Title FGC — California Fish & Game Code

(a) The department may contract with any public or private entity to conduct research projects pursuant to this article. (b) The department may accept volunteer assistance for program operations, including, but not limited to, assistance with regard to grow-out facilities, provid…

It is in the interest of the state to have broad participation in enhancement programs. Therefore, this program shall be open to participation by qualified academic institutions, as determined by the department, and nonprofit organizations, commercial aquaculturists, and for prof…

This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2028, and as of that date is repealed.

Every person engaged in harvesting kelp or other aquatic plants for profit in the waters of this State shall have a license for that purpose. (Enacted by Stats. 1957, Ch. 456.)

(a) A license granting the privilege to harvest kelp or other aquatic plants shall be issued upon application and the payment of a fee of one hundred dollars ($100) to the department. The license shall be valid from January 1 to December 31, inclusive, or, if issued after the beg…

(a) Every person engaged in harvesting kelp shall determine the weight of all wet kelp, immediately after it is delivered to the licensee’s place of business or elsewhere. The weight shall be entered in a book to be kept by the licensee. The book shall be open at all times to the…

The commission may make such regulations as may be necessary to insure the proper harvesting of kelp and other aquatic plants. (Enacted by Stats. 1957, Ch. 456.)

(a) The department may issue permits for the drying of agar-bearing marine plants subject to the regulations the commission may prescribe to provide for proper utilization of that resource. (b) No person shall dry agar-bearing marine plants for profit unless the person has a perm…

If, at any time, the commission finds that the harvesting of kelp will tend to destroy or impair any kelp bed or beds, or parts thereof, or tend to impair or destroy the supply of any food for fish, the department shall serve on every person licensed to harvest kelp a written not…

Within 10 days after the service of such a notice, the person upon whom notice is served may demand a hearing upon the necessity for the closing of the kelp bed or beds, or parts thereof. Upon such demand for a hearing, the commission shall fix a time and place for the taking of …

(a) The commission may revoke a license and prohibit its reissuance for a period of not more than one year, in either of the following circumstances: (1) The licensee harvested kelp from a bed that was closed, after the department served notice of the closure on the licensee and …

The commission may, subject to regulations it deems proper, grant permits to any department of the United States Government or to any scientific or any educational institution, to harvest kelp at any time for scientific or experimental purposes without the payment of the kelp lic…

In addition to the license fee provided for in this chapter, every person harvesting kelp or other aquatic plants shall pay a royalty, as the commission may prescribe, of not less than five cents ($0.05) per ton of wet kelp or wet aquatic plants harvested. Any revenues derived fr…

The commission may lease to any person the exclusive privilege to harvest kelp in any designated kelp bed, or part thereof, if the commission determines that the lease is in the public interest. The commission shall describe the kelp beds of the state and adopt regulations for th…

Persons wishing to lease the exclusive privilege to harvest kelp shall submit a written application to the commission. An application shall include all of the following, and any other information the commission may prescribe: (a) The number of the kelp bed or beds to be leased. (…

A deposit of not less than forty dollars ($40) for each square mile, or fraction thereof, of the total area of the kelp bed or beds which are designated in the application shall be submitted with the application. The deposit shall be refunded to the person making the application …

(a) If the commission finds that the kelp beds included in the application are available for lease and that the lease would be in the public interest, the commission shall publish a notice that the area is being considered for leasing. (b) The commission shall have legal notices …

The initial term of a lease for the exclusive privilege of harvesting kelp shall not exceed 20 years. No lessee shall have an exclusive lease, excluding subleases, to an area in excess of 25 square miles or 50 percent of the total area of the kelp resource as shown on the maps of…

(a) Each kelp bed lease shall specify a period prior to expiration when renewal of the lease may be requested by the lessee. If the commission determines that the lessee has complied with the terms of the lease, the lessee shall have a prior right to renew the lease on terms agre…

Notwithstanding Sections 6703 and 6704, at any time during the term of a lease, the commission and the lessee may negotiate and enter into a new lease on terms agreed upon between the two parties, if the commission determines that such a new lease would be in the best interest of…

(a) Each lease shall require, in addition to the license fee required by this chapter, a payment by the lessee or any sublessee of not less than the minimum royalty established under Article 2 (commencing with Section 6680), for all kelp harvested from the lease area, and shall p…

A lease may not be assigned, in whole or in part, by the lessee, either voluntarily or by operation of law, and no subleases or other rights may be granted thereunder by the lessee without the prior approval of the commission, subject to the conditions that the commission prescri…

A lease, or any renewal thereof, shall be submitted to, and approved by, the Department of General Services.

When an exclusive privilege to harvest kelp has been granted by lease by the commission, the commission shall furnish a true copy thereof to the department. The department shall file a notice for record in the recorder’s office of the county in which the kelp bed or beds, or part…

The department shall inform the State Lands Commission of all kelp bed leases executed pursuant to this chapter, and shall furnish the State Lands Commission with the information concerning these leases that it may require.

