Chap. 504.—An ACT to authorize the board of fisheries to readjust the Baylor
survey on the ocean side of the counties of Accomac and Northampton, and
include therein any omitted natural rocks.

Approved April 2, 1902.

Whereas, there were many natural rocks on the ocean side of Accomac
and Northampton counties omitted from the Baylor survey at the time it
was made, some of which have not been leased ; and,

Whereas, the aforesaid difficulties cannot be remedied without special
legislation on the subject: therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That one or
more residents of said counties may apply to the oyster inspector of the
district wherein any oyster ground on the ocean side of said counties out-
side of the Baylor survey is located, stating that such ground has not
been assigned, and is not now under lease according to the laws of this
State, and that said ground comprises more than five acres of contiguous
natural oyster rock upon which oysters now grow naturally in sufficient
quantities to make the taking of the same profitable in the manner that
such oysters may be lawfully taken, and describing the location of said
ground with such certainty that the same may be readily found, and
praying that the same may be included in the Baylor survey, and made sub-
ject to the laws governing oyster ground within the said survey, and upon
receipt by the proper inspector of any application under this section he
shall refer the same to the board of fisheries.

2. Upon receipt by said board of any application under section one,
and before acting thereon, said board shall give notice of such applica-
tion, what ground will be affected thereby, and when and where the same
will be acted on by advertisement for four successive weeks in some news-
paper published in the county wherein said ground is, if there be a
paper published in such county, and by directing the inspector from
whom such application came to post copies of such advertisement
at the front door of the courthouse of said county, and at three or more
public places in the vicinity of the ground; and said board shall permit
one or more residents of said counties to enter themselves as contestants
and to defend said application.

3. Said board shall take up such application at the time and place
named in such notice, and after such investigation and examination as
they deem proper determine whether the ground, or any part thereof,
naturally grows oysters in sufficient quantitics to make the taking of the
same profitable to practical oystermen in the manner that such oysters
may now be lawfully taken; and so much thereof as said board shall de-
termine does naturally grow oysters in such quantities, if the same con-
tains not less than five contiguous acres, and is not held under assign-
ment or lease, said board shall cause to be properly ascertained and
platted.in the same way that public oyster grounds of this State were
platted, and shall declare such ground to be natural rock, and shall cause
the same to be added to the public oyster grounds of the county wherein
the same is located in its proper place upon the chart of public grounds
filed in the clerk’s office of the county court of said county, and when so
added said chart shall be conclusive evidence in all the courts of this
Commonwealth that said ground is natural rock, bed, or shoal.

4. All costs occasioned by any application under section one, if un-
contested, shall be borne by the applicant or applicants; and if such
application be contested, all additional costs shall be borne either by the
applicant or the contestant, and, as between the applicant and contestant,
said board shall award costs in favor of the party substantially prevailing.

5. Nothing in this act shall permit an examination, survey, or platting
of any grounds which have been assigned to any resident of said counties
for the purpose of planting and propagating oysters thereon or in any
manner impair any vested interest in such grounds acquired by anv resi-
dent under the laws of this State regulating the assignment of oyster-
planting grounds.

6. All acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

%. This act shall be in force from its passage.