11-1911. Farm fish ponds.1. "Farm fish pond" means a body of water, impounded by a dam, of not more than ten acres of water surface when full, lying wholly within the boundaries of privately owned or leased lands. It does not include any pond used in connection with any private camp, boarding house, hotel or other establishment catering to the public.
2. The department may issue to the owner or lessee of a farm fish pond a license, effective for a period of five years, entitling the holder to manage such fish pond for the production of fish. The department shall fix the terms of each such license and may include therein (a) permission to control undesirable fish, aquatic vegetation and insect life, interfering with the production of fish and (b) permission, notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter to the contrary, to release, stock and propagate fish in the licensed pond. The department may specify in the license methods of control to be used and the manner of taking and type, size and mesh of gear to be used in taking fish. The department may, for cause, revoke or suspend any license issued pursuant to this section.
3. No person shall release any species of fish into a farm fish pond unless permission to do so is first obtained from the department.
4. A licensee, any member of his immediate family, and any person actually employed by him in the cultivation of his farm or the management of the licensed pond may without license issued under title 7 of the Fish and Wildlife Law, take fish of any size, in any number, at any time, in any manner permitted by the department.
5. The holder of any type of fishing license, or a person entitled to exercise the privileges of such a license, may, with the permission of the licensee, take fish by angling from the licensed pond provided the holder complies with the provisions of title 13 of the Fish and Wildlife Law, with respect to open seasons, minimum size limits and daily and seasonal possession limits.
6. a. Fish protected by law, except trout, black bass, muskellunge and landlocked salmon, legally taken from a licensed farm fish pond, may be bought and sold during their respective open seasons, and may be possessed and transported at any time. Trout, black bass, muskellunge and landlocked salmon, legally taken from a licensed farm fish pond may be possessed and transported during their respective open seasons and until March 1 immediately following, but unless such fish were taken by a person described in subdivision 4 or are frozen or otherwise processed and packaged for storage and are being transported to a place of storage or consumption, no person shall transport in any one day a quantity of such fish exceeding the quantity which may be legally taken from that farm fish pond by a person described in subdivision 5.
b. Fish protected by law shall not be removed from the premises of the licensee unless such fish or the package containing them bears the name and address of the licensee and his license number and the name and address of the person in whose possession they are.
c. Fish not protected by law, legally taken from a licensed farm fish pond, may be possessed, transported, bought and sold at any time, except that taking and sale of bait fish shall be permitted only under license pursuant to section 11-1315.
Last modified: February 3, 2019