Section 7085.

Consistent with subdivision (b) of Section 7072, each fishery management plan or plan amendment prepared by the department, in fisheries in which bycatch occurs, shall include all of the following:

(a) Information on the amount and type of bycatch.

(b) Analysis of the amount and type of bycatch based on the following criteria:

(1) Legality of the bycatch under any relevant law.

(2) Degree of threat to the sustainability of the bycatch species.

(3) Impacts on fisheries that target the bycatch species.

(4) Ecosystem impacts.

(c) In the case of unacceptable amounts or types of bycatch, conservation and management measures that, in the following priority, do the following:

(1) Minimize bycatch.

(2) Minimize mortality of discards that cannot be avoided.

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