Chap. 345.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 3265 of the Code of
Virginia, relating to taking, catching, picking, canning, packing, buying and
selling crabs. [fH B 315]

Approved March 31, 1938

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

Section 3265. Licenses to take crabs; amount of tax; restrictions
on privilege; display of license number and letters——Any resident of
this State desiring to take or catch crabs for market or profit from
the waters of this Commonwealth, or waters under the jurisdiction
of this Commonwealth, by any of the means hereinafter or any person
desiring to engage in the business of buying or marketing crabs for
picking or canning the same in any way, shall pay to the oyster
inspector of the district in which he resides the following taxes:

(1) For each person taking or catching soft crabs otherwise
than by dip nets or hard crabs, or peelers, with net, ordinary trot line,
hand rake, or hand scrape, pushed or pulled, or with any device other
than dip net or hand line, two dollars and fifty cents; provided that
no boat shall be used to pull or push any rake or scrape except as
provided for in subsections three and four of this section.

(2) For each person taking or catching crabs with patent trot
lines, ten dollars and fifty cents; provided, no steam or motor boat
shall be used in the taking or catching of soft crabs; provided, further,
that it shall be unlawful for any person to use ordinary trot lines,
or patent trot lines, for the taking or catching of crabs, in the waters
of Wormley’s creek, which flows into the York river, or Moore’s creek,
Jackson creek, or Broad creek in the county of Middlesex.

(3) For each sail boat to be used for the purpose of taking or
catching hard crabs with scrapes or tongs, and for each power boat
under thirty-two feet in length used for the purpose of taking or
catching hard crabs with scrapes or tongs, five dollars and fifty cents.

(4) For each power boat over thirty-two feet in length used for
the purpose of taking or catching hard crabs with scrapes or dredges,
twenty-six dollars. |

(5) For each picking or crating house, eleven dollars.
(6) For each canning and packing house, twenty-six dollars.

(7) For each boat used in buying crabs, or for each person
or firm engaged in marketing hard crabs by barrel or crate, five dollars
and fifty cents; but no person who is licensed to catch crabs shall be
required to procure further license for marketing or shipping his own
catch. Any person who has procured a license for a boat under sub-
section five hereon shall have the privilege of using said license for
the purpose of taking hard crabs with patent trot lines or with any
other device allowed to be used under this section for the remainder
of the season in which the license was issued during the season not
prohibited by law. |

(8) No scrapes or dredges shall be used for catching crabs
between the first day of April and the first day of December of any
year; nor shall scrapes or dredges be used at any time of the year
in any of the rivers, or their estuaries, inlets, or creeks for the purpose
of taking crabs. This subsection shall not apply to the waters of
Chesapeake bay or Hampton roads, and the eastern or ocean side of
Accomac and Northampton counties. This subsection shall not apply
to the taking or catching of soft crabs or the crab known as the “peeler”’
crab.

(9) It shall be unlawful for any person to catch, take, or have
in possession at any time a hard crab which shall measure less than
five inches across the shell from tip to tip of spike, except the
crab commonly known as the peeler crab, nor any buckram (a paper
shell crab) or any soft crab measuring less than three and: one-half
inches from tip to tip of spike, nor any peeler measuring less than
three inches from tip to tip of spike; or to destroy them in any man-
ner, but shall immediately return same to the water alive when Talal
out of said net or scrape.

(10) <A peeler crab, for the purposes of this section shall be a
crab that has a soft shell fully developed under the hard shell, or a
crab on which there is a pink or white line or rim on the edge of
that part of the “back fin” next to the outer section of this fin.

(11) It shall be lawful for any person holding the proper ‘license
to take or catch “sponge” crabs from any of the waters of this State,
or any of the waters under the jurisdiction of this State, from the first
day of April to the thirtieth day of June, both inclusive, in any year;
provided, however, that the Commissioner of Fisheries may, when he
deems it in the interest of conservation, close or shorten the season
for taking sponge crabs as herein defined, after giving fifteen days’
notice of his intention so to do, such notice, in writing, to be posted
at the office of the said commissioner, and a copy thereof mailed to
each inspector.

(12) In licensing a person for taking crabs with boat the in-
spector shall cause to be placed at a conspicuous point on the star-
board side of such boat, or on the mast thereof, a number. Said
number or numbers shall be kept displayed during the crabbing season
by the master of the boat.

(13) Any person failing to comply with any of the provisions
of this section, or in any way violating the same, shall be fined not
less than ten nor more than two hundred dollars for each offense.
Provided, however, that nothing in this section shall apply to anyone
taking or catching crabs for immediate household use.