I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2086 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce, with the Oakdale Irrigation District 

and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, California, to develop 

and conduct a pilot program to remove nonnative predator fishes from 

the Stanislaus River, California, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 29, 2015 

Mr. DENHAM (for himself, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, 

Mr. NUNES, and Mr. COSTA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Commerce, with the Oakdale Irrigation District and the South San Joaquin Irrigation 

District, California, to develop and conduct a pilot program to remove nonnative predator fishes from the 

Stanislaus River, California, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. PILOT PROGRAM TO PROTECT NATIVE ANAD4 ROMOUS FISH IN THE STANISLAUS RIVER, 

5 CALIFORNIA. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF NONNATIVE PREDATOR

7 FISH REMOVAL PILOT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of 


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1 Commerce and the districts, in consultation with the 

2 United States Fish and Wildlife Service, shall jointly de3 velop and conduct a nonnative predator fish removal pilot 

4 program to remove nonnative striped bass, smallmouth 

5 bass, largemouth bass, black bass, and other nonnative 

6 predator fishes from the Stanislaus River, California. The 

7 pilot program shall— 

8 (1) be scientifically based; 

9 (2) include methods to quantify the number and 

10 size of predator fishes removed each year, the im11 pact of such removal on the overall abundance of 

12 predator fishes, and the impact of such removal on 

13 the populations of juvenile anadromous fish found in 

14 the Stanislaus River by, among other things, evalu15 ating the number of juvenile anadromous fish that 

16 migrate past the rotary screw trap located at 

17 Caswell; 

18 (3) among other methods, use wire fyke trap19 ping, portable resistance board weirs, and boat 

20 electrofishing; 

21 (4) be developed, including the application for 

22 all necessary scientific research and species enhance23 ment permits under section 10(a)(1) of the Endan24 gered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1539(a)(1)) 

25 for the performance of the pilot program, not later 


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1 than 6 months after the date of the enactment of 

2 this Act; 

3 (5) be implemented as quickly as possible fol4 lowing the issuance of all necessary scientific re5 search and species enhancement permits needed to 

6 begin the pilot program; and 

7 (6) be implemented for a period of 7 consecu8 tive calendar years. 

9 (b) MANAGEMENT.—The management of the pilot 

10 program shall be the joint responsibility of the Secretary 

11 and the districts. Such parties shall work collaboratively 

12 to ensure the performance of the pilot program, and shall 

13 discuss and agree upon, among other things, changes in 

14 the structure, management, personnel, techniques, strat15 egy, data collection, reporting, and conduct of the pilot 

16 program. 

17 (c) CONDUCT.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—By agreement between the 

19 Secretary and the districts, the pilot program may 

20 be conducted by their own personnel, qualified pri21 vate contractors hired by the districts, personnel of, 

22 on loan to, or otherwise assigned to the National 

23 Marine Fisheries Service, or a combination thereof. 

24 (2) PARTICIPATION BY THE NATIONAL MARINE

25 FISHERIES SERVICE.—If the districts elect to conVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 May 07, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2086.IH H2086

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1 duct the program using their own personnel or quali2 fied private contractors hired by them in accordance 

3 with paragraph (1), the Secretary may assign an 

4 employee of, on loan to, or otherwise assigned to the 

5 National Marine Fisheries Service, to be present for 

6 all activities performed in the field. Such presence 

7 shall ensure compliance with the agreed-upon ele8 ments specified in subsection (b). The districts shall 

9 pay the cost of such participation in accordance with 

10 subsection (d). 

11 (3) TIMING OF ELECTION.—The districts shall 

12 notify the Secretary of their election on or before 

13 October 15 of each calendar year of the pilot pro14 gram. Such an election shall apply to the work per15 formed in the subsequent calendar year. 

16 (d) FUNDING.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The districts shall be re18 sponsible for 100 percent of the cost of the pilot pro19 gram. 

20 (2) CONTRIBUTED FUNDS.—The Secretary may 

21 accept and use contributions of funds from the dis22 tricts to carry out activities under the pilot program. 

23 (3) ESTIMATION OF COST.—On or before De24 cember 1 of each year of the pilot program, the Sec25 retary shall submit to the districts an estimate of 


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1 the cost to be incurred by the National Marine Fish2 eries Service for the pilot program in the following 

3 calendar year, if any, including the cost of any data 

4 collection and posting under subsection (e). If an 

5 amount equal to the estimate is not provided 

6 through contributions pursuant to paragraph (2) be7 fore December 31 of that year— 

8 (A) the Secretary shall have no obligation 

9 to conduct the pilot program activities other10 wise scheduled for such following calendar year 

11 until such amount is contributed by the dis12 tricts; and 

13 (B) the districts may not conduct any as14 pect of the pilot program until such amount is 

15 contributed by the districts. 

