Chap. 26.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 48 of an act to
amend and re-enact sections 13 and 48 of an act entitled an act for
the preservation of Oysters, and to obtain a revenue for the privi-
lege of taking them from the waters of the commonwealth, ap-
proved November 26, 1884.

Approved March 30, 1887.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section forty-eight of an act entitled an act to amend and re-
enact sections thirteen and forty-eight of an act entitled an
act for the preservation of oysters, ana to obtain a revenue
for the privilege of taking them from the waters of the com-
monwealth, approved November twenty-sixth, eigbteen hun-
dred and eighty-four, be amended and re-enacted so as to
read as follows:

§ 48. The said board shall, on and after the first day of
January, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, provided the
police force established in this bill is fully equipped and in
operation, or if, in the judgment of the board, said police
force is sufficient to protect the grounds in which dredging
is prohibited, authorize any resident of said State to take
and catch oysters with dredves, or instruments other than
ordinary oyster tongs, inthe Chesapeake bay; but this privi-
lege shall not extend to Pocomoke sound, Hampton roads,
Mobjack bay, or Tangier sound, or west of a line drawn
from the light house on Rappabannock spit to the light house
on Wolf Trap spit, nor to any inlet, creek, or river, nor to
the mouths thereof, except the river Potomac, and the fol-
lowing rocks in Tangier sound, to-wit: Johnson’s rock,
Thoroughfare rock, Hoxe’s Island rock, and California rock:
provided that for the purposes of this act the southern boun-
dary of Pocomoke sound shall be a right line running
through the southeast buoy on Watts’ Island bar, it being
buoy number three, and the outer buoy at the mouth of
Chesconessex creek: provided that no dredging shall be per-
mitted between the first day of April and the fifteenth day
of October of any year. Any resident desiring to dredge for
oysters shall make.application for such privilege to the in-
spector of the district and county in*which he resides, which
application shall be sworn to, and shall plainly state the name
of his vessel, the owner or owners thereof, the commander or

erson in charge, and the tonnage at which she is rated.

Such statement sball further show the district or county in
which the owner or owners reside; that they are and have
been residents pf the State twelve months next preceding the
application; that no non-resident owns in whole or in part
said vessel, and that she is not held with any intention or
under any agreement to return her at any subsequent time
to a non-resident. Upon being satisfied of these tacts, the
inspector shall register such vessels, and shall thereupon
issue to such person a license granting him the privilege of
dredying for oysters within the prescrihed limits and seasons,
which shall be plainly set forth in the license; and the in-
spector shall ealso furnish him two numbers, twenty-two
inches long, in black, painted on canvass or domestic, which
shall be placed on the sails as herein prescribed, the number
on his mainsail to be placed above the balance-reef in the
centre of the sail, half way between the gaff and said reef,
on the gib, above the bonnet in the centre of gib, and on the
opposite of that of the mainsail. For such registration he
shall pay to the inspector a fee of one dollar: “provided no
boat propelled in whole or in part by steam shall be used for
purposes of dredging for oysters in the waters of this com-
monwealth. The form of the application and license required
by this section shall be prescribed by the auditor of public
accounts, and blanks furnished. to each inspector.

2. This act shall be in force trom its passage.