(a) The Ocean Protection Council shall make a grant, upon appropriation of funding by the Legislature, for the development and administration of a Dungeness crab task force. The membership of the Dungeness crab task force shall be comprised of all of the following:
(1) Two nonvoting members representing the department, appointed by the department.
(2) One nonvoting representative of the University of California Sea Grant, appointed by the University of California Sea Grant.
(3) Seven members appointed by the Chair of the Ocean Protection Council following a public solicitation for nominations, as follows:
(A) One voting and one nonvoting member representing sport fishing interests.
(B) Two voting members representing crab processing interests.
(C) One voting member representing commercial passenger fishing vessel interests.
(D) Two nonvoting members representing nongovernmental organization interests.
(4) Seventeen voting members representing commercial fishery interests, elected by licensed persons possessing valid Dungeness crab permits in their respective ports and production levels, as follows:
(A) Three members from Crescent City.
(B) One member from Trinidad.
(C) Two members from Eureka.
(D) Two members from Fort Bragg.
(E) Two members from Bodega Bay.
(F) Two members from San Francisco.
(G) Two members from Half Moon Bay.
(H) Two members from ports south of Half Moon Bay.
(I) One member who has a valid California nonresident crab permit.
(b) (1) Elected members in each port shall represent the following production levels:
(A) For ports with one elected member, the member shall represent both the upper and lower production levels.
(B) For ports with two elected members, one member shall represent the upper production level and one member shall represent the lower production level.
(C) For ports with three elected members, one member shall represent the upper production level, one member shall represent the lower production level, and one member shall represent both the upper and lower production levels.
(2) Upper and lower production levels shall be determined in relation to the average landing, during the five-year period before the beginning of an election cycle, of valid crab permitholders who landed a minimum of 25,000 pounds of crab during that period.
(c) Elections shall be held every three years in each port, on a staggered basis across ports, in coordination with the department or the Ocean Protection Council and with support from an administrative team of the Dungeness crab task force. In an election year, all elected members in a port shall be subject to reelection. There is no limit on the number of terms that may be served by any person.
(d) (1) Each member appointed pursuant to paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of subdivision (a) shall select an alternate to serve and, if applicable, vote in the member’s place in case of the member’s absence from, or disqualification from participating in, a meeting of the task force. If the position of a member appointed pursuant to one of those paragraphs becomes vacant, the alternate member shall serve until the position is filled as required pursuant to that paragraph.
(2) Each elected member shall select an alternate in the same port and production level to serve and vote in the member’s place in case of the member’s absence from, or disqualification from participating in, a meeting of the task force. If the position of the member becomes vacant, the alternate shall serve and vote in the member’s place until the next election is held in the port pursuant to subdivision (c).
(e) The Dungeness crab task force shall do all of the following:
(1) Review and evaluate the commercial Dungeness crab management measures described in Section 8276.5, and make recommendations to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, the department, and the commission, no later than January 15, 2022, and by January 15 of every third year thereafter through 2028.
(2) Make recommendations by the dates specified in paragraph (1) on all of the following: the need for a permanent Dungeness crab advisory committee, the economic impact of the program described in Section 8276.5 on permitholders of different tiers and the economies of different ports, the cost of the program to the department, including enforcement costs, the viability of a buyout program for the permitholders described in subparagraph (G) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 8276.5, refining commercial Dungeness crab management, and the need for statutory changes to accomplish task force objectives.
(3) In considering commercial Dungeness crab management options, prioritize the review of pot limit restriction options, current and future commercial fishery effort, season modifications, essential fishery information needs, and short- and long-term objectives for improved management.
(f) The task force may establish subcommittees of specific user groups from the task force membership to focus on issues specific to commercial harvest or crab processing. The subcommittees shall report their recommendations, if any, to the task force.
(g) The Ocean Protection Council may include in a grant funding to cover department staffing costs, as well as travel costs for task force participants as specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).
(h) Except as otherwise provided in Section 8276.5, a recommendation shall be forwarded to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, the department, and the commission upon an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the task force members.
(i) Eligibility to take crab in state waters and offshore for commercial purposes may be subject to restrictions, including, but not limited to, restrictions on the number of traps utilized by that person, if either of the following occurs:
(1) A person holds a California Dungeness crab permit with California landings of less than 5,000 pounds between November 15, 2003, and July 15, 2008, inclusive, as reported in California landings receipts.
(2) A person has purchased a Dungeness crab permit on or after July 15, 2008, from a permitholder whose California landings were less than 5,000 pounds between November 15, 2003, and July 15, 2008, inclusive, as reported in California landings receipts.
(j) This section shall become inoperative on April 1, 2029, and, as of January 1, 2030, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2030, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 497, Sec. 117. (AB 991) Effective January 1, 2020. Inoperative April 1, 2029. Repealed as of January 1, 2030, by its own provisions.)