Title FGC, California Fish & Game Code

The director may appoint the Director of the Hopkins Marine Life Refuge. The Director of the Hopkins Marine Life Refuge may issue a permit to any person under which the person may enter the Hopkins Marine Life Refuge for the purpose of taking fish or marine plants under the condi…

(a) The director may appoint a Director of the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge. (b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no state funds, including, but not limited to, the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, shall be used to pay the compensation or expenses of the Director of…

(a) The director may appoint the Director of the Bodega Marine Life Refuge. (b) The Director of the Bodega Marine Life Refuge may authorize any person to enter the Bodega Marine Life Refuge for the purpose of taking fish, invertebrates, or marine plants for scientific study and t…

(a) The director may appoint the Director of the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Refuge. (b) The Director of the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Refuge may authorize any person to enter the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Refuge for the purpose of…

For the purposes of propagating, feeding, and protecting birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles, the commission may do all of the following: (a) Accept, on behalf of the state, donations of an interest in land within a refuge. (b) Accept, on behalf of the state, from a pe…

Any property acquired for game refuges shall be acquired in the name of the State, and shall, at all times, be subject to such regulations as may be prescribed from time to time by the commission for the occupation, use, operation, protection, and administration of such property …

The department shall do all things necessary to secure a valid title in the State to the property acquired for game refuges, but no payment shall be made therefor until the title is satisfactory to the Attorney General and is vested in the State. The acquisition of the property b…

Nothing in this code prohibits the possession of firearms, BB devices as defined in Section 16250 of the Penal Code, crossbows and bolts, or bows and arrows by persons when traveling through any game refuges when the firearms are taken apart or encased and unloaded and the bows a…

It is lawful for a person who has given the notice provided for in Section 10506 to transport a bird or mammal through a game refuge, if lawfully taken outside the refuge, and if the bird or mammal is carried openly and during the time between one hour before sunrise and one hour…

The department and the district attorney, sheriff, and all peace officers of the county in which any refuge or part thereof is situated, shall enforce all of the provisions of this code relating to such refuge, and institute and assist in prosecutions for violations thereof. (Ena…

Any refuge designated as a “fish and game refuge” shall be considered, for the purposes of this division, as both a game refuge and a fish refuge. (Enacted by Stats. 1957, Ch. 456.)

No specification of an open season in any area authorizes the taking of a bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or reptile from a refuge within that area from which the taking is prohibited by this code. (Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 154, Sec. 99. (AB 1527) Effective January 1, 2016.)

Except as they may conflict with refuge provisions, the provisions of this code relating to a particular fish and game district shall apply to each refuge lying wholly, or in major part, within the boundaries of the district. (Enacted by Stats. 1957, Ch. 456.)

The department shall cause to be prepared suitable notices to be posted under its direction on each state game refuge, containing a warning to all persons to refrain for the period named therein from violations of the provisions of this chapter relating to state game refuges. (En…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as prohibiting or preventing a person from taking a bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or reptile from or on navigable water in a state game refuge. (Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 154, Sec. 100. (AB 1527) Effective January 1, 2016.)

All state game refuges shall, for all purposes of protecting birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, or reptiles thereon, be under the control and management of the department, and the officers and employees of the department, all game wardens, and law enforcement officers may at all t…

It is unlawful to take any bird or mammal, except a nongame mammal, between one-half hour after sunset and one-half hour before sunrise of the following day at the place of taking, except as otherwise provided in this code or under such regulations as the commission may adopt. Th…

It is unlawful to take birds or mammals with firearms, BB devices as defined in Section 16250 of the Penal Code, crossbows, or with bow and arrow when intoxicated. (Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 178, Sec. 29. (SB 1115) Effective January 1, 2011. Operative January 1, 2012, by Sec. 1…

It is unlawful to shoot at any game bird or mammal, including a marine mammal as defined in Section 4500, from a powerboat, sailboat, motor vehicle, or airplane. (Amended by Stats. 1975, Ch. 786.)

(a) It is unlawful for a person to shoot, shoot at, or kill a bird or mammal with a gun or other device accessed via an Internet connection in this state. (b) It is unlawful for a person, firm, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, association, or other business en…

(a) Notwithstanding Section 1001, 1002, 4002, 4004, 4007, 4008, 4009.5, 4152, 4180, or 4181: (1) It is unlawful for any person to trap for the purposes of recreation or commerce in fur any fur-bearing mammal or nongame mammal with any body-gripping trap. A body-gripping trap is o…

Notwithstanding Sections 4003, 4152, 4180, or 4180.1 of this code or Section 14063 of the Food and Agricultural Code, no person, including an employee of the federal, state, county, or municipal government, may poison or attempt to poison any animal by using sodium fluoroacetate,…

It is unlawful to pursue, drive, or herd any bird or mammal with any motorized water, land, or air vehicle, including, but not limited to, a motor vehicle, airplane, powerboat, or snowmobile, except in any of the following circumstances: (a) On private property by the landowner o…

