Texas Parks And Wildlife Code Title 5, Chapter 66 - Fish And Aquatic Plants

SUBCHAPTER A PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO FRESHWATER AND SALTWATER FISHING AND AQUATIC PLANTS

• Texas Section 66.001 - Definitions
  In this chapter: (1) "Fresh water" means all lakes, lagoons, rivers, and streams to their mouths, but does not include coastal or tidal water. (2)...
• Texas Section 66.002 - Consent To Take Fish From Private Water
  (a) No person may catch, take, or attempt to catch or take any aquatic animal life by any means or method from any privately owned...
• Texas Section 66.003 - Placing Explosives Or Harmful Substances In Water
  (a) No person may place in the water of this state an explosive, poison, or other substance or thing deleterious to fish. (b) Subsection (a)...
• Texas Section 66.004 - Taking Of Fish By Electric Shock Prohibited; Exception
  (a) Except as provided by Subsection (d) of this section, no person may catch fish by using an electricity-producing device designed to shock fish. (b)...
• Texas Section 66.005 - Wilful Destruction Of Boat, Seine, Or Net
  No person may wilfully, with the intent to injure the owner, take a boat, seine, net, or other device for fishing into prohibited water, or...
• Texas Section 66.006 - Possession Of Illegal Fishing Devices
  (a) No person may possess a device designed to catch fish or other aquatic wildlife in or on the public water of this state where...
• Texas Section 66.007 - Exotic Harmful Or Potentially Harmful Fish And Shellfish
  (a) No person may import, possess, sell, or place into the public water of this state exotic harmful or potentially harmful fish or shellfish except...
• Texas Section 66.0071 - Removal Of Harmful Aquatic Plants
  On leaving any public or private body of water in this state, a person shall immediately remove and lawfully dispose of any exotic aquatic plant...
• Texas Section 66.0072 - Exotic Harmful Or Potentially Harmful Aquatic Plants
  (a) In this section: (1) "Exotic aquatic plant" means a nonindigenous aquatic plant that is not normally found in the public water of this state....
• Texas Section 66.0073 - Rules Requiring Water To Be Drained
  (a) In this section: (1) "Public water" has the meaning assigned by Section 66.015. (2) "Salt water" has the meaning assigned by Section 66.001. (3)...
• Texas Section 66.008 - Fishing From Bridge
  (a) No person may fish from the deck or road surface of any bridge or causeway on a road maintained by the Texas Department of...
• Texas Section 66.009 - Navigation Districts
  (a) No person may use a seine or net of any type, trotline, or other mechanical or physical device, except hook and line, to catch...
• Texas Section 66.0091 - Fishing In Certain Man-made Waterways
  (a) This section applies to a county in which at least 60 percent of the total area of the county is regularly covered by water...
• Texas Section 66.011 - Leaving Fish To Die
  A person commits an offense if the person leaves edible fish or bait fish taken from the public waters of this state to die without...
• Texas Section 66.012 - Penalties
  (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a person who violates a provision of this subchapter or a rule adopted by the commission under...
• Texas Section 66.013 - Federal Grants
  Federal grants for research and development of commercial fisheries may be used for individual fishery projects with the approval of the department. Added by Acts...
• Texas Section 66.014 - Identification Of Vehicle Transporting Aquatic Products
  (a) No person may transport any aquatic product for commercial purposes unless the person clearly identifies the motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer as a vehicle...
• Texas Section 66.015 - Introduction Of Fish, Shellfish, And Aquatic Plants
  (a) In this section, "public water" means the bays, estuaries, and water of the Gulf of Mexico within the jurisdiction of the state, and the...
• Texas Section 66.016 - Commercial Fishing Regulations Applicable If Commercial Plates On Board
  (a) A person on board a boat licensed or required to be licensed for a commercial fishing activity under Chapter 47, 76, 77, or 78,...
• Texas Section 66.017 - License, Tag, And Permit Expirations And Transfers
  (a) All licenses, tags, and permits issued under the authority of Chapter 66 of this code are valid only during the yearly period for which...
• Texas Section 66.018 - Crab Trap Tags
  (a) The department may issue tags for crab traps placed in public water. (b) The commission may make regulations for the safe use of crab...
• Texas Section 66.019 - Statistical Reports
  (a) The department shall gather statistical information on the harvest of aquatic products of this state. (b) The department shall prescribe the method or methods...
• Texas Section 66.020 - Sale And Purchase Of Protected Fish
  (a) It is unlawful for any person to buy or offer to buy, sell or offer to sell, possess for the purpose of sale, transport...
• Texas Section 66.021 - Protected Fish: Display Of Documents
  (a) A person commits an offense if the person possesses a fish described by Subsection 66.020(a) of this code under Subsection 66.020(b) of this code...
• Texas Section 66.022 - Purchase For Evidence
  A person authorized by the department who, for the purpose of establishing testimony, purchases or sells any aquatic life the purchase or sale of which...
• Texas Section 66.023 - Fraud In Fishing Tournaments
  (a) In this section, "fishing tournament" means a contest in which a prize is to be awarded to one or more participants in the contest...

