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There's still time to help endangered species on your California income tax return, if you haven't yet filed it.
Near the end of Form 540 there is a section called Voluntary Contributions where you can donate one dollar or more to the Rare and Endangered Species Fund (line 403) and/or the California Sea Otter Fund (line 410).
If you itemize deductions, the amount you donate this year will be tax-deductible next year.
With more than 200 species of plants and 80 species of California's animals listed as rare, threatened or endangered, a great deal of work is needed to recover them.
Donations on Line 403 help pay for essential California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) research and recovery efforts for these plants and animals, and critical efforts to restore and conserve their habitat.
Tiburon mariposa lily, California tiger salamander, giant garter snake, yellow-billed cuckoo and island fox are among the species CDFW is currently working on to ensure they survive well into the future.
California's southern sea otter population remains below 3,000, so Enhydra lutris is still a fully protected species under state law and listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Donations to the California Sea Otter Fund on line 410 support research by CDFW scientists, who are currently studying 15 years of sea otter mortality information and recently discovered viruses not previously known in this species.
These studies should help us better understand the causes of mortality and contribute to population recovery efforts.
If someone else prepares your state tax return, please let him or her know you want to donate to the California Sea Otter Fund on line 410 or the Rare and Endangered Species Protection Program on line 403.
If you use Turbo Tax, when you're near the end of your tax return it should ask if you want to make a voluntary contribution to a special fund. Click "Yes" and go to lines 403 and 410.
CDFW scientists work with their counterparts in other government agencies, nonprofit organizations and the private sector to achieve important recovery milestones to conserve vulnerable species, thanks to California taxpayers like you.
More information about how CDFW uses funds in the Rare and Endangered Species Protection and Sea Otter programs is available at www.wildlife.ca.gov/Tax-Donation and www.facebook.com/SeaOtterFundCDFW .
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Can anglers and divers help fill other’s bag limits?
Question: We do a lot of ocean fishing and spear fishing and have a question: Does an angler or spear fisher have to stop fishing once they reach their bag limit even if they are with another licensed angler or spear fisher without their limit?
For example, if I am on my boat fishing for rockfish with a friend and I catch my limit but my licensed friend is having a slow day, can I legally gift him some of my limit and continue fishing?
The same with spearfishing. I know in years past I have been on boats where fishing was not stopped until the boat had limits for everyone fishing. This seems like a gray area to me and I just want to make sure I am following legal and ethical methods while diving and fishing. Thank you. (Charlie C.)
Answer: You can help your friends who are having a slow fishing day only if you are fishing from a boat on the ocean.
“Boat limits” are allowed only for ocean anglers fishing for finfish while aboard a boat. This does not apply for divers or for people fishing for invertebrates (e.g. lobsters and crab) or for anglers fishing in freshwater lakes and streams.
Boat limits mean that all licensed anglers (and anglers under 16) may keep fishing until enough fish have been caught to fill all the anglers’ collective bag limits. It doesn’t matter who caught the fish as long as nobody is over-limit when they depart the boat.
This provision is allowed only in this situation for saltwater anglers fishing with hook and line. It does not extend to divers or to shore fishermen or to people fishing in inland waters (California Code of Regulations, Title 14, section 27.60[c]).
GPS collars for training hunting dogs?
Question: I am training hunting dogs for raccoon and pig hunting and need to buy new tracking collars that I can also hunt with.
I’ve always used these old radio frequency collars but want to replace them with some good global positioning system (GPS) collars.
One of my hunting buddies says he thinks these GPS collars are going to be illegal to hunt with. Is that true? (Bart H., Merced)
Answer: Yes, it’s true. GPS collars and collars with treeing switches are prohibited when using dogs for the pursuit/take of mammals (CCR Title 14, section 265(d)). GPS retrieval collars employ electronics that utilize satellite transmissions.
Collars with treeing switches utilize a mercury switch mechanism that changes the collars’ signal transmission when the dog raises its head toward a treed animal.
How is the high tide line within MPAs determined and enforced?
Question: In MPA zone mapping, who and how determines what is the “mean high tide” boundary? How is this enforceable to determine if you are in the MPA zone or not? (Anonymous)
Answer: The shoreline shown on nautical charts represents the line of contact between the land and water at a selected vertical datum.
In areas affected by tidal fluctuations, this is usually the mean high-water line. In confined coastal waters of diminished tidal influence, a mean water level line may be used.
The shoreline of interior waters (rivers, lakes) is usually a line representing a specified elevation above a selected datum. A shoreline is symbolized by a heavy line.
Throw nets to catch baitfish in private lakes?
Question: Can I use a throw net to catch baitfish (threadfin shad) in a private lake? I am assuming that since it is a private lake, it should be fine, right? (Daniel B.)
Answer: California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) fishing regulations generally do not apply in any water that is self-contained without any hydrological connection to state waters, or to any fish that are planted by the owner or person in control of the property.
In these waters fishing methods are not governed by CDFW regulations. However, it would be a violation of the law to transport fish alive from the water where they were taken (CCR Title 14, section 1.63).
Can I mount a camera to my rifle scope to record my hunt?
