Salmon and steelhead trout: California Ocean Protection Trust Fund.

The California Ocean Protection Act establishes the Ocean Protection Council in state government and provides that the council consists of the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, the Secretary for Environmental Protection, the Chair of the State Lands Commission, and 2 public members appointed by the Governor. The act requires the council, among other things, to coordinate activities of state agencies that are related to the protection and conservation of coastal waters and ocean ecosystems, and to establish policies to coordinate the collection and sharing of scientific data related to coast and ocean resources between agencies. The act also establishes the California Ocean Protection Trust Fund and authorizes moneys in the trust fund to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, and upon authorization by the council, for grants or loans to public agencies, nonprofit corporations, or private entities for, and direct expenditures on, various projects and activities related to the protection of coastal and ocean resources. This bill would additionally include among the projects and activities eligible for funding from the trust fund projects and activities related to restoration of native salmon and steelhead trout populations and restoration of the state's salmon fishery.