The commission may regulate the taking, collecting, harvesting, gathering, or possession of kelp for purposes other than profit.

The provisions of Article 1 (commencing with Section 6650), Article 2 (commencing with Section 6680), and Article 3 (commencing with Section 6700) of this chapter do not apply to the taking, collecting, harvesting, gathering, or possession of kelp under this article.

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Fish and Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Act of 1984.

(a) The fundamental requirement for healthy, vigorous populations of fish and wildlife is habitat. Without adequate habitat, efforts to conserve and manage fish and wildlife resources will have limited success. (b) Assuring adequate habitat, with the resulting increase in the abu…

As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings: (a) “Acquisition” means the acquisition of any interest in real property. (b) “Coastal zone” means the coastal zone as defined and mapped pursuant to Section 30103 of the Public Resources Code. (c) “Local p…

All money deposited in the Fish and Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Fund shall be available for appropriation by the Legislature for the following purposes: (a) Forty million dollars ($40,000,000) for expenditure by the Wildlife Conservation Board pursuant to the Wildlife Conservati…

An annual amount, not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), may be appropriated from the funds available pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (d) of Section 2620 in the 1984–85 through 1989–90 fiscal years, in a particular amount to be determined in each annual appropria…

An annual amount, not to exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), may be appropriated from the funds available pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 2620 in the 1984–85 through 1989–90 fiscal years, in a particular amount to be determined in each annual appropriatio…

(a) None of the funds appropriated pursuant to this chapter may be encumbered for any purpose described in Section 1353. (b) Notwithstanding Sections 31105 and 31106 of the Public Resources Code, the State Coastal Conservancy and the State Public Works Board may not make any acqu…

Funds available pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 2620 may be encumbered only for lands constituting habitat that is subject to destruction, drastic modification, or severe curtailment of habitat values.

No acquisition shall be undertaken with funds appropriated pursuant to Section 2620 and no grant of funds appropriated pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 2620 shall be encumbered until all practical alternatives to direct purchase of the full fee title have been considered. T…

(a) All restoration projects which involve the expenditure of funds available pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 2620 shall be reviewed in accordance with Section 31208, 31208.5, 31258, or 31258.5 of the Public Resources Code, as applicable. (b) Funds available pursuant to su…

(a) Funds granted pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 2620 for any purpose, other than acquisition, shall not be encumbered by the recipient until the conservancy has entered into an agreement sufficient to protect the public interest in any improvements constructed pursuant t…

Bonds in the total amount of eighty-five million dollars ($85,000,000), or so much thereof as is necessary, may be issued and sold to provide a fund to be used for carrying out the purposes expressed in this chapter and to be used to reimburse the General Obligation Bond Expense …

There shall be collected each year and in the same manner and at the same time as other state revenue is collected such a sum in addition to the ordinary revenues of the state as shall be required to pay the principal and interest on the bonds maturing each year, and it is hereby…

There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund in the State Treasury for the purpose of this chapter, such an amount as will equal the following: (a) Such sum annually as will be necessary to pay the principal and interest on bonds issued and sold pursuant to the provisions o…

The proceeds of bonds issued and sold pursuant to this chapter shall be deposited in the Fish and Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Fund, which is hereby created. The money in the fund may be expended only for the purposes specified in this chapter and only pursuant to appropriation b…

For the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this article, the Director of Finance may, pursuant to appropriate authority in each annual Budget Act, authorize the withdrawal from the General Fund of an amount or amounts not to exceed the amount of the unsold bonds which hav…

Notwithstanding any other provision of this bond act, or of the State General Obligation Bond Law (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 16720) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code), if the Treasurer sells bonds pursuant to this bond act that include a bond coun…

All proposed appropriations for the program shall be included in a section in the Budget Bill for the 1984–85 fiscal year and each succeeding fiscal year for consideration by the Legislature and shall bear the caption “Fish and Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Program.” The section s…

The bonds authorized by this chapter shall be prepared, executed, issued, sold, paid, and redeemed as provided in the State General Obligation Bond Law (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 16720) of Part 3, Division 4, Title 2 of the Government Code), and all of the provisions of …

Solely for the purpose of authorizing the issuance and sale, pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 16720) of Part 1 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code), of the bonds authorized by this chapter, the Wildlife Habitat Enha…

All money deposited in the fund which is derived from premium and accrued interest on bonds sold shall be reserved in the fund and shall be available for transfer to the General Fund as a credit to expenditures for bond interest.

Commencing with the Budget Bill for the 1995-96 fiscal year, the balance remaining in the fund may be appropriated by the Legislature for expenditure, without regard to the maximum amounts allocated to each element of the program, for any or all elements of the program specified …

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that, inasmuch as the proceeds from the sale of bonds authorized by this chapter are not “proceeds of taxes” as that term is used in Article XIII B of the California Constitution, the disbursement of these proceeds is not subject to the l…