(a) Abalone Report
Card Required. All individuals including divers must have an Abalone Report
Card in their immediate possession while fishing for or taking red abalone.
Individuals must complete and return the card pursuant to regulations in this
Section and in Section
1.74.
(b) Tagging Requirements. An Abalone Report
Card includes detachable tags that shall be used to tag any abalone that is
taken and retained in the sport fishery. Any red abalone possessed by any
person shall be tagged.
(1) Cardholders shall
tag any red abalone either immediately upon exiting the water or immediately
upon boarding a vessel, whichever occurs first. For the purposes of this
section a vessel is defined as any watercraft used or capable of being used as
a means of transportation on water (reference Section
9840(a) CVC).
Cardholders shall not wait to return to their vehicle, beach site or other
location to tag any abalone in possession.
EXCEPTION: Cardholders who dive from a non-motorized
vessel such as a kayak that is in the water may wait until immediately after
disembarking from the non-motorized vessel to tag and record any abalone in
possession, but shall not transfer any abalone from his or her immediate
possession unless they are first tagged and recorded on the report
card.
(2) The cardholder
shall fill in the month, day, time of catch, and fishing location on the
abalone tag, remove and completely detach the tag from the card, and affix it
to the shell of the abalone.
(3)
The tag shall be securely fastened to the shell of the abalone. To affix the
tag, a "zip tie", string, line or other suitable material shall be passed
through a siphon hole on the abalone shell and through the tag at the location
specified on the abalone tag.
(4)
Tags shall be used in sequential order, and shall not be removed from the
report card until immediately prior to affixing to an abalone. Any tags
detached from the report card and not affixed to an abalone shall be considered
used and therefore invalid.
(5) No
person shall possess any used or otherwise invalid abalone tags not attached to
an abalone shell.
(c)
Reporting Requirements. Immediately upon tagging all abalone in possession, the
cardholder shall record the month, day, time of catch, and fishing location in
the appropriate spaces on the numbered line on the Abalone Report Card which
corresponds to the number on the tag attached to the abalone.
(d) Records of Prior Activity. All tags must
be accounted for at all times by entry of a record on the Abalone Report Card
corresponding to all tags that are not in possession. Any tag that was lost or
destroyed shall be recorded as such on the corresponding line on the Abalone
Report Card. Any tag that was inadvertently removed and is still in possession
shall be recorded as void on both the tag and the corresponding line on the
Abalone Report Card.
(e) Abalone
tags must be left affixed to the shell, including while stored at a residence
or non-transient location, until the abalone is processed for immediate
consumption.
(f) The annual fee for
the Abalone Report Card is specified in Section
7149.8
of the Fish and Game Code.