Recreational Crab Fishing Gear and Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Trap Validation

2025080832

California Fish and Game Commission (CDFGC)

NOE - Notice of Exemption

8/20/2025

8/20/2025

Melissa Miller-Henson

California Fish and Game Commission

Executive Director

Lead/Public Agency

715 P Street 16th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814

(916) 653-4899

fgc@fgc.ca.gov

California ocean waters

Categorical Exemption

Class 7 and 8, Sections 15307 and 15308, Title 14, California Code of Regulations

In taking its final action for the purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Public Resources Code Section 21000 et seq.), the Commission adopted the regulation relying on the categorical exemptions contained in CCR, Title 14, “CEQA Guidelines” sections 15307 (“Action by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of Natural Resources”) and 15308 (“Action by Regulatory Agencies for Protection of the Environment”). The exemptions apply to agency actions to protect natural resources and the environment. The Project updates the use of hoop nets, prohibits unique line marks required in other fisheries from being used in recreational gear, and provides additional tools to mitigate entanglement risk of federally-protected marine animals (humpback whales, blue whales and Pacific leatherback sea turtles). The Project also improves data collection efforts to inform recreational fishery management by establishing a commercial passenger fishing vessel (CPFV) validation. Recreational crab trap regulations were last updated in November 2021, and since then hoop net fishing effort for Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister) has increased; this has created the need to add a tampering prohibition and standardize allowable surface gear on hoop nets, north of Point Arguello, Santa Barbara County. The measures will prohibit individuals from moving or disturbing hoop nets without the owner’s permission and ensure that hoop net and crab trap buoys can be uniquely identified when deployed in the same region north of Point Arguello. A gear marking prohibition for California recreational crab gear will support unique line marking efforts required in other U.S. West Coast fisheries and improve gear identification in confirmed entanglements by ensuring the unique marks are used only in the fisheries that require them. After several seasons of implementing the recreational entanglement evaluation process, additional management tools are needed to better align with the commercial fishery in mitigating entanglement risk of marine animals protected under the federal Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act. Th needs include adding a trigger for confirmed entanglements of protected species (humpback whale, blue whale, Pacific leatherback sea turtle) and adding a depth restriction as an available management action to address elevated entanglement risk. Another aspect of the Project requires commercial passenger fishing vessels (CPFV) that use recreational crab traps to purchase a CPFV-specific validation, eliminating the need for customers to purchase individual validations. Additional data fields will be included in CPFV logbooks to capture crab and hoop net fishing effort during fishing trips. The Project aims to reduce entanglement risk for marine life and support gear identification in U.S. West Coast entanglements. As such, the proposal is an activity that is the proper subject of CEQA’s Class 7 and Class 8 categorical exemptions. No Exceptions to Categorical Exemptions Apply As to the exceptions to categorical exemptions set forth in CEQA Guidelines Section 15300.2, including the prospect of unusual circumstances and related effects, Commission staff’s review was guided by the California Supreme Court’s decision in Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley. Staff has reviewed all of the available information possessed by the Commission relevant to the issue and does not believe adopting the regulations poses any unusual circumstances that would constitute an exception to the categorical exemptions set forth above. Compared to the activities that fall within Class 7 and Class 8 generally, which include the example of wildlife preservation activities such as the effort here, there is nothing unusual about the proposed regulations. Therefore, staff does not believe that the Commission’s reliance on the Class 7 and Class 8 categorical exemptions are precluded by the exceptions set forth in CEQA Guidelines Section 15300.2.