Chap. 133.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 3225 of the Code of Vir-
ginia, in relation to oyster grounds. [H B 62]

Approved March 9, 1926.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion thirty-two hundred and twenty-five of the Code of Virginia be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 3225. Application for assignments; posting; assignments;
recordation; assignments in Chesapeake bay; fee.—All applications
for assignment of oyster grounds shall be in writing, and state as near
as may be the number of acres applied for and definite location, with
the name of one or more prominent points or objects adjacent to said
ground. A copy of said application shall be posted by the inspector,
for at least sixty days, at the courthouse of said county and at two or
more prominent places in the vicinity of said ground. And the in-
spector shall assign the same to such applicant or applicants; pro-
vided, that where the planting of oysters or shells in any part of a
navigable stream would tend to obstruct navigation by lessening the
depth of water, such ground shall not be assigned for planting pur-
poses, if in the judgment of the commission of fisheries, it shall be
unwise to do so. The said survey and plat, as soon as practicable
after completion, and after said ground shall have been assigned to
said applicant, shall be filed by the inspector in the clerk’s office in
his county, there to be forthwith recorded in a well-bound and sub-
stantial book and indexed in the name of the assignee, and thereupon
at once a written memorandum thereof shall be posted by the clerk
at the front door of the courthouse, stating the names of the assignee,
the date of the recordation, the number of acres assigned, and the
general location of the grounds; provided, that except in Chesapeake
bay no such assignment shall exceed two hundred and fifty acres.
For planting ground in the Chesapeake bay in waters from fifteen feet
or more in depth the application shall be made to the commission of
fisheries, which shall have the right to accept or reject any such appli-
cation as it may deem best for the public interest; but the number of
acres, if such an assignment be made, shall not exceed five thousand
to any one applicant, and the annual rental therefor shall be such
amount per acre as the commission may fix upon, but in no case less
than twenty-five cents per acre. And any such applicant, other than
riparian owners, shall pay to the inspector for his service a fee of one
dollar, and shall also pay the annual rental for the said grounds at
the rate of one dollar per acre per annum, except as provided for
Chesapeake bay and for bathing grounds, due on the first day of
September of each year after the date of the assignment, and payable
on or before December first following. If not paid on or before De-
cember first, a five per centum fine shall be added, and the inspector
shall proceed to levy for rental and fine. And any such applicant,
other than those for riparian or bathing grounds, shall pay to the sur-
veyor for his services one dollar per acre, or fraction thereof, for three
acres or less; fifty cents per acre, or fraction thereof, for each acre
more than three and up to and including ten acres; twenty-five cents
per acre, or fraction thereof, for each acre more than ten and up to
and including thirty acres; fifteen cents per acre for each acre more
than thirty and up to and including fifty acres, and ten cents per acre
for all over fifty acres; and for drawing plot of ground, which shall be
in duplicate, shall be fifty cents per corner for each corner up to and
including four, and twenty-five cents per corner for all additional
corners over four, and the surveyor shall have the same privileges and
rights as to the collection of his fees that the inspector has. The
clerk shall receive the said survey and plat and record the same, and
shall be paid by the assignee for his service the same fee he now re-
ceives for recording deeds or plats. After the same is recorded, the
assignee is entitled to withdraw the original from the clerk’s office.
Each county shall furnish the clerk with necessary books for recording
the same. The fees due the clerk for the recordation and filing of
said surveys and plats shall be collected as his other fees are collected.