76600-76605
FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL CODE
SECTION 76600-76605
76600. The Legislature finds and declares that the provisions of this chapter are enacted in the exercise of the power of this state for the purposes of protecting and furthering the public health and welfare. 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. 76602. The Legislature declares that the purposes of this chapter are as follows: (a) To enable the salmon fishery, with the aid of the state, to develop, maintain, and expand the state, nationwide, and foreign markets for salmon and salmon products harvested, processed, manufactured, sold, or distributed in this state for human consumption, and the use and consumption of salmon and salmon products in those markets. (b) To enable the salmon fishery to purchase, where there are willing sellers, the allocation rights to harvest salmon, as they may exist, of other salmon user groups to provide fishermen, and thereby the salmon fishery, greater access to salmon stocks than otherwise may have been provided pursuant to a conservation, management, or allocation agreement. (c) In aid, but not in limitation, of the purpose in subdivision (a), to authorize and enable the director to formulate and effectuate, directly or in cooperation with other agencies, organizations, including the Oregon Salmon Commission, the West Coast Fisheries Development Foundation, and the National Fish and Seafood Promotion Council, and instrumentalities which are specified in this chapter, sales stimulation and consumer, or other educational programs designed to increase the use and consumption of salmon and salmon products for human consumption. (d) To provide funds for the administration and enforcement of this chapter by mandatory fees to be collected in the manner which is prescribed in this chapter. 76603. This chapter shall be liberally construed. 76604. If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, that invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this act are severable. 76605. A violation of this chapter is a misdemeanor.