SACRAMENTO – For decades, the State of California has required fish landing receipts to be completed by hand and submitted via the US Mail twice per month.

This process has proven extremely burdensome, inefficient and antiquated.

Fish tickets, also known as landing receipts, are used by commercial fish buyers to report what type of fish was caught, how much was caught, etc.

Current law authorizes the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to accept fish tickets by paper submissions twice a month.

This is a tedious and time-consuming process and prevents a shift to more real-time management of fisheries, which is critically needed.

This new law will update the processes for electronic submission as CDFW transitions to accept fish tickets electronically.

The Fish and Game Commission adopted regulations through its administrative procedures to ensure the switch from paper landing receipts to electronic fish tickets. However, the commission lacked the authority to alter reporting requirements.

“Transitioning from paper landing receipts to electronic fish tickets just makes sense. It helps to save time, reduce costs, and it will allow officials to better manage the state’s multi-billion dollar fisheries,” Sen. McGuire said. “This has been a team effort, and this new law will benefit fishermen, fish buyers, the state’s economy, and the environment by helping us to better maintain healthy and sustainable commercial fisheries.”

SB 269 received overwhelming bipartisan support passing both the Senate and Assembly without opposition.

The legislation was supported by California Fisheries and Seafood Institute, California Wetfish Producers Association and The Nature Conservancy.