(a) The department may issue permits, subject to restrictions and regulations that the commission determines are desirable, to take or possess, in any part of the state, for scientific, educational, or propagation purposes, mammals, birds and the nests and eggs thereof, fish, amphibia, reptiles, or any other form of plant or animal life.
(b) The department may issue a permit that is valid for 24 months from the date of issuance to a resident of this state on the payment of a base fee of thirty dollars ($30), as adjusted under Section 713.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the department may issue a permit without fee that is valid for 12 months from the date of issuance for either of the following purposes:
(1) To authorize only the banding of birds and the exhibition of live or dead wildlife specimens by public zoological gardens, scientific, or educational institutions.
(2) To a student who is regularly enrolled in a commercial fishing class in a school operating under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Education or in a commercial fishing class in a community college and to a faculty member of those schools or a community college when conducting a regularly enrolled class in commercial fishing. Any permit issued under this paragraph shall be valid only when the student is under the direct supervision of the instructor who is approved by the school or community college to teach the class and who has obtained a permit under subdivision (b) or this paragraph from the department. All fish taken shall be taken in accordance with state law, except that Sections 7850, 7880, and 7881 do not apply to persons or equipment operating under this paragraph. All fish taken under a permit issued under this paragraph may be sold only to a person licensed to receive fish from commercial fishermen as provided in Section 8032 or 8033 or donated to a charitable institution. All funds received from the sale of the fish shall be used solely for the support of the commercial fishing classes.
(d) The department may issue a special student permit that is valid for 12 months from the date of issuance on the payment of a base fee of ten dollars ($10), as adjusted under Section 713, to any student in a school of collegiate level who is required by an instructor in wildlife research in the school to collect specimens used in laboratory work in the school under supervision and in connection with a course in wildlife research or in the conduct of wildlife investigations and studies on behalf of the public.
(e) The department may issue a nonresident permit that is valid for 24 months from the date of issuance on application and payment of a base fee of one hundred dollars ($100) as adjusted under Section 713.
(f) It is not necessary for the possessor of the permit to have a sportfishing or hunting license to collect any fish, reptile, aquatic animal or plant, bird, or mammal for scientific, educational, or propagation purposes in this state.
(g) Nothing in this section authorizes any act which violates Section 597 of the Penal Code.
(h) A permit under this section does not authorize the taking of fish or mammals from the ocean waters of this state which are within the boundaries of any city if the city has filed with the department an objection to the taking.
(i) The adjustment of the base fees pursuant to Section 713 that is specified in subdivisions (b), (d), and (e) shall be applicable to permits issued on or after January 1, 1991.