The legislative push for ropeless gear in the Dungeness crab fishing industry is taking a pause after the Assembly bill s author was sworn in as California s 34th attorney general.
Introduced on Feb. 10, Assembly Bill 534 the Whale Entanglement Prevention Act proposed mandating ropeless gear for trap fisheries such as the crabbing industry. Authored by Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) in collaboration with Social Compassion in Legislation and the Center for Biological Diversity, the bill argued that fishermen use antiquated trapping gear that harms marine life. Four days before the legislation was scheduled to go before the Assembly committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife, Bonta became the state s attorney general.