2005 California Fish and Game Code Sections 1725-1728 CHAPTER 7.2. TRUST MANAGEMENT

1725.  This act shall be known as the Trout and Steelhead
Conservation and Management Planning Act of 1979.
1726.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares that it is the
policy of the state to:
   (a) Establish and maintain wild trout stocks in suitable waters of
the state which are readily accessible to the general public as well
as in such waters in remote areas.
   (b) Establish angling regulations designed to maintain the wild
trout fishery in such waters by natural reproduction.
1726.4.  It is the intent of the Legislature that the department, in
administering its existing wild trout program, shall conduct a
biological and physical inventory of all California trout streams and
lakes to determine the most suitable angling regulations for each
stream or lake.  A determination shall be made for each stream or
lake regarding whether it should be managed as a wild trout fishery,
or whether its management should involve the planting of trout.  In
making such inventory, priority shall be given to those streams and
lakes where public use is heaviest, which have the highest biological
potential for producing sizeable wild trout, which are inhabited by
rare species, or where the quality of the fishery is threatened or
endangered.  Biological and physical inventories prepared for each
stream, stream system, or lake shall include an assessment of the
resource status, threats to the continued well-being of the fishery
resource, the potential for fishery resource development, and
recommendations, including necessary changes in the allowed take of
trout, for the development of each stream or lake to its full
capacity as a fishery.
   This section does not furnish any public entity or private party
with any new or additional authority to affect the management of, or
access to, any private land without the written consent of the owner.
  Privately owned lakes and ponds not open to the use of the general
public shall be subject to the provisions of this section only with
the written consent of the owner.  This chapter shall not be
construed as authorizing or requiring special treatment of adjacent
land areas or requiring land use  restrictions.  It is the intent of
the Legislature that this chapter shall not diminish the existing
authority of the department, nor shall it interfere with the
department's existing fisheries management planning process.
1726.5.  The Legislature further finds and declares that activities
and programs mandated by this chapter are a continuation and
perpetuation of the department's existing wild trout program and
other programs, and as such they shall be funded from existing
budgetary resources.
1727.  In order to provide for a diversity of available angling
experiences throughout the state, it is the intent of the Legislature
that the commission maintain the existing wild trout program, and as
part of such program develop catch and release fisheries in the more
than 20,000 miles of trout streams and approximately 5,000 lakes
containing trout in California.  As part of this program, beginning
in 1980:
   (a) The department shall establish an ongoing program to determine
the viability of various forms of catch and release regulations for
trout streams and lakes.  A zero-limit catch and release fishery
means that all trout must be released by the angler.  A
one-trout-limit catch and release fishery means that only one trout
may be kept by the angler, and a two-trout-limit catch and release
fishery means that only two trout may be kept by the angler.  In
conjunction with determining the best management tools for the one-
or two-trout-limit fisheries, the department shall consider imposing
minimum and maximum size limits.
   (b) In administering its existing wild trout program, the
department shall each year prepare a list of no less than 25 miles of
stream or stream segments and at least one lake that it deems
suitable for consideration as catch and release trout fisheries.
This list shall be submitted to the commission for its consideration
at the regular October commission meeting.  Such recommendations by
the department shall give highest priority to designating trout
waters as zero-limit fisheries, even if on a temporary basis.  The
department shall also consider making proposals for zero-limit trout
fisheries during seasons otherwise closed by the commission.
   (c) The commission may remove any stream or lake which it has
designated as a catch and release fishery from the program at any
time.  If any such waters are removed from the program, another
stream or lake of a comparable size may be added to the program.
   (d) The commission shall in January of each year submit a report
to the Legislature regarding progress in implementing this chapter.
In such report, the commission shall state its reasons why any stream
or lake listed by the department as suitable for consideration as a
catch and release fishery was or was not included in the program.
The commission shall also state its reasons for removing and
replacing any waters within the program.
   (e) The Legislature shall review the progress of this program in
1986.
1728.  For purposes of this chapter, "trout" includes steelhead
trout.