Governor Approves 365-Day Fishing License
Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 817 into law, which sets out a process for creating a year-round sport-fishing license. Before the change, a fishing license expired on December 31, regardless of when it was issued. Sponsored by Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Santa Rosa), AB-817 also authorizes the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on or before January 1, 2023, to allow sport-fishing licenses to be displayed on a mobile device. Every angler over 16 years of age must have a fishing license under the bill.
Wood said California needs to abandon its “antiquated” fishing license system. “Modernizing our sport fishing license to one that has value a full 365 days from the date of purchase will encourage more Californians to fish and increase fishing license revenue that funds critical state fishing and conservation programs,” Wood said. AB-817 was signed into law on October 7, 2021, by the governor.
AB-817 also directs the CDFW director “to provide the Legislature, on or before Jan. 1, 2025, recommendations for increasing fees for all sport fishing licenses to levels that provide adequate resources to fund sport fishing, including all necessary activities at the department.” The bill would require the director to follow up on or before July 1, 2028, by submitting a report to the legislature on the status and implementation of any licensing changes. In addition, the bill makes a resident over 65 years old eligible for reduced fees on a sport-fishing license under certain conditions.
404 Illegal Dope-Growing Water Diversions Eliminated
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s cannabis enforcement program has released year-end numbers for the 2021 calendar year that include the removal of 404 illegal water diversions. The CDFW investigates cannabis cultivations to uncover and curtail activities that result in significant environmental damage. Some of the most serious environmental issues involve unauthorized streambed alterations, water diversions, habitat destruction, illegal use of pesticides, and poaching.
In addition to water diversions removed, other notable actions accomplished by the CDFW include 2.6 million illegal cannabis plants eradicated, 487,270 pounds of illegal cannabis flowers destroyed, 1,125 search warrants served, 794 firearms seized, and 32,230 pounds of trash removed from public lands. The CDFW has 68 dedicated cannabis enforcement officers who work with county, state, and federal partners to combat illegal cultivation activity. The department encourages the public to report environmental crimes such as water pollution and poaching to the CalTIP hotline by calling (888) 334-2258 or by texting information to TIP411 (847411).
Smith River Group Seeks to Protect Oregon Tributaries
Members of the Crescent City– based Smith River Alliance (SRA) are ramping up an effort to protect streams in Oregon that feed into the fabled river. “It has never been enough just to protect the Smith River in California,” said the organization’s letter asking for support. “In Oregon, there is a wild, untouched reach of the Smith whose waters are a vibrant blue, with exceptional clarity, that provides valuable habitat for endangered populations of coho salmon, several rare plants, and other fish and wildlife.”
The Smith River National Recreation Area (SRNRA) was created in 1990 and protects the California portion of the 25-mile-long river, which flows from the Klamath Mountains to the Pacific Ocean in Del Norte County in extreme northwestern California. The SRA letter adds: “The NRA boundary was stopped at the Oregon border, leaving the North Fork of the Smith River and its tributaries unprotected.” The group’s members will be working with Congress to add 75 miles of river for protection, including Baldface and Chrome Creeks. The SRA and a coalition of partners are seeking to add 58,000 acres to the SRNRA.
In addition, the group is doing advocacy work to “permanently withdraw the land from new mining claims,” so as to “protect this sensitive area and the water supply of downstream communities from strip mining.” It also intends to “complete a special study of streams, fens, wetlands, and potentially unstable and vulnerable aquatic habitat areas.” For more information or to provide support, go to https:// smithriveralliance.org.
Brookies Planted in Sac Waters
As part of its Fishing in the City program, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is stocking brook trout into half a dozen urban and suburban park ponds and lakes in the Sacramento area through March.
Participating waters include those at Granite Regional Park, North Natomas Regional Park, Mather Regional Park, Hagan Community Park, Howe Community Park and Elk Grove Regional Park. General dates and locations of stocking are available at the CDFW’s online Fish Planting Schedule.
The brook trout being stocked into Sacramento-area waters are sterile and will not compete with, displace, or threaten native fish species.
CalTrout Co-Founder Wins Conservation Honor
Richard May, a founder of California Trout, has been selected as Conservationist of the Year for 2022 by Fly Fisherman magazine. “At his very core Richard May is a fly fisherman,” reports CalTrout’s website about the Fly Fisherman award. “Not the kind who dabbles here and there or takes one or two trips a year, but the kind who sleeps in his car to catch the evening rise or be on the stream for the morning bite before anyone else shows up.”
“It seems fitting given that 2021 was the 50th anniversary of the formation of California Trout, the first regional fisheries conservation organization model of its kind,” said CalTrout field reporter Michael Wier on the organization’s website, https://caltrout.org.
Bill Jennings Named to California Outdoors Hall of Fame
The California Outdoors Hall of Fame has named conservationist Bill Jennings of Stockton as one of its new members. Arriving in California in the early 1980s, Jennings has fought in the fishery-permitting processes for nearly four decades. He founded the Delta Angler, a fly-fishing store and smoke shop, and quickly became involved in protecting fisheries. Jennings has written many comment letters on issues, and supported many protests and petitions. He frequently testifies in evidentiary proceedings. Following a massive fish kill, Jennings cofounded the Committee to Save the Mokelumne and served as its chairman. He has chaired the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance since 1988 and has been its executive director since 2005.
Tom Martens Wins Outdoor Writing Awards
Davis resident Tom Martens won two writing awards in a contest sponsored by the Outdoor Writers Association of California (OWAC), a statewide group of writers, editors, and photographers. For work published as “The Good Fight” column in this magazine, Martens won second place in the Best News Article category in the OWAC’s 2021 Excellence in Craft Contest for his column about action to simplify the inland trout-fishing regulations and third place in the Best News Article category for a column on how anglers in some areas would have to wait to fish in order to avoid person-to-person contact and being infected with coronavirus.
Martens is a freelance writer who is an editor at large of California Fly Fisher and former outdoor editor of the Contra Costa Times newspaper in Walnut Creek, and held various fundraising positions at the Trust for Public Land in San Francisco.