As an example, the DFG's Region 1 office in Redding is expected to suggest a change in fishing rules for the upper Sacramento River north of Shasta Lake that would match recommendations of its new management plan for the river. Commissioners are scheduled to officially receive all suggested regulations in August and will provide a forum for discussion of the proposals at subsequent public meetings Oct. 5 in San Diego, Nov. 7 in Redding and Dec. 7 in Long Beach. The commission will adopt the new regulations at the December meeting. It has led to thousands of investigations and convictions. It has brought about the arrests of those who poach deer, elk, abalone, lobster and trout and those whose polluting activities threaten wildlife habitat.
Callers can remain anonymous and, if they choose, receive a cash reward in the wake of an arrest.
Last year, only 35 of the 3,547 poaching and pollution calls were from citizens who wanted to pass along information and, at the same time, be eligible for a cash reward. Based on the year 2000 traffic, the DFG said, it is estimated that more than 50,000 criminal matters have reached the CalTIP hotline since 1981. Just as the Department of Fish and Game's trout planting schedule is kicking into high gear at the north state's interior streams and lakes, coastal waters are about to slip into their annual summer hibernation, the DFG said. The department's Mad River Hatchery in Humboldt County said it will complete plants of sport-sized rainbow trout at four coastal locations during May and early June, then skip the remainder of June, July and most of August before resuming plants in the fall. Summer plants are suspended because water temperatures become too high for trout survival, the hatchery said.