ARTICLE 1. General Provisions [10500. - 10514.]

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC 1.

in effect

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10500. Section 10500.

Except under a permit or specific authorization, it is unlawful to do any of the following: (a) To take or possess a bird or mammal in a game refuge. (b) To use or have in possession in a game refuge, a firearm, BB device as defined in Section 16250 of the Penal Code, crossbow, bow and arrow, or a trap or other contrivance designed to be, or capable of being, used to take birds or mammals, or to discharge a firearm or BB device or to release an arrow or crossbow bolt into a game refuge. (c) To take or possess a fish or amphibian in a fish refuge, or to use or have in possession in that refuge a contrivance designed to be used for catching fish. (d) To take or possess a bird, discharge a firearm or BB device, or release an arrow or crossbow bolt, within or into a waterfowl refuge. (e) To take or possess a quail in a quail refuge. (f) To take or possess an invertebrate or specimen of marine plant life in a marine life refuge. (g) To take or possess a clam or an instrument or apparatus capable of being used to dig clams in a clam refuge.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10501. Section 10501.

Before the commission opens any game refuge for the taking of deer, a public hearing shall be held at which at least one member of the commission shall be in attendance and such officers and employees of the department as are deemed necessary or are requested by interested parties, notice of which has been published at least once and at least 30 days prior to the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation which is printed and published in the county, or one of the counties, in which the area lies. If there is no newspaper of general circulation in any such county, the notice shall be published in such newspaper of general circulation as the commission determines will be most likely to give notice to the inhabitants of the area and such determination by the commission shall be final and conclusive.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10501.5. Section 10501.5.

(a) It is unlawful to fly any aircraft, including any airplane or helicopter, less than 3,000 feet above water or land over the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, and less than 1,000 feet above water or land over the A : o Nuevo State Reserve, the Farallon Islands Game Refuge, the Point Lobos State Reserve, the California Sea Otter Game Refuge, and Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, and San Nicolas Islands, except for rescue operations, in case of any emergency, or for scientific or filmmaking purposes under a permit issued by the department after a review of potential biological impacts. (b) This section does not apply to the landing of any aircraft, including any airplane or helicopter, on Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, San Nicolas, and Farallon Islands for administrative or operational purposes of the National Park Service, the United States Navy, or the United States Coast Guard.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10502. Section 10502.

The commission may: (a) Exercise control over all mammals and birds in a game refuge, and exercise control over all fish in a fish refuge. (b) Authorize the department to issue, under any restrictions it deems best, permits that authorize the person named therein to carry, use, and possess, within a refuge, firearms, traps, or other contrivances for taking birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, or reptiles. (c) Except as provided in Sections 10502.5, 10502.8, 10655, and 10657, authorize the department to issue permits that authorize the person named therein to take birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, or reptiles within a refuge. (d) Adopt regulations not in conflict with any law for the protection of birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles, or marine life within a refuge.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10502.5. Section 10502.5.

The director may appoint the Director of the Hopkins Marine Life Refuge. The Director of the Hopkins Marine Life Refuge may issue a permit to any person under which the person may enter the Hopkins Marine Life Refuge for the purpose of taking fish or marine plants under the conditions that the department determines necessary for the protection and propagation of fish and wildlife and related scientific purposes in that refuge.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10502.6. Section 10502.6.

(a) The director may appoint a Director of the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge. (b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no state funds, including, but not limited to, the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, shall be used to pay the compensation or expenses of the Director of the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge. A city, county, or special district may use any funds, including state funds appropriated to the city, county, or special district, to pay the compensation and expenses of the director and a public postsecondary educational institution may use private or state funds to pay the compensation and expenses of the director. (c) The Director of the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge may issue a permit authorizing any person to enter the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge for the purpose of taking fish or marine plants under the conditions that the department determines to be necessary for the protection and propagation of fish and wildlife and related scientific purposes in that refuge. (d) The Director of the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge shall erect and maintain signs identifying the boundaries of the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge. The signs shall contain notification regarding the permit requirements of the refuge. The signs shall specify that an access permit shall be obtained from the Director of the Dana Point Marine Life Refuge and a scientific collector’s permit from the department in order to take any fish or specimen of marine plant life.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10502.7. Section 10502.7.

