(a) Unless otherwise specified by the commission pursuant subdivision (b), within the California halibut trawl grounds the following requirements shall apply to the use of trawl nets:

(1) Open season and hours of operation shall be as follows:

Terms Used In California Fish and Game Code 8496

  • Commission: means the Fish and Game Commission, and "commissioner" means a member of the Fish and Game Commission. See California Fish and Game Code 30
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Fish: means a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals. See California Fish and Game Code 45
  • Net: means any gear made of any kind of twine, thread, string, rope, wire, wood, or other materials used for the gilling, entangling, trapping, or impounding of fish. See California Fish and Game Code 56
  • Open season: means that period of time during which the taking of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, or amphibians is allowed as prescribed in this code and regulations adopted by the commission. See California Fish and Game Code 62
  • Person: means any natural person or any partnership, corporation, limited liability company, trust, or other type of association. See California Fish and Game Code 67
  • season: means "open season. See California Fish and Game Code 62
  • Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Fish and Game Code 73
  • Take: means hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill, or attempt to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill. See California Fish and Game Code 86

(A) Open season shall be June 16 to March 14, inclusive.

(B) In the designated halibut trawl grounds within Monterey Bay and offshore of Port San Luis, trawl fishing gear may only be deployed to capture fish between sunrise and sunset.

(2) California halibut shall only be taken pursuant to Section 8392.

(3) Not more than 500 pounds of fish other than California halibut may be possessed, except that any amount of sea cucumbers may be possessed by a person who holds a valid sea cucumber permit and who meets any conditions adopted by the commission pursuant to Section 8405.3, and any amount of sharks, skates, or rays for which the take or possession of that species is not otherwise prohibited by this code may be taken or possessed.

(4) It is unlawful to operate a trawl net in a way that damages or destroys other types of fishing gear that is buoyed or otherwise visibly marked.

(5) Sections 8833 and 8836 do not apply to trawl nets when used or possessed on California halibut trawl grounds.

(6) Trawl nets described in Section 8843 shall only be used within the halibut trawl grounds.

(7) Single bags and cod-ends or double bags and cod-ends may be used within the halibut trawl grounds and may be possessed while a vessel is in transit directly to the halibut trawl grounds or returning directly to port. Double bags shall be hung and tied to each rib line so that the knots of each layer coincide, knot for knot, for the full length of the double layers. The double mesh section shall not measure over 25 meshes or 12 feet in length, whichever is greater. The individual meshes in the double section shall measure not less than seven and one-half inches in length.

(8) No net, whose cod-end meshes are less than prescribed in this section, may be possessed on any vessel that is operating under the authority of this section.

(b) The commission may reduce the length of the open season or hours of operation, or either of those, specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a). The commission may also modify any of the requirements of paragraphs (2) to (8), inclusive, of subdivision (a) to make those requirements more restrictive.

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 985, Sec. 9. (SB 1309) Effective January 1, 2019.)

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