Chap. 412.—An ACT to amend and reenact Sections 3162 as amended, 3197,
3249, and 3265 as amended, of the Code of Virginia, the sections relating to
fishing, fish and shellfish, and the Commission of Fisheries; and to further
amend Code of Virginia by adding thereto a new section numbered 3202-a
providing for the closing and opening of natural oyster rocks for sett i

Approved April 1, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections thirty-one hundred sixty-two as amended, thirty-
one hundred ninety-seven, thirty-two hundred forty-nine and thirty-two
hundred sixty-five as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended and
reenacted, and that the Code of Virginia be further amended by adding
thereto a new section numbered thirty-two hundred two-a as follows:

Section 3162. It shall be unlawful for any person to use a pound
net, head, or pocket, or mullet net (that is under two hundred yards
long) having a smaller mesh than two inches, stretched measure, after
having been tarred, for the purpose of catching food fish. Nor shall any
haul seine or mullet net be longer than five hundred yards in length
unless authorized by the Commission of Fisheries and if over two
hundred yards leng, shall not have mesh less than three inches,
stretched measure, and no mullet net shall be deeper than forty meshes,
provided, further, that no license shall be issued to set a pound net or
other fixed fishing device on an established and presently used haul
seine stand, except that this provision shall not affect a pound net
stand presently licensed as such.

Any net having a funnél mouth, round mouth, or square mouth,
with head exposed above water, shall be construed as a pound net. A haul
seine is any net set out from the shore or shallow water. The term
“shallow water” as used herein shall mean any waters not exceeding
eight feet in depth at mean low tide. Every haul seine shall have one end
stationary at all times while such seine is being used.

Section 3197. Bathing grounds; assignment; rental—Any person
desiring to obtain a location for bathing grounds shall apply to the
oyster inspector of the district in which the grounds lie to have his
location designated, surveyed, and assigned for the purpose aforesaid,
and for such ground shall pay an annual rental of five dollars per acre.
Any such application, surveying, assigning, and marking shall conform

to the law pertaining to oyster-planting grounds. Any license so granted
shall be for bathing grounds for public or commercial use only.
Section 3202-a. Commission may open and close public rocks for
szed beds and establish charges for oysters taken therefrom.—The Com-
mission of Fisheries may, whenever it deems it advisable to do so to
protect or promote the growth of oysters, close and open any area of
the natural oyster rocks for purposes of repletion and rehabilitation,
and may establish seed beds and plant shells and other cultch thereon,
or take any other restorative measures which it may deem best. Before
closing any such area the Commission shall first publish notice of such
intended action in a newspaper having general circulation in the county
where such area is located, or in a newspaper having general circulation
in the State, and no such area shall be closed until at least forty-eight
hours have elapsed after such publication. Any area closed under the
provisions of this section may be reopened by the Commission whenever
it deems it advisable so to do, the same procedure as to notice to-be
followed as when areas are closed; but any area which has been closed
and reopened ata later time may be closed by the Commission at any
time ‘without notice.

Section 3249. Police force to aid inspectors——Each inspector may
designate.not exceeding twelve citizens, residing within the limits of his
district, who, when approved by the circuit court of any county embraced
in his district, shall constitute a police force to aid him in enforcing the
provisions of this chapter. Every inspector and every person designated
as a member of such police force may administer oaths.

Section 3265. Licenses to take crabs; amount of tax; restrictions
on privileges; 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 the Commonwealth, or waters under its jurisdiction, by any
of the means hereinafter or any pene desiring to engage in the business
of buying or marketing crabs tor picking or canning the same in any
way, shall pay to the oyster inspector of the district in which he resides
the taxes and be subject to the provisions set forth in the following
subsections :

(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 ang 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, and provided 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 Moore’s
Creek, Jackson Creek, or Broad Creek in the county of Middlesex.

. (2%) For each person catching blue crabs by means of a device
made of wire or thread net and commonly known as a crab pot, ten
dollars and fifty cents for each calendar year for fifty such pots or any
lesser number; provided that no person shall employ more than fifty
pots nor secure more than one license, but any person holding a patent
trot line license may fish fifty pots without securing a pot license, or any
person holding a pot license may fish patent trot lines without securing
a patent trot line license. No such pot or device shall be used which is
made of wire or thread of a size less than one and one-half inches.

(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, and any person who has procured a license for a boat under subsec-
tion five: hereof shall have the privilege of using the license for the pur-
pose 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

Ww;

(8) No scrape or dredges shall be used for catching crabs between
the first day of April and the first day of December of any year; pro-
vided : that the Commission of Fisheries; when in its judgment it is
deemed advisable on account of weather conditions and not contrary
to the public interest to do so, may open any season on the sixteenth
day of November and it may likewise extend any season to the sixteenth
day of April; 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 except on the ocean side-of Accomack 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 measures 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 manner, but shall immediately
return same to the water alive when taken out of the net or scrape;

(10) A peeler crab for the purpose of this section is 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 unlawful for any person to take or catch “sponge”
crabs from, or have in his possession sponge crabs in, the following area
from the fifteenth day of May to the fifteenth day of September, both
inclusive, of every year. The limits of the area are defined as follows:

Beginning at the Nansemond Hotel, Ocean View, Norfolk, Virginia,
and thence in a general northerly direction to Thimble Shoal Lighthouse ;
thence running in approximately a northeasterly direction to Cape
Charles Lighthouse, located on Smiths Island; and thence in ap-
proximately a southeastern direction to the Cape Henry Lighthouse,
and bounded by the shore line; and thence following the shore line
in a general westerly direction back to the Nansemond Hotel, the point
of beginning.

The above description does not include the waters of Lynnhaven Inlet
or Little Creek.

(12) In licensing a person for taking crabs with boat the inspector
shall cause to be placed at a conspicuous point on the starboard side
of such boat, or on the mast thereof, a number, and the 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 that
nothing in this section shall apply to anyone taking or catching crabs
for immediate household use.