Delta smelt.

Existing law requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish fish hatcheries for the purposes of stocking the waters of California with fish, and requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to maintain and operate those hatcheries. This bill would enact the Delta Smelt Preservation and Restoration Act of 2016. The act would require the department to develop a Delta smelt hatchery program to preserve and restore the Delta smelt. The bill would require the department to enter into mitigation banking agreements with banking partners for the purpose of providing take authorizations to banking partners and to obtain funding from banking agreements. The bill would appropriate an unspecified amount of money from an unspecified source to the department for purposes of implementing the bill's provisions.