May 24, 2022
Advocacy updates and 2022-23 regulations
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by Mark Hennelly, Vice President for Advocacy
(Originally published in the Summer 2022 issue of California Waterfowl.)
California Waterfowl opposes dog training restrictions bill
Those unfamiliar with hunting dog training may wrongly believe that certain training methods are harmful. Photo by Holly A. Heyser
While many of the requirements mandated under the bill already apply to pet boarding facilities, some of those standards are subjective and open to interpretation. For example, AB 1901 requires that each dog enclosure be maintained in a “comfortable and sanitary manner.” It similarly requires a dog training facility to not be inhabited by pests “in a number large enough to be harmful, threatening or annoying to the dogs.” People may differ on what these subjective standards mean.
AB 1901 additionally requires that dog training facility operators “use methods of training that will not hurt or injure the dog.” This could prohibit the use of shock collars, toe hitches or other methods that rely on pressure and have been traditionally utilized to successfully train dogs for hunting purposes. While hunting dog trainers have long maintained that these methods do not harm the dog, an animal control or humane officer charged with enforcing AB 1901’s requirements – especially those unfamiliar with hunting dog training – may wrongly believe that the methods are, indeed, harmful.
Fortunately, due to our opposition, AB 1901 was amended to remove almost all its requirements and costs.
CA Fish and Game Commission mulls Benicia hunting ban petition
CWA has been working to oppose a petition by a local Benicia resident to ban waterfowl hunting on navigable waters, including Southampton Bay, and shoreline areas adjacent to the city.
We believe the petition, which is pending before the California Fish and Game Commission, is entirely unwarranted and would arbitrarily infringe on the rights of waterfowl hunters to use navigable waters and shoreline areas below the normal high-water mark that have been open for hunting for as long as California has been a state.
In our correspondence with the commission, we noted that no hunting accidents in the areas in question have impacted the non-hunting public. This is due largely to mandatory hunter education requirements and the myriad of safety laws and regulations that all hunters must follow. This includes existing restrictions on hunting near occupied buildings and discharging firearms, including limited-range shotguns used for waterfowl hunting, across roads and other ways open to the public.
The level of hunting that occurs near Benicia also has no impact whatsoever on waterfowl populations or other wildlife species. Rather, waterfowl hunting supports wetland and other habitat conservation efforts through the significant funding generated by hunting licenses, duck stamps and Pittman-Robertson Act tax revenues.
We also argued that restricting hunting on publicly owned areas based on noise complaints, (mis)perceptions about conflicts with other recreational users, or other subjective arguments are simply not valid reasons for adopting additional regulations.
In the last 20 years, other local residents or entities have asked the Fish and Game Commission or the Department of Fish and Wildlife to ban waterfowl hunting on statemanaged navigable waters, including Tomales Bay and Morro Bay. These previous hunting ban requests were rightly rejected, mostly because there were neither legitimate safety issues nor waterfowl population impacts from hunting.
The commission considered the Benicia petition at its April 21st meeting in Monterey, but took no action and asked DFW for more input on the matter. Thus, it can still be considered again at a future commission meeting. On a related note, CWA also opposed a separate petition from anti-hunting groups to ban bear hunting. Fortunately, the commission denied the bear hunt ban petition.
CWA sponsors bill to protect state waterfowl monies from misuse
California Waterfowl has partnered with Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) on Senate Bill 1244 to keep $1.1 million in waterfowl habitat funds for the Department of Fish and Wildlife and its Type A and B wildlife areas. The funds, which are derived from the tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products, would ensure more reliable annual funding for the department’s waterfowl conservation activities.
An oversight has allowed monies specifically earmarked for “waterfowl” purposes from the Public Resources Account of the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund to be spent on projects that have little, if any, benefit for waterfowl species.
In previous budget years, this contributed to the department being unable to afford annual operation and maintenance expenses for its Type A and B state wildlife areas that are managed primarily for the benefit of Pacific Flyway waterfowl populations. Most notably, the oversight left DFW with inadequate funding to annually pay for necessary wetland management activities, including mosquito abatement, water pumping, fuel for equipment and noxious weed control. This delayed the flooding of wetlands and reduced moist-soil plant food resources for waterfowl.
The Newsom Administration has made much progress in redirecting Cigarette Tax “waterfowl” funds back to the department and its state wildlife areas through recent state budget proposals. SB 1244 would ensure that future administrations continue this corrective policy.
In its first hearing in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, SB 1244 passed on the consent calendar. It will next be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
CA Fish and Game Commission finalizes 2022-23 waterfowl regulations
In April, the California Fish and Game Commission approved the waterfowl seasons and bag limits for 2022-23 at its meeting in Monterey. CWA attended the meeting and was pleased to support DFW’s proposed regulations, which include incrementally increasing the duck and goose season lengths to 102 days and adding one day to the falconry-only season in the Southern San Joaquin, Southern California and Balance of State Zones.
This package also included a proposal that was developed by CWA’s Regulations and Traditions Committee that transfers two days from the back half of the early Canada goose season to the opening weekend of the late goose season within the Balance of State Zone. This change will especially help increase hunting opportunity for large Canada geese and Aleutian geese – two species that are overabundant or even considered a depredation problem – during the late season.
