Chap. 253.—An ACT to amend and re-enact chapter 387 of the acts of the
general assembly of Virginia, session of 1926, as amended at the session
of 1928 by amending sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, and 15, and repealing sections
5, 9, 10, 11, 13 and 14, of an act entitled “An act requiring all oysters from
the public rocks of the Commonwealth to be inspected when loading on ves-
sels, measurement, tax, penalties,’ approved March 24, 1926, and to include
leased grounds within the meaning of said act. [S B 133]

Approved March 24, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That chapter
three hundred and eighty-seven of the acts of the general assembly of
Virginia, session of nineteen hundred and twenty-six, and as amended
by chapter four hundred and eighty-nine of the acts of the general
assembly of Virginia, session of nineteen hundred and twenty-eight,
be amended and re-enacted, by amending sections one, two, three, four,
eight, twelve and fifteen, so as to read as follows, and by repealing
sections, five, nine, ten, eleven, thirteen and fourteen thereof:

Section 1. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or cor-
poration, to take, or to purchase oysters taken from the public
oyster rocks, beds and shoals of this State, or taken from any
oyster grounds, leased by the Commonwealth, for market or to
shuck; and it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation,
operating buy boats, or vessels, to buy shell oysters taken from the public
oyster rocks, beds and shoals, of this State, or from any oyster grounds,
leased by the Commonwealth, until a permit has been obtained from the
commissioner of fisheries, or from the oyster inspector of the district
in which the ground from which the oysters to be taken lie, or from the
captain of any oyster police boat of this State. The commissioner, or
any inspector, deputy, or captain of any oyster police boat of this State
shall have the right, at all times, to inspect any of the oysters taken from
any of the public oyster rocks, beds and shoals of this State, or from
any of the oyster grounds, leased by the Commonwealth, loaded on
any boat or vessel, or sold to any person, firm or corporation wherever
they may be, as to the quality or measure, and from such inspection, the
owner or master of such boat or vessel, or any other purchaser, shall
pay a tax to the commissioner, or to any inspector, deputy, or State
oyster police boat captain, designated by the commissioner to receive
the same; and for such inspection, as is herein provided for, the owner
or master of such boat or vessel, or the purchaser of any oysters taken
from the public oyster rocks, beds and shoals of this State, or from any
oyster ground, leased by the Commonwealth, shall pay a tax to the
commissioner, or to the person so authorized to receive the same, of two
cents per bushel on each bushel of oysters taken from the public oyster
rocks, beds and shoals of this State, or from any oyster ground, leased
by the Commonwealth, it being the intent and purpose of this act to im-
pose a tax upon all the oysters taken from the public oyster rocks,
beds and shoals, of this State or from any oyster grounds, leased by
the Commonwealth, located therein. There is excepted from the im-
position of the tax aforesaid all oysters, which are to be replanted in
any of the waters of this Commonwealth. A strict account of all oys-
ters taken from the waters of the Commonwealth beds and shoals of
this State, and from any oyster ground leased by the Commonwealth,
by other than buy boats, shall be kept by the purchasers and packers
and the tax on same shall be paid, by such purchasers and packers, as
herein provided, between the first and tenth of each month, immediately
following that in which such purchases were made. Such purchasers
shall obtain permits, monthly, to buy such oysters, as herein provided
for, and they shall keep an accurate and complete itemized daily record
of all such oysters purchased, in a book to be kept for that purpose,
which book shall be, at all times, open for the inspection by the com-
missioner, or any person designated by him to inspect the same; and,
a failure to keep such record shall be unlawful and shall be punished as
hereafter provided.

Section 2. That it shall be the duty of the oyster inspector, in whose
district a cargo of oysters is to be loaded, to inspect said oysters as
they are taken on board of vessel and to see that all measures are a
full legal bushel of oysters; that any shucking stock taken does not
have more than five per centum of shells or small oysters, and when
said vessel is loaded to collect the tax on same, and furnish the owner
or master with a certificate showing the number of bushels in each load
and certifying over the signature of the commissioner of fisheries, coun-
tersigned by the inspector or police captain, that the tax on each load is
paid, a copy of which said certificate shall be sent to the office of the
commission of fisheries.

Section 3. That when at any time there is to be loaded in any one
district more than one vessel at the same time, the inspector is em-
powered to appoint a sufficient number of deputy inspectors for the
purposes hereinbefore set forth; and that on or before the tenth of each
month the inspector shall render a statement to the commissioner, on
blanks furnished by the commissioner, showing the amounts collected,
from what vessels collected, and to whom paid.

Section 4. That all taxes collected from the above inspection, shall
be forwarded by the inspectors to the commissioner with his other
collections.

Section 8. All the rest and residue of the funds derived from the
tax imposed by this act shall be set up as a special fund in the budget,
to be known as the oyster repleting fund, to be appropriated and ap-
plied for the repletion of the depleted natural oyster rocks, shoals and
beds of this State. The money to be so appropriated and applied shall
be spent for seed oysters or oyster shells, or both, to be planted upon
such of the depleted natural oyster rocks, shoals and beds, in the
waters of this State, and the expense attendant upon such planting,
as may be determined upon, from time to time, by the commission of
fisheries. It being the intent and purpose of this act to restrict the
expenditure of all money received, from any source connected with
the oyster industry of this State, now or hereafter, to the conservation
and development of that industry.
Section 12. The commissioner of fisheries shall have the power,
and it shall be his duty, to cause to be clearly marked the depleted
natural oyster rocks, shoals and beds, of this State, the repletion of
which is undertaken; and to cause a plat thereof to be made, and filed
or recorded in his office; to properly police the same; and to prevent
any oysters from being taken therefrom until such time as he shal! de-
termine that such depleted area has grown a crop of marketable oysters
sufficient to open the same to the public. Notice of the time when the
public shall be permitted to. work such area shall be, by printed hand
bills, posted in the community surrounding the same, and in such
other manner as the commissioner shall direct, for at least thirty days,
and a tax of ten cents per bushel shall be imposed on all oysters taken
from said repleted areas, the proceeds of tax to be segregated for the
purpose of replenishing other public rocks.

Section 15. A complete detailed account of all expenditures made
hereunder, for the repletion of the depleted natural oyster rocks, shoals
and beds in this State, shall be made and kept by the commission of
fisheries, and open to public inspection.

2. Beit further enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
sections five, nine, ten, eleven, thirteen, and fourteen, of chapter three
hundred and eighty-seven of the acts of the general assembly of Virginia,
session nineteen hundred and twenty-six, as amended by chapter four
hundred and eighty-nine of the acts of the general assembly, session
nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, be, and they are, hereby repealed.