Commercial fishing: lobster management enhancement.

Existing law prohibits the taking of lobsters for commercial purposes except under a valid lobster permit issued by the Department of Fish and Game. The base permit fee for a lobster permit is $265. This bill, commencing April 1, 2010, and until March 31, 2015, would impose, in addition to the permit fee, a supplemental fee of $300, to be known as the Lobster Management Enhancement Supplement. The bill would require the department to deposit supplement revenues in the Lobster Management Enhancement Account, which the bill would create in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. The bill would require that money in the account be expended by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, exclusively to fund specified projects and programs to improve lobster sustainability and management. The bill would create a 5-member Lobster Management Enhancement Advisory Committee to recommend to the department projects and programs and budgets for the expenditure of account moneys, including a plan to prioritize expenditures. Those lobster management enhancement provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2016. Existing law prescribes the construction and dimensions of a wire lobster trap. This bill would revise the prescribed dimensions of wire lobster traps, and would add provisions relating to the use of a wire to hold the escape gap in place.