Chap. 582.—An ACT to authorize the board of fisheries to declare certain land
within the limits of the Baylor survey, on the eastern or ocean side of Accomac
county, to be barren area and open for planting oysters thereon, and to author-
ize the assignment of the same for planting purposes.

Approved April 2, 1902.

Whereas, there are within the limits of the Baylor survey, on the east-
ern or ocean side of Accomac county, many acres designated as natural
ovster rock which are not now natural oyster rock, much of which said
ground was included in said survey by misapprehension, and much of
which has been depleted since said survey was made to such an extent
that there is no hard substance left upon which oysters can cateh; and,

Whereas, this condition exists on the eastern or ocean side of said
county to an extent far more serious than in any other counties of the
State, and great necessity exists for its immediate remedy; and,

Whereas, the State at this time reccives no revenue from said ground :
and,

Whereas, the same cannot be leased out without special legislation :
therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That oyster
ground within the Baylor survey, on the eastern or ocean side of said
county, may be applied for to be leased from the State for the purpose
of planting ovsters thereon by any resident of this State in such manner,
in such quantities, and on such terms as is now lawful to lease oyster
ground outside of said survey; and upon receipt of an application under
this act by the proper inspector, he shall refer the same to the board of
fisheries.

2. When the said board shall have received application or applications
under the preceding section for not less than fifty contiguous acres, or
when, in the opinion of said board, there are fifty or more contiguous
acres within the limits of said survey on the eastern or ocean side of said
county which are not natural oyster rock and ought to be leased out,
said board shall give notice that such application or applications are
before it, or that, in their opinion, certain ground within said survey in
said county is not natural rock, and ought to be leased out for planting
purposes, describing the ground to be affected with reasonable certainty,
and stating when and where the application or applications will be acted
upon, or if no application is before them, when and where they will de-
termine whether said ground is not natural rock, and ought to be leased
out, which notice shall be given by advertisement for four successive
weeks in some newspaper published in the county wherein said ground
is located, if there be a paper published in said county, and by directing
the inspector of the district wherein said ground is located to post copies
of said advertisement at the front door of the courthouse of said county,
and at three or more public places in the vicinity of the ground; and
said board shall permit one or more residents of this State to enter them-
selves as contestants, and to contest and defend such application or appli-
cations, or to contest the opinion of said board that said ground is not
natural rock, and ought to be leased out.

3. After such investigations and examinations as they deem proper,
said board shall determine whether said ground naturally grows oysters
in sufficient quantities to make the taking of the same profitable to prac-
tical oystermen in the manner that such oysters may be lawfully taken,
and whether the same contams natural rock, bed, or shoal, so that oysters
can catch in such quantities, and if said board shall determine that fifty
contiguous acres or more does not naturally grow oysters in such quan-
tities, and does not contain natural rock, bed, or shoal in such quanti-
ties, and ought to be leased out for planting purposes, said board shall
cause the same to be properly ascertained, surveyed, and platted, and
shall declare such ground to be barren area, and not natural rock, and
shall so certify to the inspector of the district wherein said ground is
located, and shall cause to be filed in the clerk’s office of the county court
of the county wherein the ground is located a survey or surveys of the
same, and when the action of said board shall have become final, all area
embraced in such survey or surveys of barren area shall be construed, in
all the courts of this Commonwealth, to be barren area, and disposable
by the Commonwealth for the purpose of planting and propagating
oysters thereon according to law, and so soon as the action of said board
becomes final, said inspector shall be authorized to lease said ground out
for planting purposes according to law. ‘

The action of said board shall be final as to said ground after four
months from the date of the receipt by said inspector of the aforesaid
certificate from said board: provided, however, that not less than twenty-
five residents of this State may within said four months file in the clerk’s
office of the county court of the county wherein said ground is located a
petition in writing, under oath, alleging that ten or more adjacent acres
of natural oyster beds, rocks, or shoals have been included in said ground,
describing the location of same by a plat, or as near as may be with
reasonable certainty by such landmarks as will locate and designate the
rocks, beds, or shoals so included as aforesaid.
The said clerk shall docket the same in the county court, and at the
next term of the said court the judge thereof shall appoint three com-
missioners, who shall be persons who have not been in any way connected
with the examination and determination of the character of the said
ground, and shall, by its order, direct them to ascertain and report to
the court whether the facts contained in the said petition are truc.

The said commissioners shall view and examine the alleged oyster
rocks, beds, or shoals, and to that end may employ a competent surveyor
to survey the same at the same rate paid to the county: surveyor by law
for similar services, administer an oath to and examine such witnesses as
may appear before them, and make report to the court.

If the said commissioners shall report that less than ten adjacent acres
of natural oyster rock, bed, or shoal have been included in said ground,
the said petition shall be dismissed at the cost of the petitioners; but if
the said commissioners shall ascertain and report to the court that ten or
more adjacent acres of natural oyster rock, bed, or shoal have been in-
cluded in said ground, they shall designate the same by plat or otherwise
with reasonable certainty in their said report, which report shall be
spread upon the records of the said court, and by the clerk certified to
the said board of fisheries. Thereupon the said board shall direct a sur-
vey, under the direction of said commissioners, to be made of the area
designated as natural rock, bed, or shoal in the report of said commis-
sioners, and shall cause such survey to be filed in the clerk’s office of said
court as the Baylor survey was filed; and when so filed, it shall be con-
clusive evidence in all the courts of this Commonwealth that the area
embraced therein is natural oyster bed, rock, or shoal. The cost of the
proceeding in the county court shall be paid by the Commonwealth, if
the said commissioners shall report in favor of the petitioners.

5. All cost of said application or applications, including all mectings
of the board of fisheries occasioned thereby, which meetings shall be held
in the county wherein said ground is located, if uncontested, shall be
borne by the applicant or applicants; and if such application be con-
tested, all additional cost of every kind occasioned by such contest shall
be borne either by the applicant or the contestant, and as between the
applicant and contestant, said board shall judge cost in favor of the party
substantially prevailing.

6. Every applicant under this act shall have prior right to lease so
much of said ground applied for by him as may be adjudged planting
ground until thirty days after the action of said board shall have become
final.

%. This act shall apply only to the eastern or ocean side of the county
of Accomac.

8. All acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

9. This act shall be in force from its passage.