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 6 - Fish, Commercial › Section 189 - Commercial Groundfish Fishing

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a)
				  General Provisions. No person shall engage in commercial groundfish fishing
				  except as provided by the Fish and Game Code and regulations provided herein.
				  Unless otherwise specified in this Division, applicable regulations adopted by
				  the U.S. Secretary of Commerce pursuant to the Magnuson Fishery Conservation
				  and Management Act and published in Title 50, Code of Federal Regulations
				  (CFR), Parts 600 and 660 are hereby incorporated and made a part of these
				  regulations. Federal regulations shall be made available upon request from the
				  Department of Fish and Wildlife, Marine Region, email:
				  groundfish@wildlife.ca.gov.
(b)
				  General Definitions. For the purposes of these regulations, the following
				  definitions shall apply:
(1) Land or Landing.
				  The transfer of fish from a fishing vessel. Once offloading begins, all fish
				  aboard the vessel are counted as part of the landing.
(2) Closure. Taking and retaining,
				  possessing, or landing the particular species or species group is prohibited.
				  Unless otherwise announced in the Federal Register, offloading must begin
				  before the time the fishery closes.
(3) Sorting. It is unlawful for any person to
				  fail to sort prior to the first weighting after offloading, those groundfish
				  species or species groups for which there is a trip limit, size limit, quota,
				  or optimum yield, if the vessel fished or landed in an area during a time when
				  such trip limit, size limit, quota, or optimum yield applied. This provision
				  applies to both the limited entry and open access fisheries.
(4) Trip Limits. Trip limits specify the
				  amount of fish that a vessel may legally land per fishing trip or cumulatively
				  per unit of time or the number of landings of fish that may be made by a vessel
				  in a given period of time.
(A) Daily Trip
				  Limit. Daily trip limit is the maximum amount of groundfish that may be taken
				  and retained, possessed, or landed per vessel in 24 consecutive hours, starting
				  at 0001 hours local time. Only one landing of groundfish shall be made in that
				  24-hour period. Daily trip limits shall not be accumulated during multiple day
				  trips.
(B) Cumulative Trip Limit.
				  Cumulative trip limit is the maximum amount of groundfish that may be taken and
				  retained, possessed, or landed per vessel in a cumulative fishing period,
				  without a limit on the number of landings or trips.
(5) Size Limits and Length Measurement. Total
				  length is measured from the tip of the snout (mouth closed) to the tip of the
				  tail (pinched together) without mutilation of the fish or the use of additional
				  force to extend the length of the fish.
(6) Limited Entry Fishery. Limited entry
				  fishery includes vessels using trawl gear, longline, and trap (or pot) gear
				  fished pursuant to the harvest guidelines, quotas, and other management
				  measures governing the limited entry fishing. Limited entry gear includes only
				  longline, trap (or pot) or trawl gear used under the authorization of a valid
				  limited entry permit.
(7) Open
				  Access Fishery. Open access fishery includes vessels using exempted gear, and
				  longline and trap (or pot) gear fished pursuant to the harvest guidelines,
				  quotas, and other management measures governing open access fishing. Exempted
				  gear includes all types of fishing gear except longline, trap (or pot), and
				  groundfish trawl gear, and includes trawl gear used to take pink shrimp, and
				  spot and ridgeback prawns, and south of 38° 57' 30? N (Point Arena),
				  California halibut and sea cucumber. A State of California limited entry permit
				  is required for the take of sea cucumbers.
(8) Federally Designated Routine Management
				  Measures. Routine Management Measures, identified as catch restrictions
				  intended to keep landings within the harvest levels announced by the Secretary
				  of Commerce and noticed in the Federal Register by the National Marine
				  Fisheries Service, and hereby incorporated and made a part of these
				  regulations. Should any federal management measures conflict with existing
				  statutes, including Fish and Game Code Sections
				  8496
				  and
				  8842(b),
				  or regulations of the commission, the provisions in the statutes or regulations
				  which conflict with the federal management measures are made
				  inoperative.