State Fish and Game Commission Will Be Asked to Upgrade System

A one-dimensional California Fish and Game Commission will not do for the 1990s, the Little Hoover Commission is expected to announce when it releases its findings and recommendations from a yearlong study Thursday at Sacramento.

The Little Hoover Commission, otherwise known as the Commission on California State Government and Economy, investigates state government agencies when there is a question of efficiency in operation. Its recommendations generally are implemented.

“Our report contains specific findings and recommendations for improvements,” said Jeanine English, executive director of the Hoover Commission. “Overall, we found that the present-day conflicting pressures of rapid growth in the state and resource protection needs are too much for a system that was designed decades ago to regulate fishing and hunting.”

Kathy Johnson, a Hoover Commission spokeswoman, said the most substantial of 12 recommendations will involve the Fish and Game Commission, whose five members, appointed by the governor, are essentially hunters and fishermen.

“We’ve made a common-sense recommendation about its make-up,” Johnson said.

The commission is meant to set policies for the Department of Fish and Game to administer.

Johnson said that other recommendations will involve the department, whose director, Pete Bontadelli, has already had several meetings with Hoover Commission representatives.