Chap. 204.—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, as
amended and re-enacted by an act approved March 3, 1898, in relation to fishing
in the waters of the Commonwealth; to provide for levying a license tax on
fishing devices, and for the collection thereof, and to extend the provisions of
said act to all the waters within the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, as
amended by an act approved March 1, 1900, and as amended by an act approved
March 14, 1902.

Approved May 5, 1903.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
two thousand and eighty-six of the Code of Virginia, in relation to li-
ense to residents to fish with purse nets, pound nets, and so forth, as
amended and re-enacted by an act approved February eighteenth,
cighteen hundred and ninety, and by an act approved March third,
eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and as amended by an act approved
March first, nineteen hundred, and as amended by an act approved
March fourteenth, nineteen hundred and two, be further amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

$2036. License of residents to fish with purse nets, pound nets, and
29 forth, or for crabs; their oath; license tax required; amount to be
paid; how obtained; how tax collected; the object thereof; to be ac-
cunted for—Any resident of this State desiring to fish with a purse
net, pound net, fyke net, with open bays or funnel-mouth gill nets
wel for shad and_ herring fishing for market or profit, weir or
other fixed device, and haul seines, hauled in other manner than by
hand, in anv of the waters of this Commonwealth, or waters within
the jurisdiction of this Commonwealth, shall apply to the oyster in-
spector of the district or subdivision of the district within which the
létson 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 proposed to be located, and state on oath
the true name or names of the person or persons applying for license,
that they are and have been for twelve months next preceding, resi-
dents of this State. the place at which the net, seine, fyke, weir, or
other fixed device is to be fished, and that during the period of the
heense 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
hand lines nor to gill nets other than those aforesaid. Such oyster in-
‘mector shall thereupon grant a license to use such net, fyke, weir, or
wr fixed device, or haul scine hauled in any other manner than by
ian, and state in such license the name or names of the person or per-
ons who shall use the same, the place at which it is to be located or
usa}, the season for which said license is granted, which season shall
lezin on the first day of February in any year, and end on the thirty-
"rst dav of January of the vear following, and the amount of tax as is
neteinafter provided: provided, however, that it shall be lawful for a
raicent of this State to employ any vessel or net owned within or with-
“at this State for the purpose of taking and catching fish: provided,
at nothing in this act shall be construed to permit fishing in por-
fons of York river prohibited bv law, and in seasons prohibited by

law in said river, and in seasons prohibited by law in other sections of
the State: and provided, also, that nothing in this act shall be con-
strued to permit fishing in James river, Nansemond river, Elizabeth
river, Chickahominy river, or within one mile of the mouth of either,
or in the tributaries of either, or within one mile of the mouth of Lynn-
haven river in any manner or with any net now prohibited by law.
For granting such license the oyster inspector shall receive a few of
fifty cents for each net licensed, except where the license tax is less
than three dollars the inspector shall receive a fee of twenty-five cents
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 addition to the fee aforesaid,
shall pay to the oyster inspector of such district a specific license tas,
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
stear1 vessel fishing with purse net, one hundred dollars; on each
pound net, three dollars; on each fyke, weir, or other fixed device or
gill net used in shad and herring fishing for market or profit, one dollar:
and on each haul seine hauled by windlass, horse, or mule power, or
other power than hand or steam, five dollars; on each haul seine op-
erated by steam power, ten dollars.

3. Any resident of this State desiring to fish for crabs with scrapes,
nets or other like devices in any of the waters of the Commonwealt)
shall apply to the ovster inspector of the district or subdivision of the
district within which the person so applying resides, and state upon
oath the true name or names of such person or persons so applying, and
that they are, and have been for twelve months next preceding, rei-
dents of this State. Such oyster inspector shall thereupon issue to the
person or persons so applying a license for the purpose of taking or
catching crabs, and the oyster inspector shall mark upon the starboard
prow and foresail 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 ovster district and the letter C. Ex
ample: £°C, one: 4 C, two. and so forth. For granting such license
the ovster inspector shall receive a fee of twenty-five cents for each 3-
cense granted, in addition to which fee the person applying for such li-
cense shall pay to the oyster inspector a specific Heense tax of one del-
lar.

4. The oyster inspector shall record in a hook to le kept in his ef-
fice for that purpose the name of all persons obtaining license for fish-
ing or crabbing: the place at which the net, seine, fy ke, weir, or other
fixed device is to be used; the kind of net. seine, fyke, weir, or other
fixed device; the amount of license tax paid, and the fines or other
revenues accruing under this act; and it shall be the duty of each ani
every oyster inspector to furnish the board of fisheries with a monthly
report of same. If any person shall use, or set or cause to be used or
set, any such purse net, pound net, fyke net, weir or other fixed device,
or gill net as aforesaid, or shall haul or use any such seine, hauled in
any other manner than by hand, in any of the waters of this Common-
wealth or waters within the jurisdiction of this Commonwealth, with-
out 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, forfeit such net and other fishing
devices. It shall be the duty of the inspector to report such violation
to the State board of fisheries, whereupon said board shall cause some
one of the commanders of the oyster police boats, or vessels,
to take up all such purse nets, pound nets, fyke nets, weirs, or other
fixed devices, or gill nets, as aforesaid, and sell the same at public auc-
tion, or otherwise, upon ten days’ advertisement: provided, that no
such sale shall be made till after twenty days from the time when such
property was taken up. If any oyster inspector knowingly fail to re-
port violations of this act, or to perform any of the dutics herein re-
quired of him, he shall, for every such offense, forfeit one hundred dol-
lar. The money collected for license taxes and from the sale of such
fishing devices and boats and forfeitures from such inspectors 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 board of fisheries shall make a separate report of
the subjects in this act and the revenue derived therefrom, respectively.

5. Should there be no oyster inspector for the district within the
jurisdiction where such fishing 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 empowered 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
am penalties for failure to perform the duties as are hereinbefore pre-
seribed.