Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Nicholas J. Calderon, Parks Director
Subject: Expenditure of California Fish and Game Propagation Funds for the Coastside Fishing Club/Coastside Fishing Foundation’s Net Pen Program
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing the expenditure of $10,000 in the Parks Department’s California Fish and Game Propagation Fund for the Coastside Fishing Club/Coastside Fishing Foundation’s Net Pen Program.
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BACKGROUND:
The California Fish and Game Propagation Fund (“Fund”) is a special revenue fund that is maintained by the County Parks Department and comprised of revenue generated when individuals are fined for violating Sections 12009 and 13003 of the California Fish and Game Code while in San Mateo County. Pursuant to Section 12009, “the money collected from any fine or forfeiture imposed or collected for the taking of abalone for any purpose other than for profit in violation of this article or any other provision of law shall be deposited” in the treasury of the county in which the violation occurs. Section 13003 states “[u]nless otherwise provided by law, all fines and forfeitures imposed or collected in any court of this state for violations of any of the provisions of this code or regulation made pursuant thereto, or any other law providing for the protection or preservation of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, or amphibia, shall be deposited as soon as practicable after the receipt thereof with the county treasurer of the county in which the court is situated.”
Section 13100 of the California Fish and Game Code states, “[t]he amounts paid to and retained in the county treasury pursuant to Sections 12009 and 13003 shall be deposited in a county fish and wildlife propagation fund and expended for the protection, conservation, propagation, and preservation of fish and wildlife, under the direction of the board of supervisors, pursuant to this chapter.” Pursuant to County Ordinance Code Section 2.63.020, the County Parks Commission is responsible for making recommendations to the Board of Supervisors regarding the expenditure of fish and game propagation funds.
As of the end of FY 2021-22, the Fund held $65,356.58 in revenue.
DISCUSSION:
In January 2023, the Parks Department received an application from the Coastside Fishing Club/Coastside Fishing Foundation seeking $10,000 in Fish and Game Propagation funds to fund its Net Pen Program. To date, the Net Pen Program has acclimated approximately 5,450,800 Chinook salmon smolt in Pillar Point Harbor. According to the application “[t]he basic idea of acclimation is to save the 3" to 4" fish the hardships of low water, high temperature trips down the Feather and Sacramento River systems with all its predators, by truck, and then feed and acclimate them in the outer harbor for a week. Salmon will return to the general areas (Pillar Point), after a couple years in the ocean to feed and ready themselves for their spawning journey back up the freshwater systems from which they came.”
In total, the 2023 release will cost $17,609 and acclimate approximately 750,000 Chinook salmon smolt in Pillar Point Harbor. The applicant is requesting $10,000 to pay for fish vaccines, equipment rental, insurance, and administration. Because the Net Pen Program advances the objective of the Fish and Game Fund by propagating Chinook salmon populations in San Mateo County and Northern California, the Department recommends that the requested funds be appropriated in the Fish and Game Propagation Fund’s FY 2023-24 Recommended Budget and an expenditure in the amount of $10,000 be made on or after July 1, 2023, to fund the Net Pen Program.
The San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed this application at its April 6, 2023, meeting, and unanimously recommended, in part, that this Board authorize the expenditure of $10,000 in California Fish and Game Propagation Funds for the Coastside Fishing Club/Coastside Fishing Foundation Net Pen Program.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Adequate funding exists within the Department’s California Fish and Game Propagation Fund for this purpose, with no impact to the Department’s operating budget beyond administrative costs. An appropriation in the amount of $10,000 will be added to the Fish and Game Fund’s FY 2023-24 Recommended Budget and an expenditure in the same amount will be realized on or around July 1, 2023.