CHAPTER 447

An Act to amend and reenact § 28-111 of the Code of Virginia, as to permit
to buy or carry seed oysters from certain grounds. ‘HE 390]

Approved April 3, 1954
Be it enactcd by the General Assembly of Virginia:

a That § 28-111 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as
ollows:

§ 28-111. Permit to buy or carry seed oysters from certain grounds.—
(1) Permit required.—It shall be unlawful for any person, without first
having obtained a permit therefor, as hereinafter provided, to buy or
carry oysters to be planted in this State whose shells measure less than
three inches in length from hinge to mouth, from the Eastern side of
Accomack and Northampton counties, or from James River above the
seed line, as heretofore established. Any person desiring to buy or carry
such oysters from such localities to be planted in this State, shall first
obtain for each cargo a permit therefor from the oyster inspector for the
district wherein such cargo is loaded, or from an officer of a police boat,
for each boat, vessel, or motor vehicle to be used, which permit shall state
the name, and tonnage (if registered in the customhouse), of the boat,
vessel, or motor vehicle, or other conveyance the name of the owner and
master thereof, and to what place in this State it is intended to carry such
oysters in such boat, vessel, cr motor vehicle, and shall be loaded, under
the supervision of the inspector, and in the order of the presentation of
the permit to the oyster inspector, in the seed oyster district in which such
boat, vessel, or motor vehicle or other conveyance is, to obtain its cargo.
Such permit shall further certify to the identity and residence of the person
making application to buy or carry such oysters.

(2) Oath required.—Before such permit shall be granted, the owner,
operator, or master of such boat, vessel, or motor vehicle shall make oath
before the inspector or officer of a police boat that the boat, vessel, or
motor vehicle or other conveyance will not be used for the purpose of carry-
ing seed oysters measuring less than the size aforesaid out of this State,
and that he will not sell such oysters to any other person for the purpose
542 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY [vA., 1954

of carrying the same out of the State. The oath so taken and subscribed,
together with a memorandum of the permit issued, shall be returned by
the inspector or officer of a police boat to the Commissioner, to be filed
in his Office.

(3) Penalties for violations —IJf any person in charge of a boat,
vessel, motor vehicle or other conveyance *, obtain a permit to take seed
oysters to some place in this State, thereafter take said seed oysters to
another place in this State, unless within twenty-four hours after taking
said seed oysters he shall notify the Commission of the place in this State
to which said seed oysters are to be taken or were taken, or if he take
said seed oysters out of this State, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and
upon conviction thereof be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor
more than five hundred dollars, and confined in jail not more than six
months, either or both, in the discretion of the jury or court trying the
case. The owner or master of any boat, vessel, or motor vehicle or other
conveyance found buying or carrying seed oysters from the place afore-
said to any point in this State without a permit therefor shall be fined not
less than fifty nor more than two hundred dollars.