The department shall adopt regulations that provide for the control of aquatic plant pests using artificially introduced triploid grass carp under a permit issued by the department. The regulations shall do all of the following:
(a) Restrict triploid grass carp introductions to those triploid grass carp that have been rendered sterile immediately after the eggs have been fertilized.
(b) Require individual fish to be checked to ensure that a third, triploid, set of chromosomes has been retained, preventing further reproduction by that individual fish.
(c) Limit aquatic plant pest control programs using triploid grass carp to the use of sterile triploid grass carp with documented certification of triploidy to ensure sterility.
(d) Require the identification by tagging of individual fish as the property of each owner.
(e) Require the posting of notices at stocked bodies of water declaring the penalties for removing triploid grass carp.
(f) Limit the permits for the use of triploid grass carp in waters on golf courses located in residential areas to those waters that are determined by the department to be secure from the removal of triploid grass carp to unauthorized waters.
(g) Provide for management of the triploid grass carp populations in a manner consistent with the provisions of this code where the department finds that such actions will benefit the long-term health of the state’s biodiversity as a whole.
(h) Until January 1, 1999, the regulations shall not authorize the issuance of permits for the use of triploid grass carp in waters located within condominium areas of any residential area for which a permit may not be issued pursuant to subdivision (f) except at three locations within the area authorized pursuant to this subdivision. The three locations shall be selected by the department in consultation with the Imperial Irrigation District. The limitation to three locations is necessary to enable monitoring of human-induced movement of triploid grass carp to unauthorized waters and to permit the evaluation of the impact of the experiment.
(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 745, Sec. 56. Effective October 12, 2001.)