(a) The director may appoint the Director of the Bodega Marine Life Refuge. (b) The Director of the Bodega Marine Life Refuge may authorize any person to enter the Bodega Marine Life Refuge for the purpose of taking fish, invertebrates, or marine plants for scientific study and to take or possess fish, invertebrates, or marine plants for scientific study. (c) The Director of the Bodega Marine Life Refuge may authorize any person to anchor a vessel in the Bodega Marine Life Refuge for the purpose of scientific study.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10502.8. Section 10502.8.

(a) The director may appoint the Director of the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Refuge. (b) The Director of the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Refuge may authorize any person to enter the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Refuge for the purpose of taking fish or marine plants under the conditions that the department determines necessary for the protection and propagation of fish and wildlife and related scientific purposes in that refuge. (c) The Director of the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Refuge, upon recommendation of the Director of the Catalina Marine Science Center, may authorize any person involved in oceanographic and scientific research in and around Santa Catalina Island to anchor or moor a vessel in the Catalina Marine Science Center Marine Life Refuge.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10503. Section 10503.

For the purposes of propagating, feeding, and protecting birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles, the commission may do all of the following: (a) Accept, on behalf of the state, donations of an interest in land within a refuge. (b) Accept, on behalf of the state, from a person owning and in possession of patented land, other than land covered and uncovered by the ordinary daily tide of the Pacific Ocean, the right to preserve and protect all birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles on the patented land. (c) Accept, on behalf of the state, donations of birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles, and of money given or appropriated. Those donations shall be used for the purposes for which they are accepted, and, as nearly as may be, for any purpose indicated by the donor. (d) Acquire, by purchase, lease, rental, or otherwise, and occupy, develop, maintain, use, and administer land, or land and nonmarine water, or land and nonmarine water rights, suitable for state game farms or game refuges.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10504. Section 10504.

Any property acquired for game refuges shall be acquired in the name of the State, and shall, at all times, be subject to such regulations as may be prescribed from time to time by the commission for the occupation, use, operation, protection, and administration of such property as game refuges.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10505. Section 10505.

The department shall do all things necessary to secure a valid title in the State to the property acquired for game refuges, but no payment shall be made therefor until the title is satisfactory to the Attorney General and is vested in the State. The acquisition of the property by the State is not prohibited by reason of rights of way, easements, or reservations, which, from their nature, in the opinion of the department, will in no manner interfere with the use of the property for the purpose for which it is acquired.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10506. Section 10506.

Nothing in this code prohibits the possession of firearms, BB devices as defined in Section 16250 of the Penal Code, crossbows and bolts, or bows and arrows by persons when traveling through any game refuges when the firearms are taken apart or encased and unloaded and the bows are unstrung or stored separately from any arrow or bolt. When the traveling is done on a route other than a public highway or other public thoroughfare or right of way, notice shall be given to the department at least 24 hours before that traveling. The notice shall give the name and address of the person intending to travel through the refuge, the name of the refuge, the approximate route, and the approximate time when that person intends to travel through the refuge.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10507. Section 10507.

It is lawful for a person who has given the notice provided for in Section 10506 to transport a bird or mammal through a game refuge, if lawfully taken outside the refuge, and if the bird or mammal is carried openly and during the time between one hour before sunrise and one hour after sunset.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10508. Section 10508.

The department and the district attorney, sheriff, and all peace officers of the county in which any refuge or part thereof is situated, shall enforce all of the provisions of this code relating to such refuge, and institute and assist in prosecutions for violations thereof.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10509. Section 10509.

Any refuge designated as a “fish and game refuge” shall be considered, for the purposes of this division, as both a game refuge and a fish refuge.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10510. Section 10510.

No specification of an open season in any area authorizes the taking of a bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or reptile from a refuge within that area from which the taking is prohibited by this code.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10511. Section 10511.

Except as they may conflict with refuge provisions, the provisions of this code relating to a particular fish and game district shall apply to each refuge lying wholly, or in major part, within the boundaries of the district.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10512. Section 10512.

The department shall cause to be prepared suitable notices to be posted under its direction on each state game refuge, containing a warning to all persons to refrain for the period named therein from violations of the provisions of this chapter relating to state game refuges.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10513. Section 10513.

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as prohibiting or preventing a person from taking a bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or reptile from or on navigable water in a state game refuge.

Cal. Fish and Game Code - FGC § 10514. Section 10514.

All state game refuges shall, for all purposes of protecting birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, or reptiles thereon, be under the control and management of the department, and the officers and employees of the department, all game wardens, and law enforcement officers may at all times enter in and upon state game refuges in the performance of their duties.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026