Section 7078.

(a) The commission shall hold at least two public hearings on a fishery management plan or plan amendment prior to the commission's adoption or rejection of the plan.

(b) The plan or plan amendment shall be heard not later than 60 days following receipt of the plan or plan amendment by the commission. The commission may adopt the plan or plan amendment at the second public hearing, at the commission's meeting following the second public hearing, or at any duly noticed subsequent meeting, subject to subdivision (c).

(c) When scheduling the location of a hearing or meeting relating to a fishery management plan or plan amendment, the commission shall consider factors, including, among other factors, the area of the state, if any, where participants in the fishery are concentrated.

(d) Notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government Code, prior to the adoption of a fishery management plan or plan amendment that would make inoperative a statute, the commission shall provide a copy of the plan or plan amendment to the Legislature for review by the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture or, if there is no such committee, to the appropriate policy committee in each house of the Legislature.

(e) The commission shall adopt any regulations necessary to implement a fishery plan or plan amendment no more than 60 days following adoption of the plan or plan amendment. All implementing regulations adopted under this subdivision shall be adopted as a regulation pursuant to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. The commission's adoption of regulations to implement a fishery management plan or plan amendment shall not trigger an additional review process under the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).

(f) Regulations adopted by the commission to implement a plan or plan amendment shall specify any statute or regulation of the commission that is to become inoperative as to the particular fishery. The list shall designate each statute or regulation by individual section number, rather than by reference to articles or chapters.

(Added by Stats. 1998, Ch. 1052, Sec. 8. Effective January 1, 1999.)