An Act to amend and reenact § 46.1-299, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to devices signalling intention to turn or stop and rules therefor.
Volume 1968 Law 99
Volume | 1910 |
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Law Number | 145 |
Subjects |
Law Body
Chap. 145.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 2086 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved February 18, 1890,
by an act approved March 3, 1898, by an act approved March 1, 1900, by
act approved March 14, 1902, by act approved May 5, 1903, and by act
approved March 14, 1908; and to repeal the following sections of the
Code of Virginia, and the following acts of the General Assembly of
Virginia, and all acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act; sections
2083, 2084, 2085, 2087, 2096, 2100, 2102; an act entitled an act to pro-
hibit the catching of blue fish in the waters of this Commonwealth by
non-residents of this State; to prohibit the employment of vessels owned
by non-residents for such fishing; to require a license tax on residents
for such blue fishing, and to impose a penalty for the violation of this
act, approved May 5, 1903; an act entitled an act to prohibit the use of
pound nets and purse nets in the waters of James and Chickahominy
rivers below tidewater, approved May 16, 1887, as amended by act ap-
proved March 1, 1888; an act entitled an act to provide for setting apart
and designating crabbing grounds in the waters of the Commonwealth,
approved February 3, 1900; an act entitled an act to provide for clam-
ming grounds in the waters of this State, approved March 8, 1894.
Approved March 14, 1910.
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section two
thousand and eighty-six of the Code of Virginia, as amended and re-en-
acted by an act approved February eighteenth, eighteen hundred and nine-
ty, by act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, by
act approved March first, nineteen hundred, by act approved March four-
teenth, nineteen hundred and two, by act approved May fifth, nineteen
hundred and three, and by act approved March fourteenth, nineteen
hundred and eight, be further amended and re-enacted so as to read as
ollows: ,
82086. License of residents to fish with purse nets, pound nets, and
so forth, or for crabs or clams; canning, packing or marketing fish roe,
herring, crabs or clams; their oath; license tax required; amount to be
paid; how obtained; how tax collected; the object thereof; to be ac-
counted for; cull law for clams and certain fish; designation of certain
nets and sizes of mesh; setting aside crabbing and clamming grounds;
penalty fer concealing boat’s name or number; certain duties of inspec-
tors and commissioners of the revenue.
(1) Any residen# of this State desiring to fish for market or profit,
other than domestic use, with a purse net, pound net, fyke net, gill net.
haul seine, sturgeon net, skirt net, weir or other device, or for blue fish
by hand line, in any of the waters of this Commonwealth, or waters
within the jurisdiction of this Commonwealth, shall apply to the oyster
inspector of the district within which the person so applying resides,
except that the applicant for license to fish with a fixed device shall apply
to the oyster inspector of the district in which the fixed device is pro-
posed to be located, and state on oath the true name or names of the per-
son or persons applying for license that they are, and have been for twelve
months next preceding, residents of this State, the place at which the net,
seine, fyke, weir, or other device is to be fished, and that during the period
of the license they will not violate any of the laws of this State in relation
to the taking and catching of fish: provided, this act shall not apply to
any person using a net solely for the purpose of supplying his own table,
and provided no restriction as to being a non-resident shall apply to
catching blue fish by hand line: and provided further, that any person,
firm or corporation entitled by law to fish in any of the waters of this
Commonwealth, or waters within the jurisdiction of this Commonwealth,
desiring to take or catch fish therein with purse nets for the purpose of
manufacturing the same into oil, fish scrap, or manure, shall first obtain
a license therefor according to the provisions of, and under the penalties
prescribed by, section two thousand and ninety-nine of the Code of Vir-
ginia. Such oyster inspector shall thereupon grant license to use such
net, or other device, and state in such license the name or names of the
person or persons who shall use the same, the place at which it is to be
located or used, the season for which said license is granted, which season
shall begin on the first day of February in any year, and end on the
thirty-first day of January of the year following, and the amount of tax
as is hereinafter provided: provided, however, that it shall be lawful for
a resident of this State, except such persons, firms or corporations as may
be engaged in the taking or catching of fish for the purpose of manufac-
turing the same into oil, fish scrap or manure, to employ any vessel or
het owned within or without this State for the purpose of taking and
catching fish: provided, that nothing in this act shall be construed to
permit fishing in rivers or other waters prohibited by law, and in seasons
prohibited by law. For granting such license the oyster inspector shall
receive a fee of, fifty cents for each net licensed, except that where the
license tax is ten dollars or more the inspector shall receive a fee of one
dollar for each license granted..
