or discharge, as those terms are defined in Section 8670.3 of the Government Code, where any fishing, including all commercial, recreational, and nonlicensed subsistence fishing, may take place, or where aquaculture operations…

(a) In addition to the responsibilities imposed pursuant to Section 5651, the department may clean up or abate, or cause to be cleaned up or abated, the effects of any petroleum or petroleum product deposited or discharged in the waters of this state or deposited or discharged in…

Any recovery or settlement of money damages, including, but not limited to, civil penalties arising out of any civil action filed and maintained by the Attorney General in the enforcement of this article shall be deposited in the Fish and Wildlife Pollution Account in the Fish an…

For purposes of this chapter, “shellfish” means any bivalve mollusk.

It is unlawful to take shellfish used or intended to be used for human consumption from any area from which it shall be determined, as provided in this article, that the taking of shellfish does or may constitute a menace to the lives or health of human beings. (Enacted by Stats.…

The State Department of Public Health may: (a) Examine any area from which shellfish may be taken. (b) Determine whether the area is subject to sewage contamination. (c) Determine whether the taking of shellfish from the area does or may constitute a menace to the lives or health…

Upon the determination by the State Department of Public Health that the area is or may be subject to sewage contamination, and that the taking of shellfish from it does or may constitute a menace to the lives or health of human beings, it shall ascertain as accurately as it can …

The fact of posting the notices shall be published once a week for four successive weeks in some newspaper of general circulation published in the county in which the contaminated area is situated, if there is such a newspaper, and if there is none, then in such a newspaper publi…

The State Department of Public Health shall enforce the provisions of this article, and for that purpose the inspectors and employees of that agency may enter at all times upon public or private property upon which shellfish may be located.

If examinations are conducted pursuant to this article for purposes of certifying the quality of shellfish-growing waters, certification of water quality shall be commenced within 30 days, and completed within three months of the filing of an application by an aquaculturist.

(a) Notwithstanding Sections 5670, 5672, 8341, and 9050, native and nonnative mollusks may be taken in Districts 12 and 13 and moved to other areas to be purified for human consumption under rules and regulations established by the commission. Those regulations may include, but a…

(a) The State Department of Public Health may make sanitary surveys of mollusk-growing areas or may use sanitary surveys of mollusk-growing areas made by qualified state or county agencies, and based on that information may classify those areas for purposes of harvesting and movi…

If examinations are conducted by the State Department of Public Health pursuant to this article for purposes of certifying the quality of shellfish-growing waters, certification of water quality shall be commenced within 30 days and completed within six months of the filing of an…

Any person who moves any native mollusks taken under regulations of the commission from Districts 12 and 13 for purposes of purification for human consumption shall pay a royalty, as the commission may prescribe, of not less than two cents ($0.02) per pound of mollusks so taken.

(a) It is unlawful to conduct any mining operation in the Trinity and Klamath River Fish and Game District between July 1 and November 30, except when the debris, substances, tailings or other effluent from those operations do not and cannot pass into the waters in that district.…

Section 5800 does not affect any other laws applying to the territory included in the Trinity and Klamath River Fish and Game District which relate to birds, mammals, and fish. (Enacted by Stats. 1957, Ch. 456.)

Section 5800 does not apply to the construction, repair, or maintenance of public works by the Federal or State Government, or any political subdivision thereof. (Enacted by Stats. 1957, Ch. 456.)

No provision of this article is a limitation on the authority of the State Water Resources Control Board or any California Regional Water Quality Control Board to adopt and enforce additional discharge requirements or prohibitions.

Spiny lobster may not be taken under a sport fishing license except by use of a hoop net or by hand.

(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) California has the greatest biodiversity of native trout species of any state in the nation. Trout can be found in more than 18,000 miles of California’s cooler streams. California’s trout are the principal sport fi…

The following are native California trout: (a) Coastal cutthroat trout. (b) Lahontan cutthroat trout. (c) Paiute cutthroat trout. (d) Coastal rainbow trout/steelhead. (e) Eagle Lake rainbow trout. (f) Kern River rainbow trout. (g) Goose Lake redband trout. (h) McCloud River redba…

No pismo clam not in the shell may be possessed, except when it is being prepared for immediate consumption. (Enacted by Stats. 1957, Ch. 456.)

No instrument capable of being used to dig clams may be possessed between one-half hour after sunset and one-half hour before sunrise, on any beach of this State, except tools and implements used in the work of cleaning, repairing, or maintaining such beach when possessed by a pe…

Giant seabass (Stereolepis gigas) may not be taken under a sport fishing license except by hook and line when engaged in the taking of other fish. This section, and any regulations of the commission relating thereto, shall supersede Section 2353.

(a) Fees received by the department from the sale of the Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp or validation shall be deposited in a separate account in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. The Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp or validation shall not be required, and…

(a) The department, in consultation with the advisory committee created pursuant to Section 7363, shall develop a grant program to support activities consistent with Section 7361. (b) The department, in consultation with the advisory committee, shall develop priority areas for fu…

(a) The director shall appoint a Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp Fund Advisory Committee, consisting of nine members. The committee members shall be selected from names of persons submitted by anglers and associations representing Bay-Delta anglers of this state and sha…

(a) The department shall do all of the following: (1) In consultation with the advisory committee, develop a spending plan that focuses on identifying and funding viable projects and monitoring revenues to assist the department in effectively expending available stamp revenues in…

(a) It is unlawful to take or possess for commercial purposes, buy or sell, or offer to buy or sell, a whole sturgeon, or part of a sturgeon, including, but not limited to, its eggs, except as follows: (1) A sturgeon, part of a sturgeon, or sturgeon eggs, taken or possessed by, a…

(a) In addition to a valid California sport fishing license and any applicable sport license stamp issued pursuant to this code, after January 1, 1993, a person taking steelhead trout in inland waters shall have in his or her possession a valid nontransferable steelhead trout fis…

(a) Revenue received pursuant to Section 7380 may be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, only to monitor, restore, or enhance steelhead trout resources consistent with Sections 6901 and 6902, and to administer the fishing report-restoration card program. The departme…

This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2027, and as of that date is repealed.

(a) The director shall appoint a Recreational Abalone Advisory Committee consisting of nine members who shall serve without compensation. The members of the advisory committee shall be selected as follows: (1) Six members who are not officers or employees of the department. The s…

All fish, the taking of which is not otherwise restricted for commercial purposes, by state or federal law or any regulations adopted pursuant to those laws, may be taken at any time for commercial purposes.