(a) The Director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is hereby authorized and empowered to promulgate rules and regulations authorizing the taking, catching, or killing of nongame fish from the public waters of Jefferson County, except in municipal parks, by the use of wire baskets having a mesh of one inch or larger.
(b)(1) Any person desiring a license to fish with such wire baskets in areas where they may be legalized by regulation, as provided for above, may apply to the judge of probate or other appropriate licensing authority in the county and shall pay a privilege license tax of one dollar ($1) for each wire basket with which he or she proposes to fish. The judge of probate, license commissioner, or other person authorized and designated to issue fishing licenses shall be entitled to a fee of twenty-five cents ($.25) for each license so issued, which fee shall be in addition to the amount designated in this section as the cost of such license. The judge of probate shall issue such license on forms provided by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and shall keep a permanent record of all licenses issued and all taxes received. Licenses shall be issued on a fiscal year basis and all licenses issued in any year shall expire on September 30 of that year.
(2) The revenue derived from the sale of the license provided for in this section shall be remitted to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources on the first day of each month by the issuing officer and shall be covered into the State Treasury to the credit of the Game and Fish Fund.
(c) It shall be illegal for any person to obtain more than four such licenses or fish with more than four such baskets.
(d) Any basket or baskets that may become legal for use in the waters of the county under this section shall be clearly marked with the name of the licensee operating, using, and owning the basket and the license number of the basket.
(e) All wire baskets not marked in accordance with the preceding subsection shall be destroyed upon discovery by any officer, agent, or employee of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
(f) Only nongame fish may be taken, captured, or killed by means of any basket that may become legal for use in such county under this section. All game fish taken in such baskets shall immediately be returned to the waters from whence taken with the least possible harm.
(g) The licenses provided for in this section shall not be sold to any person holding a commercial fishing license or engaged in the business of commercial fishing, and it shall be unlawful for any persons holding a wire basket license or using a wire basket under this section to sell or offer for sale any fish within or without any such counties. It is the specific intent of this section to allow the use of wire baskets to catch fish for personal consumption only.
(h) It shall be illegal for any person to raise, inspect, or take fish from any wire basket that may be legalized under this section unless such person shall hold in his or her name and have in his or her possession the license for the particular basket he or she is raising, inspecting, or from which he or she is taking fish. Nothing in this subsection shall prevent the raising of such baskets for inspection by any officer, agent, or employee of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
(i) Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars ($25). In addition, all basket licenses for such person shall be revoked, and no other such licenses shall be issued to him or her until the expiration of a period of three years from the date of such conviction.
Last modified: May 3, 2021