(2) Every such resident who shall apply for such license to catch or
take fish from the waters of the Commonwealth, or the waters within
the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, in addifion to the fee aforesaid,
shall. pay to the oyster inspector of such district a specific license tax,
which shall be in lieu of all taxes levied upon such persons for taking
and catching fish, or for selling the products thereof, as follows: On each
sail vessel fishing with purse net of not more than four hundred meshes
deep, five dollars; on.each sail vessel fishing with purse net of more than
four hundred meshes deep, twenty-five dollars; on each steam vessel fish-
ing with purse net, one hundred dollars; on each pound net, three dol-
lars; on each stake net or gill net of six hundred feet in length and
under, one dollar, and for every additional one hundred feet or fraction
thereof, twenty-five cents; on each thresh net, or skirt net or similar
device, one dollar; on each fyke net head, weir, or similarly fixed device,
one dollar; on each haul seine hauled by hand for market or profit, three
dollars; on each drift haul net, attended by a sail or motor boat, other
than a steamboat, twenty dollars, but no steamboat shall be allowed to
fish such net; on each haul seine hauled by windlass, horse or mule
power, or other power than hand or steam, twenty dollars; on each haul
seine operated by steam power, fifty dollars ; on each sturgeon gill net or
‘rammel net, three dollars; on each sturgeon sweep net or haul seine,
twenty-five dollars ; for every person catching blue fish by hand for
market or profit, two dollars, but no net of any kind shall be used for
catching blue fish.
(3) If any person shall use or set, or cause to be used or set, any such
net or seine as aforesaid, in any of the waters of this Commonwealth or
waters within the jurisdiction of this Commonwealth, without having
first paid the tax and obtained the license provided for in this act, he
shall be deemed guilty of a violation of the provisions thereof, and shall;
for such: violation, in addition to the penalties hereinafter provided in
this act, forfeit such net and other fishing devices. It shall be the duty
of the inspector to report such violation to the commission of fisheries,
whereupon said commission shall cause some one of the commanders
of the oyster police boats, or vessels, to take any such net or seine, as
aforesaid, and sell the same at public auction, or otherwise, upon ten
days’ advertisement: provided, that no such sale be made till after twenty
days from the time when such property was taken. If any oyster in-
spector knowingly fail to report violations of this act or to perform any
of the duties herein required of him, he shall, for every such offense, for-
feit one hundred dollars. The money collected for license taxes and from
the sale of such fishing devices and boats and forfeitures from such in-
spectors for violation of their duties under this act shall be applied to the
support of the government, but to be accounted for in the general oyster
fund of the State; and the commissioner of fisheries shall make a sepa-
rate report of the subjects i in this act and the revenue derived therefrom,
respectively.
(4) Every person, firm or corporation salting or buying herring or
packing fish roe for market or profit shall pay a license tax of five dollars
and a fee of fifty cents to the inspector for issuing such license, provided
no tax shall be required of any fisherman for the privilege of packing or
shipping roe from sturgeon caught by such fisherman.
(5) It shall be unlawful for any person to use a haul seine or a pound
net head or pocket having a smaller mesh than two inches, stretched
measure, for the purpose of catching food fish.
(6) It shall be unlawful to take, catch or have in possession any stur-
geon less than four feet in length; or any sheepshead, porgie or sunfish
less than ten inches in length; or any rock fish of less than eight inches
in length; or any spot less than five inches in length; all measurements
to be from nose to tip of tail. Any such fish caught by any person shall
be at once returned to the water. ,
(%) It shall be unlawful to set or fish any pound net within York
river, Poquosin river, Back river, James river, Chicahominy river, E]iza-
beth river or Nansemond river, or any of the tributaries thereof, or in
any of the tributaries of the Potomac river, or to set pound nets within
one mile from either side of the mouth of. the Lynnhaven river, or be-
tween the hours of sunset and sunrise during any night to set or fish any
gill net, or crab line in any waters of Lynnhaven river above hottoms
leased or rented to another person or persons for the purpose of planting
oysters; and no person shall plant oysters, or place stakes, or other ob-
struction in Chesapeake Bay, within a half mile of the shore, tetween
Cape Henry and the Norfolk county line, where a seine is licensed to be
laid out, set or hauled, without the consent of the riparian owner. ©
(8) It shall be unlawful to set or fish pound nets across the mouth of
river, bay or inlet bordering on the Chesapeake Bay for a greater distance
across such mouth from either shore than one-fourth the width of such
mouth; and the commission of fisheries, where question arises as ‘o :uch
distance, or as to any net set too far from shore, or set so as to vitally
interfere with any net already set, or to vitally impede the run of fish, or
to seriously interfere with navigation in the waters allowed by law, shall
be empowered to determine the matter, and have such net or nets re-
moved if the commission deem best. :
(9) Any person violating any of the foregoing provisions of this act
shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars,
or confined in ail not less than ten days nor more than six months.
