California Outdoors Q&A

Tax time

Q: Does CDFW offer any tax-deductible donation options that help conserve wildlife?

A: Yes, thank you for wanting to help native and endangered plants, animals and fish! California taxpayers have the option to help one or all three of California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) tax check-off funds when filing their state income tax return:

1. The Rare and Endangered Species Preservation Voluntary Tax Contribution Program (Line 403 on Tax Form 540) supports conservation actions that help protect hundreds of rare, threatened and endangered plants and animals within our state.
2. The California Sea Otter Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund (Line 410 on Tax Form 540) supports CDFW scientists investigating causes of sea otter mortality and reasons why the species is not thriving in California. A portion of the funding goes to State Coastal Conservancy projects which help protect California’s sea otter population.
3. The Native California Wildlife Rehabilitation Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund (Line 439 on Tax Form 540) helps sick, injured and orphaned wildlife by supporting permitted wildlife rehabilitation facilities through a new CDFW grants program.

Everything you need to know to complete your donation can be found on CDFW’s Voluntary Tax Contribution Funds webpage. We truly appreciate your positive impact on key issues affecting California’s native species!

Rockfish identification

Q: How do I know if I’ve caught a copper, quillback or vermilion rockfish?

A: This is an important question because new regulations to help protect depleted stocks of copper and quillback rockfishes go into effect this year. In addition to the new season and depth regulations, CDFW reminds anglers that there is still a one-fish sub-bag limit for both copper rockfish and quillback rockfish, and a four-fish sub-bag limit for vermilion rockfish.

While it can be challenging to identify rockfish, anglers are responsible for properly identifying the species they catch. CDFW has developed numerous fish identification resources for anglers including flyers to help distinguish copper, quillback and vermilion rockfishes from similar looking species:

Copper rockfish, canary rockfish and gopher rockfish identification

Quillback rockfish, China rockfish and black-and-yellow rockfish identification

Vermilion rockfish, canary rockfish and yelloweye rockfish identification

The Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission’s RecFIN website has additional fish identification materials. Visit CDFW’s Groundfish webpage for more information including frequently asked questions.

Albino rattlesnakes

Q: I’m an out-of-state licensed reptile breeder and I have a potential customer in California who wants to legally acquire captive bred albino Western Diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox). I read that they might be a restricted species. Would the customer need a permit to purchase the snakes?

A: No, a permit would not be necessary in this case. However, we appreciate you checking because the regulations are complicated. First, Crotalus atrox, while native to California, isn’t a restricted species. Currently, there are no native amphibians or reptiles that are a restricted species per California Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 14, sections 671(c)(3) and 671(c)(7). Note that the term "native" refers to all individuals from species and subspecies indigenous to California regardless of whether they are captive bred or from outside the state per CCR, Title 14, section 1.67.

Second, CCR, Title 14, section 40(a) states that importation of native California amphibians and reptiles is prohibited without permission from CDFW. That permission is afforded through various permits and licenses depending on the purpose of the importation, but the only one that currently applies to the pet trade is a Native Reptile Propagation Permit issued per CCR, Title 14, section 43. That section is limited to the three species of snakes that may be commercially bred: Lichanura orcutti, Lampropeltis californiae, and Pituophis catenifer (subsection 43(c)). Additionally, captively bred albino native reptiles are exempt from the requirement to possess a permit to purchase, breed, and sell (subsection 43(a)(7)), and they can be imported and exported without a permit from CDFW.

Third, note that albinos are defined as individual native reptiles lacking normal body pigment and having red or pink eyes. Therefore, if your albinos do not meet both specifications they would not be exempted from the importation prohibition in CCR, Title 14, section 40(a).

In summary, as long as your albino rattlesnakes meet the physical description in the regulations, they are exempt from the prohibition on importation and the requirement of the recipient to purchase a propagation permit. However, note that some local jurisdictions have ordinances against possession of venomous animals, so the customer should check to see if they live in one of those areas.

Answer provided by CDFW Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Coordinator Laura Patterson.

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Catch and release

Q: What’s the best way to release freshwater fish unharmed?

A: The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) recommends these five tips:

1. Land your fish as carefully and quickly as possible.
2. Try to avoid removing the fish from the water. Underwater unhooking and release is preferred.
3. Do not squeeze the fish, or touch its eyes or gills.
4. Remove only those hooks that you can see and remove easily, otherwise clip the line near the mouth on deep hooked fish.
5. Use artificial lures (no bait) to minimize deep hooking. Barbless hooks or hooks with flattened barbs make unhooking easier and less stressful on the fish.

For more information see CDFW’s 2021-2022 Freshwater Sport Fishing Regulations (PDF).

Pintail limit

Q: I saw lots of pintails while duck hunting in the Sacramento Valley this past season. I never had any trouble shooting my one per day pintail limit. Since there seems to be so many pintail, why are hunters limited to just one?

A: While pintail populations may appear healthy and plentiful in California in the fall and winter, habitat loss and other changes in the northern breeding grounds have greatly reduced the continental population of pintails, which has led to the one-bird limit.

Each year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) establishes regulation frameworks for migratory bird hunting. California must set its waterfowl hunting regulations within those frameworks which state the earliest dates that waterfowl hunting may open, the maximum number of days hunting can occur, the latest dates hunting must close and the maximum daily bag limit. In California, the California Fish and Game Commission is responsible for adopting annual regulations pertaining to waterfowl hunting including opening and closing dates. Although states must set waterfowl hunting regulations within federal frameworks, they may adopt more stringent regulations. California does this via the Commission.

Northern pintail breeding population indices declined from the late 1970s through the early 1980s. At one time, the continental breeding population estimate was as high as 10 million pintail. However, by 1991 the estimated population was reduced to 1.8 million. Similarly, recruitment indices (measured by the number of immature birds to adults in the bag) steadily declined. Even with recent record numbers of other dabbling duck species, pintails remain well below their long-term average.

In 2010, USFWS and the Flyway Councils developed an adaptive management framework to inform pintail harvest decisions. The current protocol allows for open season when the observed breeding population is equal to or greater than 1.75 million birds and either a one or two bird daily bag limit. For the 2021-22 season, the federal frameworks for pintail allowed for a 107-day season and one-bird daily bag for pintail.

California duck hunters see so many pintails each season because most of the North American pintail population winters in California and elsewhere along the Pacific Flyway. USFWS estimates that hunters in the Pacific Flyway account for about 55 percent of the nationwide pintail harvest.

Sea otters

Q: I recently vacationed in Aptos and found a dead sea otter on the beach. A park ranger said CDFW would collect it because they monitor sea otter causes of death. What typically kills sea otter?

A: CDFW has been monitoring sea otter mortality since 1968 to determine how to best care for injured or oiled sea otters and how to help recover California’s sea otter population. In recent years, the leading cause of death for sea otters has been bites from white sharks. Sharks bite sea otters to determine if they are prey, but sometimes decide they’re not worth eating because they don’t have blubber like other marine mammals. Unfortunately, most sea otters that are bitten die from their wounds.

CDFW recently reviewed data from more than 500 sea otter necropsies and found that other causes of death include parasitic infections (mostly from land-based parasites) and poisoning by domoic acid. Investigation of sea otter mortality is supported in part by the California Sea Otter Voluntary Contribution Fund. The public can help by donating to this fund on line 410 of the California state income tax form! Please visit wildlife.ca.gov/Tax-Donation for more information.

For more information visit CDFW’s Sea Otter Stranding Response webpage.

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