16 (4) ACCOUNTING.—On or before September 1 

17 of each year, the Secretary shall provide to the dis18 tricts an accounting of the costs incurred by the Sec19 retary for the pilot program in the preceding cal20 endar year. If the amount contributed by the dis21 tricts pursuant to paragraph (2) for that year was 

22 greater than the costs incurred by the Secretary, the 

23 Secretary shall— 

24 (A) apply the excess contributions to costs 

25 of activities to be performed by the Secretary 


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1 under the pilot program, if any, in the next cal2 endar year; or 

3 (B) if no such activities are to be per4 formed, repay the excess contribution to the 

5 districts. 

6 (e) REPORTING AND EVALUATION.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—On or before the 15th day 

8 of each month, the Secretary shall post on the Inter9 net website of the National Marine Fisheries Service 

10 a tabular summary of the raw data collected under 

11 the pilot program in the preceding month. 

12 (2) REPORT.—On or before June 30 of the year 

13 following the completion of the pilot program, the 

14 Secretary and the districts shall jointly submit for 

15 peer review a report that— 

16 (A) discusses the findings and conclusions 

17 of the pilot program; 

18 (B) synthesizes the data collected under 

19 paragraph (1); and 

20 (C) makes recommendations for further 

21 study and action. 

22 (f) PERMITS PROCESS.— 

23 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 180 days 

24 after the filing by the Secretary and the districts of 

25 an application for scientific research and species enVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 May 07, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2086.IH H2086

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1 hancement permits under section 10(a)(1) of the 

2 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 

3 1539(a)(1)) for the pilot program, the Secretary of 

4 the Interior, the Secretary of Commerce, or both, as 

5 appropriate, shall issue to the National Marine Fish6 eries Service and the districts all such permits that 

7 are necessary for the performance of the pilot pro8 gram. Each such permit shall authorize activities 

9 under the permits to be carried out by the districts 

10 and by the National Marine Fisheries Service. 

11 (2) DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY.—The dis12 tricts and the Secretary may delegate the authority 

13 to conduct activities under such permits to any 

14 qualified private contractor retained in accordance 

15 with subsection (c). 

16 (3) FAILURE TO ISSUE PERMITS.—The pilot 

17 program, including amendments thereto by the ap18 propriate Federal agencies, shall constitute a con19 servation plan that complies with section 10(a)(2) of 

20 the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 

21 1539(a)(2)) if the Secretaries have not carried out 

22 paragraph (1) within 270 days after the filling of an 

23 application in accordance with such paragraph. 

24 (4) TREATMENT OF STRIPED BASS.—For pur25 poses of the application of the Central Valley Project 


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1 Improvement Act (title III of Public Law 102–575) 

2 with respect to the pilot program, striped bass shall 

3 not be treated as anadromous fish. 

4 (g) NEPA.— 

5 (1) LIMITATION ON APPLICATION.—If the Sec6 retaries have not carried out subsection (f)(1) within 

7 365 days after the filing by the Secretary of Com8 merce and the districts of an application referred to 

9 in that subsection, section 102(2)(C) of the National 

10 Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 

11 4332(2)(C)) shall not apply with respect to this sec12 tion and the issuance of any permit under this sec13 tion, during the 7-year period beginning on the date 

14 of the submission of such application. 

15 (2) EMERGENCY ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS.— 

16 The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 

17 Commerce shall consult with the Council on Envi18 ronmental Quality in accordance with section 

19 1506.11 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (in20 cluding successor regulations) to develop alternative 

21 arrangements to comply with the National Environ22 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 

23 as necessary to expedite the benefits of the pilot pro24 gram for the conservation of threatened species and 

25 endangered species. 


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1 (h) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section: 

2 (1) DISTRICTS.—The term ‘‘districts’’ means 

3 the Oakdale Irrigation District and the South San 

4 Joaquin Irrigation District, California. 

5 (2) PILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘pilot pro6 gram’’ means the nonnative predator fish removal 

7 pilot program established under this section. 

8 (3) SECRETARY OF COMMERCE.—The term 

9 ‘‘Secretary of Commerce’’ means the Secretary of 

10 Commerce acting through the National Marine Fish11 eries Service. 

12 (i) STATE LAW PREEMPTED.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any restriction imposed 

14 under California law on the catch, take, or harvest 

15 of any nonnative or introduced aquatic or terrestrial 

16 species that preys upon anadromous fish and that 

17 occupies or is found in the Stanislaus River, or the 

18 permitting thereof, is hereby void and is preempted. 

19 (2) STATE PERMITS NOT REQUIRED.—Neither 

20 the districts nor the Secretaries are required to ob21 tain a Scientific Collection Permit or any other per22 mit or authorization from the California Department 

23 of Fish and Wildlife or any other division or instru24 mentality of the State of California pursuant to sec25 tion 1002(a) of the California Fish and Game Code, 


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1 section 5514(a) of the California Fish and Game 

2 Code, section 650 or title 14 of the California Code 

3 of Regulations, or any other provision of California 

4 law to implement any aspect of the pilot program. 

5 (j) SUNSET.—The authorities provided under this 

6 section shall expire 7 years after date of the issuance of 

7 the permits referred to in subsection (f)(1). 

Æ 


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