(10) It shall be unlawful to take, catch or round up with a purse net
for the purpose of manufacturing into guano or oil food fish to the
amount greater than one per centum of the whole catch without imme-
diately opening the net and turning loose any such food fish while yet
alive; or for any steamer or other vessel licensed for the purpose of men-
haden fishing to catch any food fish for the purpose of marketing same;
or for any person, ‘firm or corporation to have in possession food fish
to a greater amount than one per centum of the bulk for the purpose of
manufaeturing them into guano or oil, except that herring caught in
pound nets may be marketed and used for the purpose of such manufac-
ture. Any person; firm or corporation violating any provision of this
section, or having in their possession as much as one per centum of food
fish among menhaden caught for the purpose of manufacturing into
guano or oil, shall be fined not less than one thousand nor more than
three thousand dollars, and the license on such person’s boat or net
shall be revoked for the remainder of the season.
(11) If any captain, master or owner cover or conceal, or permit to
be covered or concealed, the name of any vessel while fishing for men-
haden, or shall carry, or permit to be carried, aboard his vessel when
employed in fishing for menhaden, any scrape, dredge or patent tongs,
he shall be fined not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars.
(12) Any net having a funnel-mouth, round-mouth or square-mouth,
with head open above water, shall be construed as a pound net.
(13) Any resident of this State desiring to take or catch crabs frem
the waters thereof by any of the means hereinafter mentioned, or any
person desiring to engage in the business of buying crabs for picking or
canning the same in any way, shall pay to the oyster inspector of the dis
trict in which he resides the following license tax and inspector's fee:
(1) for each scrape to be used on any boat in taking or catching soft
crabs, two dollars, and an inspector’s fee of fifty cents; (2) for each sail
boat to be used in taking or catching hard crabs with scrapes from the
waters of Hampton Roads or Chesapeake Bay, five dollars, and an in-
spector’s fee of seventy-five cents; (3) for each power boat to be used in’
taking or catching hard crabs with scrapes from the waters of Hampton
Roads or Chesapeake Bay, twenty-five dollars, and an inspector’s fee of
one dollar; (4) for each picking or crating house, ten dollars, and an
inspector’s fee of one dollar; (5) for each canning and packing house,
twenty-five dollars, and an inspector’s fee of one dollar; (6) for each trot
line fisher for hard crabs for picking or canning, one dollar and fifty
cents, and an inspector’s fee of fifty cents. But no scrapes or dredges
shall be used for catching hard crabs between the first day of May and
the first day of November of any year. In licensing persons for soft
crabbing, the oyster inspector shall mark upon the starboard prow and
oresail of such person’s boat the number of such license in conspicuous
figures of not less than five inches in length preceded in all cases by the
number of the oyster district and the letter C, and within the C the
number of scrapers licensed to be used on such boat; for example:
4 (C-2 1, means District No. 4, license No. 1, and two scrapers
to be used. Said numbers and letter shall be kept displayed during the
crabbing season by the master of the boat. Any person failing to com-
ply with any of the provisions of this section, or in any way violating
the same, shall be fined not less than ten nor more than two hundred
dollars.
