Fully protected fish: Owens pupfish: California State Safe Harbor Agreement Program Act.

Existing law prohibits the taking or possession of a fully protected fish, except as provided, and designates the Owens pupfish as a fully protected fish. Under existing law, the Department of Fish and Wildlife is authorized to permit the taking of a fully protected fish for necessary scientific research, including efforts to recover fully protected, threatened, or endangered species. Existing law, the California State Safe Harbor Agreement Program Act, establishes a program to encourage landowners to manage their lands voluntarily, by means of state safe harbor agreements approved by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, to benefit endangered, threatened, or candidate species without being subject to additional regulatory restrictions as a result of their conservation efforts. The act authorizes the department to authorize specified acts that are otherwise prohibited pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act by entering into a safe harbor agreement. Under existing law, the act remains in effect until January 1, 2020. This bill would authorize the department to permit the taking of the Owens pupfish in the Owens River watershed if the take is authorized under a safe harbor agreement. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 5515 of the Fish and Game Code, proposed by AB 1845 and AB 2488, that would become operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.