Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 12, March 22, 2024
(a) Permit Required. Any person using a trawl
net to take, possess aboard a vessel, or land pink shrimp for commercial
purposes shall have a pink shrimp trawl permit issued pursuant to Section
120.2 that has not been suspended
or revoked.
(b) Season and Harvest
Control Rule. Unless otherwise prescribed under this subsection, pink shrimp
may be taken April 1 through October 31.
(1)
Target reference point. The current fishing season shall close on October 15
and the next season shall be delayed until April 15 if the average landing of
pink shrimp falls below 12,500 pounds during the month of June.
(2) Limit reference point. The current
fishing season shall close 10 days following public notice and the start of the
next season shall be delayed until April 15 if:
(A) The mean sea level height exceeds 7.5
feet above the station datum as calculated using sea level height measurements
from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tide gauge at Crescent
City, California between April 1 of the previous year through January 31 of the
current year; and
(B) the average
landing of pink shrimp falls below 10,000 pounds during the month of
June.
(3) In determining
the average landing in June, the department shall:
(A) Use landings data collected in June
pursuant to Section
197.
(B) For vessels towing one trawl net, the
landing shall be multiplied by a factor of 1.6.
(C) The average landing shall be the sum of
all landings from vessels towing one net as modified by subsection (b)(3)(B)
and all landings from vessels towing two trawl nets divided by the total number
of landings.
(4) Public
notice of early closure and season delay. By July 15 of each year,
notifications of any early closure and subsequent season delay along with the
accompanying landings and sea level height data shall be posted on the
department website at
https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Marine/Invertebrates/Shrimp-Prawn.
(c) Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD) and
Footrope Lighting Device (FLD) Required. No shrimp trawl net may be possessed
on board a vessel in the commercial pink shrimp fishery that does not include
an approved BRD and FLD.
(1) Approved BRDs. An
Approved BRD is required for all trawl nets used in the pink shrimp trawl
fishery and is described as one of the following types below. Approved BRDs
shall not be modified in any way that interferes with their ability to allow
fish to escape from the trawl.
(A) The
Rigid-Grate Excluder (such as The Nordmore Grate). The grate consists of a
series of rigid or semi-rigid vertical bars that form a panel which guides
finfish out of an escape hole located in the top of the net. The device may
include a funnel used to concentrate catch near the bottom of the panel to
facilitate sorting and prevent shrimp loss but is not a required component. The
panel may be hinged to facilitate rolling over a net reel. An approved
Rigid-Grate Excluder must meet the following criteria:
1. The rigid or semi-rigid panel must
completely cover some portion of the net in diagonal cross-section.
2. None of the openings between the vertical
bars of the panel may exceed 2 inches.
3. The escape hole, when spread open, must
expose a hole at least 100 square inches in surface area, which is the
equivalent to removing 10-12 meshes in a straight line.
4. The escape hole must be forward of the
panel and the farthest back point must end within four meshes of the point at
which the rigid or semi-rigid panel connects to the main net at its farthest
back point.
(B) The
Soft-Panel Excluder. This device uses a mesh panel to guide fish out of an
escape hole located in the top of the net. An approved soft-panel BRD must
satisfy the following criteria:
1. The panel
meshes must be constructed of net material with individual meshes no larger
than 6 inches (stretch measure).
2.
The panel must completely cover some portion of the net in diagonal
cross-section and partial panels are not allowed.
3. The escape hole must, when spread open,
expose a hole at least 100 square inches in surface area, which is equivalent
to cutting 10-12 meshes in a straight line.
4. The escape hole must be positioned forward
of the panel and end within four meshes of the point at which the panel
connects to the main net at its farthest back point.
(C) The Fisheye Excluder. This device
functions as a simple forward facing escape hatch that is maintained by a rigid
frame. An approved fisheye BRD must meet the following criteria:
1. The escape hole must be forward facing so
that finfish can swim towards the mouth of the net to exit through the
fisheye.
2. The device must be
placed on the top of the codend, no further forward than 84 codend meshes,
counted from the pursing rings.
3.
The escape hole must be no less than 6 inches in height and no less than 10
inches in width.
(2) FLD. All trawl nets used north of Point
Conception, Santa Barbara County shall have functional lighting devices
attached to the footrope as follows:
(A)
Lighting devices shall be blue or green light-emitting diodes that are
pressure-rated to a depth of at least 300 meters.
(B) Lighting devices must be securely
attached within 6 inches of the forward leading edge of the bottom panel of
trawl netting; and
(C) Each trawl
net must have a minimum of 5 lighting devices, spaced at least 4 feet apart in
the center of each net.
(d) Net Removal. No shrimp trawl nets shall
be removed from the vessel participating in the pink shrimp trawl fishery prior
to the offloading of pink shrimp.
(e) Maximum Count per Pound. No vessel shall
land or possess in any ocean waters and tidelands of the state a load of pink
shrimp having an average count greater than 160 shrimp per pound.
(f) Pink Shrimp Landing Weight Estimation.
When pink shrimp are landed mixed with ice, the net weight of pink shrimp
landed shall be estimated as follows:
(1)
Samples of the ice and pink shrimp mixture shall be taken throughout the
landing process.
(A) At least one sample shall
be taken from each receptacle weighed during the landing process. If a
receptacle contains 800 pounds or more of ice and pink shrimp mixture, at least
one sample shall be taken for every 400 pounds it contains.
(B) Each sample shall be at least three
pounds.
(2) To estimate
net weight of pink shrimp landed, the proportion of pink shrimp in the samples
shall be accurately determined and applied to the total weight of ice and pink
shrimp mixture landed.
(3)
Reporting requirement:
(A) The estimated net
weight of pink shrimp landed shall be recorded as the accurate species weight
required by Section
197.
(B) The total weight of ice and pink shrimp
mixture landed shall be recorded in the note pad section of any dock ticket or
electronic fish ticket.
1. New
section filed 12-10-2008; operative 1-9-2009 (Register 2008, No.
50).
2. Repealer of subsection (c)(2) and amendment of NOTE filed
3-2-2022; operative 4-1-2022 pursuant to Government Code section
11343.4(b)(3)
(Register 2022, No. 9).
3. Amendment of section and NOTE filed
10-26-2022; operative 11-1-2022 pursuant to Government Code section
11343.4(b)(3)
(Register 2022, No. 43).
Note: Authority cited: Sections
7078,
8591,
8841
and
8842,
Fish and Game Code. Reference: Sections
7078,
8591,
8841
and
8842,
Fish and Game Code.
