Chap. 387._An ACT to authorize the Commission of Game and Inland Fish-
eries and the Commission of Fisheries to establish boundaries between waters
over which each has jurisdiction and control. [S B 249]

Approved March 31, 1938

Whereas, section eight of the Game, Inland Fish and Dog Code
of Virginia (chapter two hundred and forty-seven, acts nineteen hun-
dred and thirty) defines inland waters to mean and to include all
waters above tidewater and the brackish and fresh water streams,
creeks, bays (including Back Bay), inlets and ponds in the tidewater
counties; and, |

Whereas, in several official opinions, Honorable John R. Saunders,
then Attorney General of Virginia, held that inland waters included
all fresh and brackish waters in Tidewater Virginia as that section was
defined by section thirty-one hundred and fifty-six of the Code of
Virginia; and,

Whereas, it is difficult to determine the exact divisions between
salt water and fresh water, and that it is desirable to establish practical
and workable jurisdictional lines, therefore,

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the
Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Commission of
Fisheries, be and they are hereby, authorized and empowered to estab-
lish the boundaries in and over such of the waters below where the
tide ebbs and flows as the said commissions may agree upon, so as
to give to the Commission of Fisheries jurisdiction and authority over
commercial fishing in waters below such boundary lines, except for
fish protected by the inland fish laws, and all other jurisdiction and
authority over such waters shall be retained by the Commission of
Game and Inland Fisheries. The Commission of Fisheries is author-
ized to apply its authority under present law, and to make rules and
regulations for commercial fishing over waters below such boundary
lines as may be so agreed upon. The said commissions are hereby
authorized and empowered to amend or revise such agreement as may
be adopted under the provisions of this act; provided, however, that
no agreement entered into by said Commissions may affect the existing
law requiring a license to fish by angling in inland waters as now
required by law.