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Assembly committee advances bill to classify mute swans as non-game birds for management
Summary
A committee advanced AB 764 to allow state wildlife managers to treat mute swans as exotic non-game birds and use additional management tools, with proponents citing rapid population increases and threats to wetlands and native waterfowl.
Assemblymember Jeff Gonzales presented AB 764 on behalf of the author, asking the committee to allow the Department of Fish and Wildlife to manage mute swans as exotic non-game birds. The committee voted to pass the bill to the Appropriations Committee.
The bill's supporters said the move would give wildlife managers better tools to control mute swan populations, which they described as growing quickly and harming native species and wetland habitat. Mark Henley, representing California Waterfowl, told the committee that “just over the last two years their population has risen 71%” and that numbers were “535% above their long term average.” He said mute swans can weigh up to 25 pounds and displace native waterfowl and degrade wetlands.
Henley noted similar management efforts in other states, saying Maryland reduced swan numbers in Chesapeake Bay from about 4,000 to fewer than 200 through active control measures. He and others framed AB 764 as consistent with current state practices used to control species such as nutria, house sparrows, starlings and rock pigeons.
No witnesses registered formal opposition at the hearing. After brief committee discussion, Gonzales asked for an I vote; members seconded and the committee’s roll call recorded the item as due to pass to appropriations.
Supporters said the bill is preventive — intended to act before mute swan populations become too large to manage effectively. The committee left the record open for additional add-ons but recorded a do-pass referral to appropriations that day.
AB 764 now moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for further consideration.
