"Fully Protected" is a legal protective designation administered by the

California Department of Fish and Wildlife The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), formerly known as the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), is a state agency under the California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Wildlife manages and protect ...

(CDFW), intended to conserve wildlife species that risk

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

within the state of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The classification of Fully Protected (often abbreviated as CFP) was the State's initial effort in the 1960s to identify and provide additional protection to those animals that were rare or faced possible extinction. Lists were created for

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

, mammals,

amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the Class (biology), class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsid, sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, Squamata, squamates (lizar ...

, and

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

. The Fish and Game Code sections dealing with Fully Protected species state that these species "....may not be taken or possessed at any time and no provision of this code or any other law shall be construed to authorize the issuance of permits or licenses to take any fully protected" species, although take may be authorized for necessary scientific research. This language arguably makes the "Fully Protected" designation the strongest and most restrictive regarding the " take" of these species. In 2003 the code sections dealing with fully protected species were amended to allow CDFG to authorize take resulting from recovery activities for state-listed species. California laws relating to fully protected species were among the first attempts in the nation to give protection to wildlife in risk of extinction, predating even the Federal

Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...

(ESA). In the decades that followed, new laws were enacted that were more flexible to the needs of growing communities and the modern world. Thus, most fully protected species have also been given additional protection under more recent laws and regulations, and many have been listed under state and federal versions of the ESA. However, the laws relating to fully protected species are still in place. As mentioned above, California law states that no permit may be issued for take of fully protected species, under almost any circumstances. Thus, presence of a fully protected animal in an area such as a construction zone can literally bring the entire project to a halt. In contrast, the ESA carries stronger penalties, but has provisions built in for mitigation options in the event of unavoidable take. There is debate within

conservation biology Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of nature and of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions. It is an int ...

circles as to the modern-day applicability of the fully protected designation due to its inflexibility, the fact that new conservation laws have been enacted, and the fact that some fully protected species have undergone moderate population recovery while many other species that deserve the fully protected status have not been designated as such.

References

{{authority control Environment of California * Nature conservation in the United States United States state environmental legislation Wildlife law in the United States