SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Due to water damming and diversions, habitat degradation, climate change, and aridification, California salmon and steelhead populations have declined dramatically and have completely disappeared from many streams. Most of California’s anadromous salmonid species are listed under the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3) and the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.).
(b) Salmon and steelhead trout have high cultural, ecologic, economic, nutritional, and recreational value. They are critical to ecosystem health, and human communities depend on salmon and steelhead trout for both protein and income. Salmon also figure centrally in the worldview and daily life of indigenous people.
(c) The Coastal Monitoring Program was created in 2011 by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service to provide comprehensive data on endangered anadromous fish populations to inform agency species status reviews, state and federal recovery plan implementation, and management activities. The program is currently expanding to include the anadromous rivers of the Central Valley and is now referred to as the California Monitoring Program.
(d) The California Monitoring Program provides critical data to ensure that the hundreds of millions of dollars invested by the state annually in the recovery of these iconic fish species through watershed and fishery restoration grant programs are invested strategically and effectively.