California Code of Regulations › Title 14 - Natural Resources › Division 1 - Fish and Game Commission-Department of Fish and Game › Subdivision 1 - Fish, Amphibians and Reptiles › Chapter 9 - Aquaculture › Section 238.5 - Stocking of Aquaculture Products

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
Upon stocking, aquaculture products are wild and therefore
					 "fish" as defined by Section
					 45 of
					 the Fish and Game Code, except when stocked into a registered aquaculture
					 facility. No person shall stock aquaculture products in this state except in
					 accordance with the following general terms and conditions:
(a) All aquaculture products stocked under
				  these provisions must be legally reared or possessed by an aquaculturist
				  registered in this state. No person shall stock aquaculture products which are
				  parasitized, diseased or of an unauthorized species.
(b) Live aquaculture products shipped to Inyo
				  or Mono counties must be certified by the department as disease and
				  parasite-free before being stocked in waters in those counties.
(c) A registered aquaculturist producing or
				  possessing rainbow trout (
Oncorhynchus mykiss
), largemouth
				  bass (
Micropterus salmoides
), bluegill (
Lepomis
				  macrochirus
), redear sunfish (
Lepomis microlophus
),
				  Sacramento perch (
Archoplites interruptus
), channel catfish
				  (
Ictalurus punctatus
), blue catfish (
Ictalurus
				  furcatus
) and white catfish (
Ictalurus catus
), may
				  stock these species under the following terms and conditions.
Only publicly owned lakes covered by a cooperative
					 agreement between the department and the lake operator and privately owned
					 reservoirs, lakes and ponds in the following counties or portions thereof may
					 be stocked without a stocking permit: Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa,
					 Glenn, Imperial, Kern, except in the Kern River drainage above Democrat Dam;
					 Kings, Lake except in the Eel River drainage; Los Angeles, Merced, Napa,
					 Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San
					 Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Ventura, Yolo,
					 Yuba; those portions of Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer
					 and Tuolumne west of Highway 49; Fresno west of the Sierra and Sequoia National
					 Forest boundaries; Madera west of the Sierra National Forest boundary; and
					 Tulare west of the Sequoia National Forest and Sequoia National Park
					 boundaries.
(d) Except for
				  those species listed in Section
				  238.5(c) when
				  planted into those specific areas and waters covered in Section
				  238.5(c), no
				  person shall stock aquatic plants and animals except as follows:
(1) Each stocking of fish shall require a
				  separate Private Stocking Permit (FG 749 (Rev. 5/93), which is incorporated by
				  reference herein) issued by the department. A copy of this permit shall
				  accompany all shipments. However, a copy of the same permit (FG 749 (Rev.
				  5/93)) may be used for additional consignments of the same species when stocked
				  in the same water or waters, until cancelled by the department. See subsection
				  699(b) of these
				  regulations for the fee for this permit.
(2) Application for the private stocking
				  permit shall be made to the regional manager of the Fish and Game region in
				  which the fish are to be stocked. An application will be supplied to each
				  applicant upon request.
(3) No
				  person shall stock any species of fish in any water in which the stocking of
				  such fish is contrary to the fisheries management programs of the department
				  for that water or drainage, or in any water from which such fish might escape
				  to other waters where such fish are not already present. All applicants will be
				  advised upon request of the said departmental fisheries management
				  programs.
(4) Permittee shall
				  notify the regional office of the department not less than 10 days in advance
				  of stocking in order to make arrangements for inspection. Such inspection may
				  be waived at the discretion of the department. If, upon inspection, diseased or
				  parasitized fish or fish of unauthorized species are found by the department to
				  be present, they shall be disposed of by the permittee as directed by the
				  department. The department may require that the expense of any inspection made
				  necessary by the provisions of these regulations be borne by the
				  permittee.
(5) A stocking permit
				  may be cancelled or suspended by the department upon conviction of a violation
				  of these regulations by a court of competent jurisdiction. Cancellation or
				  suspension may be appealed to the commission.
(6) A stocking permit is valid only when
				  signed by the applicant.