Question: Is there any law against mounting a camera to the scope of a rifle to record my hunting experience? (Anonymous)
Answer: No, there is no law against this as long as there is no light emitted from the camera.
Carrie Wilson is a marine environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week in this column. Please contact her at
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- Written by: Carrie Wilson
SACRAMENTO – The State Water Resources Control Board on Tuesday re-adopted an emergency regulation that authorizes the curtailment of water diversions in three Sacramento River tributaries if minimum flows that serve some of the last self-sustaining populations of threatened fish are not met.
In a second action, the State Water Board re-adopted an emergency regulation that allows the State Water Board to collect information essential to managing the state’s limited water supplies.
Both of these regulations are important tools for protecting our limited water supplies and the uses that they serve in this fourth year of drought.
The State Water Board is very aware of the devastating effect that the drought is having on our communities and the farmland and businesses that support our vibrant economy.
For this reason, the State Water Board has taken an unprecedented series of actions to manage the drought’s impacts which include Tuesday’s actions.
Informational orders
Under California’s seniority based water rights system, if there is insufficient water in a watercourse to support all water rights, junior water rights holders are ordered to limit or stop their water diversions first, based on their priority, to satisfy the rights of those more senior to them.
In this fourth year of low rainfall and very limited snowpack, curtailments are certain to be implemented in key watersheds around the State.
In January, the State Water Board put water users on notice that curtailments would likely be issued due to a lack of surface water supplies again this year.
Knowing how much water is legally diverted by all water right holders is the most important piece of information needed in accurately determining which water rights must be curtailed and by when. Incorrect or outdated information could result in the curtailment of more water rights than needed and unnecessary hardship for individuals, cities, businesses, and farms.
This regulation requires water right holders to document their water right claims and report their most recent water use if information or complaints about their water rights or water use are received.
The informational Order has been used to improve basic information on water use by water right holders in both the San Joaquin and Sacramento watersheds under the emergency regulation adopted in July 2014.
The responses to these orders are now contributing to the curtailment analyses for 2015 that will inform who will be affected by curtailments and when.
The State Water Board did not re-adopt the portion of the 2014 emergency regulation that authorized the use of immediately enforceable orders of curtailment.
The exclusion of this provision from Tuesday’s action does not affect the ability of the State Water Board to take action to enforce violations of curtailment notices issued under the State’s longstanding system of water rights.
Minimum fish protections
Emergency regulations were first adopted in 2014 to establish minimum fish flows in Mill Creek, Deer Creek and Antelope Creek to protect salmon and steelhead populations as water levels decline and the weather warms.
The state and federal fish and wildlife agencies have determined that these three creeks provide the best remaining accessible habitat for the protection and recovery of the Central Valley’s few remaining endangered wild salmon and steelhead populations.
Migrating Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead face particular harm from the state's ongoing drought conditions and are at high risk because water flows will be too low and temperatures too high unless a minimum amount of water is made available to them during critical passage periods to get to refuge locations and spawn upstream.
These minimum or “belly scraping” flows ensure that enough water is flowing so that the fish can make it over the cobbles without getting stranded, but are not the flows that would be ideal under normal circumstances.
Tuesday’s action makes minor changes to the timing and amount of flows required last year based on lessons learned.
The emergency regulation continues to recognize local cooperative agreements between water users, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Service as an alternative method of compliance with the regulation.
Both regulations must be reviewed and approved by the State's Office of Administrative Law and could take effect no later than 10 days from Board submittal.
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Artists are invited to submit their original artwork to the 2015-2016 California Duck Stamp Art Contest. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will accept submissions from May 1 through June 3.
The contest is open to U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older as of March 4, 2015. Entrants need not reside in California.
The winning artwork will be reproduced on the 2015-2016 California Duck Stamp. The top submissions will also be showcased at the Pacific Flyway Decoy Association's art show in July.
The artwork must depict the species selected by the California Fish and Game Commission, which for the 2015-16 hunting season is the American green-winged teal.
The design is to be in full color and in the medium (or combination of mediums) of the artist's choosing, except that no photographic process, digital art, metallic paints or fluorescent paints may be used in the finished design.
Photographs, computer-generated art, art produced from a computer printer or other computer/mechanical output device (air brush method excepted) are not eligible to be entered into the contest and will be disqualified.
The design must be the contestant's original hand-drawn creation. The entry design may not be copied or duplicated from previously published art, including photographs, or from images in any format published on the Internet.
All entries must be accompanied by a completed participation agreement and entry form. These forms and the official rules are available online at www.wildlife.ca.gov/Duck-Stamp/Contest .
Entries will be judged at a public event to be held in June. The judges' panel, which will consist of experts in the fields of ornithology, conservation, and art and printing, will choose first, second and third-place winners, and an honorable mention.
Since 1971, CDFW's annual contest has attracted top wildlife artists from around the country. All proceeds generated from stamp sales go directly to waterfowl conservation projects throughout California.
In past years, hunters were required to purchase and affix the stamp to their hunting license. Now California has moved to an automated licensing system and hunters are no longer required to carry the physical stamps in the field (proof of purchase prints directly onto the license).
However, CDFW will still produce the stamps, which can be requested by interested individuals at www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/collectorstamps/ .
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