(a) It is unlawful for a person, other than the owner, person in possession of the premises, or a person having the express permission of the owner or person in possession of the premises, while within 150 yards of an occupied dwelling house, residence, or other building, or with…

(a) (1) Nonlead centerfire rifle and pistol ammunition, as determined by the commission, shall be required when taking big game, as defined in the department’s mammal hunting regulations (Section 350 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations), with rifle or pistol, and wh…

(a) It is unlawful to take birds or mammals with any net, pound, cage, trap, set line or wire, or poisonous substance, or to possess birds or mammals so taken, whether taken within or without this state, except as provided in this code or, when relating to ongoing mining operatio…

(a) It is unlawful to capture any game mammal, exotic game mammal, game bird, nongame bird, nongame mammal, or furbearer, or to possess or confine any live game mammal, exotic game mammal, game bird, nongame bird, nongame mammal, or furbearer taken from the wild, except as provid…

Except as authorized under a domesticated game breeder’s license, a deer, elk, or bear kept in captivity may be killed only with the approval of the department, and pursuant to any regulation that the commission may adopt. The carcass of a deer, elk, or bear kept in captivity may…

Except as provided in this code or regulations adopted pursuant to this code, it is unlawful to take a bird or mammal without a license or entitlement to do so. (Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 154, Sec. 62. (AB 1527) Effective January 1, 2016.)

The physical control of a dog by its owner while the dog is engaged in hunting in an area where the owner is otherwise authorized to hunt, shall be as required by this code or regulations made pursuant thereto. Dogs which are used for hunting which have been vaccinated for rabies…

Every person who while taking any bird or mammal kills or injures another person by the use of any firearm, bow and arrow, spear, slingshot, or other weapon or device used in such taking and who knowingly either abandons such person or fails to render to such injured person all n…

It is unlawful for any person to take any pheasant within 300 yards of any vehicle from which pheasants are being released into an area for hunting while such pheasants are being released. (Added by Stats. 1963, Ch. 1674.)

No person, including employees of the state, federal or county government, shall take bear with iron or steel-jawed or any type of metal-jawed traps, and no provision of this code or any other law shall be construed to authorize, or to permit the authorizing of, the use of iron o…

It is unlawful to use any recorded or electrically amplified bird or mammal calls or sounds, or recorded or electrically amplified imitations of bird or mammal calls or sounds, to assist in taking any bird or mammal, except nongame birds and nongame mammals as permitted by regula…

It is unlawful to sell, purchase, harm, take, possess, transport, or shoot a projectile at, a tortoise (Gopherus). This section does not apply to the taking of a tortoise when authorized by the department. (Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 154, Sec. 77. (AB 1527) Effective January 1, …

The provisions of Section 5000 do not prohibit the possession of any tortoise (Gopherus) when the owner can demonstrate that such tortoise was legally acquired and possessed before the effective date of this section. The owner of a tortoise which may be possessed under this secti…

The department may issue permits, subject to any terms and conditions prescribed by the commission, authorizing the possession of a tortoise (Gopherus) or product of a tortoise by an educational or scientific institution or a public zoological garden. (Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch.…

(a) There is in the Natural Resources Agency a Department of Fish and Wildlife administered through the director. (b) The Department of Fish and Wildlife shall succeed to, and is vested with, all the duties, powers, purposes, responsibilities, property, and jurisdiction previousl…

The director shall be appointed by the Governor, and receive the annual salary provided for by Chapter 6 (commencing at Section 11550) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. (Enacted by Stats. 1957, Ch. 456.)

There shall be one deputy director of the department who shall be a civil executive officer and shall be appointed by the Governor and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The compensation of the deputy director shall be fixed by the director pursuant to law. The deputy directo…

The director or one or more of his designees may accept the office of director or alternate director of an entity established by a joint powers agreement providing for the establishment and conduct of an areawide waste management planning process in accordance with the provisions…

This code shall be administered and enforced through regulations adopted only by the department, except as otherwise specifically provided by this code or where this code requires the commission to adopt regulations. (Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 870, Sec. 4.5. Effective January 1…

(a) The department, on or before January 1, 2016, shall prepare and submit to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature a feasibility study report on an electronic system to manage citations issued by fish and game wardens, exchange information on citations wit…

(a) General policies for the conduct of the department shall be formulated by the commission. The director shall be guided by those policies and shall be responsible to the commission for the administration of the department in accordance with those policies. (b) The department s…

It is the policy of the state that the department and commission use ecosystem-based management informed by credible science in all resource management decisions to the extent feasible. It is further the policy of the state that scientific professionals at the department and comm…

It is the policy of the state as follows: (a) That the department and the commission seek to create, foster, and actively participate in effective partnerships and collaborations with other agencies and stakeholders to achieve shared goals and to better integrate fish and wildlif…