Section 76601.

The Legislature further finds and declares that the salmon fishery of this state is affected with a public interest, in that, among other things:

(a) The harvesting, processing, manufacturing, and distributing of salmon and salmon products constitute a paramount industry of this state, which not only provides substantial and required revenues for the state and its political subdivisions and employment and a means of livelihood for many thousands of its population, but which also furnishes essential foods that are vital to the public health and welfare.

(b) The development of the salmon fishery requires, in addition to the protection and restoration of spawning and nursery habitat in rivers, rearing programs designed to rebuild salmon populations, the full utilization and efficient operation of mitigation fish hatcheries, and existing regulations that assure adequate returns of spawning salmon, an aggressive marketing program, and a program to allow for the purchase, during years of low abundance, of the allocation of fish provided to other salmon users in order to assure that the commercial salmon fishery has the maximum access to healthy salmon populations.

(c) The stabilization, maintenance, and expansion of the salmon fishery of California, and of the state, nationwide, and foreign markets for its products are necessary to assure the consuming public an adequate supply of foods which are indispensable in a proper human diet, to protect, for the state and its political subdivisions, a necessary source of tax revenue, to provide and maintain an adequate standard of living for a segment of the population of this state, to maintain proper wage scales for those engaged in the salmon fishery, and to maintain existing employment.

(d) The essentiality of salmon, low in fat and calories and naturally rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, in proper human nutrition and to the maintenance of a high level of public health is such as to require that the public be made thoroughly aware thereof, and be protected against misrepresentation and deception, by the dissemination of accurate and scientific information relative to the healthful qualities of salmon and salmon products, their various classifications and the food values and industrial and medicinal uses thereof, the methods, care and precautions necessary to their proper harvesting, processing, manufacturing, and distributing, and the necessary costs and expenses thereof, and the necessity and desirability on the part of the public of using and consuming salmon and salmon products of the highest standards of quality.

(Added by Stats. 1988, Ch. 1500, Sec. 1.)