(14) It shall be unlawful for any person to take or catch or have in
his possession clams measuring less than one and seven-sixteenths inches
in length from hinge to mouth from the natural oyster rocks, beds or
shoals, or any of the public crabbing or clamming grounds in the waters
of this State. Any resident of the State who has complied with all the
requirements of the oyster laws entitling him to the privilege for a cer-
tain period of taking and catching oysters with ordinary or patent tongs
from such natural rocks, beds, or shoals, shall also, without further
license tax, have the privilege of taking and catching clams or scallops
during the same period from such natural rocks, beds, or shoals with
such ordinary or patent tongs as such person may have been licensed to
use, or by treading, or with hands: provided, that it shall be lawful for
any resident citizen of this State to take or catch clams not under the
prohibited size of one and seven-sixteenths inches, or scallops, during
the season in which it is not lawful to take or catch oysters from the nat-
ural rocks, beds, or shoals with tongs of any kind, if for said privilege
he shall first pay to the inspector of the district where said citizen resides
fifty cents for his services and a specific tax of two dollars for each pair of
ordinary tongs to be used, or for each person who shall take or catch
euch clams or scallops by treading or with hands, provided they be not
for domestic use; or if such citizen desires to use patent tongs for such
purpose, he shal] pay the inspector a fee of fifty cents and a specific tax
of five dollars for each pair of such tongs to be used; but no additional
fee shall be exacted where the person was already licensed during the
previous open season for taking oysters: provided, it shall be unlawful to
take or catch clams at any time or by any means in Pocomoke sound
above a line drawn from Drum Bay Point, in the county of Accomac,
and running a north-northwest course to the line between the States of
Maryland and Virginia, except upon such grounds in those waters as may
oe fet aside for clamming or crabbing purposes by the commission of
eries.
(15) Every person engaged in the business of buying, marketing and
shipping clams shall, for such privilege, on or before October first of
each year, pay to the inspector of the district in which such person does
business a license tax per year as follows, and, in addition a fee of fifty
cents to said inspector for his services; less than twenty thousand clams
per year, two dollars; from twenty thousand to fifty thousand clams per
year, five dollars; from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand clams
per year, ten dollars; over one hundred thousand clams per year, twenty
dollars. Any person failing to comply with the requirements of this
section, or violating any of its provisions, shall be fined not less than ten
nor more than two hundred dollars; and if such person shall have in his
possession any oysters while taking or catching clams or scallops during
the season in which it is not lawful to take or catch oysters from the nat-
ural rocks, beds, or shoals, he shall be prima facie guilty of violating
the law against taking or catching oysters therefrom during such season,
and upon conviction the penalty shall be the same as for taking or catch-
ing oysters from the natural rocks, beds, or shoals during the prohibited
season.
(16) Any ground in the waters of this Commonwealth not assigned
to any one for planting or bath purposes may be, on application of twenty
or more citizens to the oyster inspector of the district in which the land
lies, laid off and designated as public clamming or crabbing. grounds; or
the commission of fisheries may do so without such petition if in their
judgment it is expedient, provided in the opinion of the commission of
fisheries no oyster interests will suffer thereby and the clams or crabs are
of sufficient quantity for a person to realize at least one and one-half
dollars per day catching and taking clams or crabs from said ground,
and, if laid off, the commission of fisheries shall have the metes and
wunds of said ground accurately designated by proper and suitable
lakes, and also have a plat made of same, to be recorded in the clerk’s
office of the county wherein the ground lies, all costs of surveying, plat-
ting and recording to be paid by the applicants; and said ground shall
be set apart and remain as public clamming or crabbing ground for the
common use of the citizens of this State so long as the said commission
mad deem best, and shall not be assigned to anyone during such period.
(17) Should there be no oyster inspector for the district within the
jurisdiction where such fishing, clamming or crabbing is desired to be
carried on, then the duties devolving upon oyster inspectors under this
act shall be performed by the commissioner of the revenue for such
county or district, and such commissioner of the revenue shall be empow-
ered to issue all licenses in conformity with this act, to receive all fees
and taxes herein provided, and shall make such. report and be liable to
such penalties for failure to perform the duties as are hereinbefore pre-
scribed.
2. Be it further enacted, That the following sections of the Code of
Virginia and the following acts of the general assembly of Virginia, and
all acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act, be, and the same are
hereby, repealed :
Sections two thousand and eighty-three, two thousand and eighty-
four, two thousand and eighty-five, two thousand and eighty-seven, two
thousand and ninety-six, twenty-one hundred, twenty-one hundred and
two; an aet entitled an act to prohibit the catching of blue fish in the
waters of this Commonwealth by non-residents of this State; to prohibit
the employment of vessels owned. by non-residents for such fishing; to
require a license tax on residents for such blue fishing and to impose a
penalty for the violation of this act, approved May fifth, nineteen hun-
dred and three; an act.entitled an act to prohibit the use of pound. nets
and: purse nets in the waters of James and Chicahominy rivers below
tidewater, approved May sixteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven,
as amended by act approved March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-
eight; an act entitled an act to provide for setting apart and designating
crabbing grounds in the waters of the Commonwealth,, approved Feb-
ruary third, nineteen hundred; an act entitled an act to provide for
clamming grounds in the waters of this State, approved March eighth,
eighteen hundred and ninety-four.