CHAPTER 553

An Act to amend and reenact § 62-1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to
the ownership of beds of bays, rivers, creeks and shores of Oe 6]

Approved March 31, 1960

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

La That § 62-1 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as
ollows:

§ 62-1. All the beds of the bays, rivers, creeks and the shores of the
sea within the jurisdiction of this Commonwealth, and not conveyed by
special grant or compact according to law, shall continue and remain the
property of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and may be used as a common
by all the people of the State for the purpose of fishing and fowling, and
of taking and catching oysters and other shellfish, subject to the pro-
visions of Title 28, and any future laws that may be passed by the General
Assembly. And no grant shall hereafter be issued by the State Librarian
to pass any estate or interest of the Commonwealth in any natural oyster
bed, rock, or shoal, whether the bed, rock or shoal shall ebb bare or not.

The Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries is hereby empowered
to control land owned by and under the control of the Commonwealth
under Back Bay, its tributaries and the North Landing River from the
North Carolina line to North Landing Bridge, in order to regulate or
prohibit by regulation any drilling, dredging or other operation designed
to recover or obtain shell, minerals or other substance, in order to prevent
practices and operations which would harm the area for fish and wildlife.