SUBCHAPTER B FRESH WATER FISHING

• Texas Section 66.024 - Seagrass Plants
  (a) In this section, "seagrass plant" means a flowering marine plant of the species: (1) Cymodocea filiformis, known as manatee grass; (2) Halodule beaudettei or...
• Texas Section 66.102 - Placing Prohibited Devices In Public Water
  A device designed to catch fish or other aquatic wildlife resources that is placed in the public fresh water of this state in violation of...
• Texas Section 66.109 - Fish Ladders
  (a) The department, by written order, may require the owner of a public or private dam or other obstruction on a regularly flowing public freshwater...
• Texas Section 66.110 - Screens To Protect Fish
  (a) The department may direct a person or corporation taking fresh water of the state to cover the entrance of the intake canal, pipe, or...
• Texas Section 66.111 - Sale And Purchase Of Certain Fish
  (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) no person may buy or offer to buy, sell or offer to sell, possess for the purpose of...
• Texas Section 66.114 - Game And Nongame Fish Defined: Commission Proclamation
  The commission by proclamation shall define game and nongame fish. Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 1405, ch. 545, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1975. Amended...
• Texas Section 66.115 - Handfishing
  (a) In this section, "handfishing" means fishing for catfish by the use of hands only and without any other fishing device such as a gaff,...

SUBCHAPTER C SALTWATER FISHING

• Texas Section 66.121 - Penalty
  A person who violates Section 66.109, 66.110, 66.111, or 66.117(b) of this code or a regulation adopted under Section 66.115 of this code commits an...
• Texas Section 66.2011 - Red Drum And Speckled Sea Trout: Penalties
  In addition to the penalty provided in Section 66.218, a person who violates a proclamation issued under Chapter 61 shall have all equipment, other than...
• Texas Section 66.2012 - Regulation Of Commercial Uses Of Redfish And Speckled Sea Trout
  (a) The commission by proclamation may regulate the catching, possession, transportation, sale, and purchase for commercial purposes in this state of redfish and speckled sea...
• Texas Section 66.204 - Vessels And Obstructions In Fish Passes
  (a) The commission by proclamation may regulate the placement of obstructions, traps, and mooring in fish passes and the marking of restricted areas in any...
• Texas Section 66.206 - Trotline Tags
  (a) The department shall issue numbered tags for trotlines used in public salt water. (b) The commission may make regulations for the safe use of...
• Texas Section 66.208 - Commercial Joint Fishing Ventures
  (a) No person who is engaged in taking seafood in a commercial joint venture may sell or offer to sell the products of the joint...
• Texas Section 66.215 - Tags For Noncommercial Nets And Seines
  (a) Except as provided in Subsection (b) of this section, no person may place or use in the coastal water of this state a net...
• Texas Section 66.216 - Possession Of Headed Or Tailed Fish
  No person may possess a finfish of any species taken from coastal water, except broadbill swordfish, shark, and king mackerel, that has the head or...
• Texas Section 66.216 - Possession Of Headed Or Tailed Fish
  (a) No person may possess a finfish of any species taken from coastal water, except broadbill swordfish, shark, or king mackerel, that has the head...
• Texas Section 66.2161 - Sale Or Purchase Of Shark Fins
  (a) In this section: (1) "Shark" means any species of the subclass Elasmobranchii. (2) "Shark fin" means the fresh and uncooked, or cooked, frozen, dried,...
• Texas Section 66.217 - Finfish Research
  (a) The department shall conduct continuous research and study of: (1) the supply, economic value, environment, and breeding habits of the various species of finfish,...

SUBCHAPTER D TEXAS TERRITORIAL WATER

• Texas Section 66.218 - Penalties
  (a) Except as otherwise provided by this section, a person who violates a provision of this subchapter or a proclamation adopted under this subchapter commits...
• Texas Section 66.301 - Definition
  In this subchapter, "coastal water" means all of the salt water of this state, including that portion of the Gulf of Mexico within the jurisdiction...
• Texas Section 66.303 - Prohibited Acts
  No unlicensed alien vessel may take or attempt to take by any means or possess any natural resource of the coastal water of this state....
• Texas Section 66.304 - Port Authorities And Navigation Districts
  It is the duty of the port authorities and navigation districts of this state to prevent the use of any port facility in a manner...
• Texas Section 66.305 - Harbor Pilots
  All harbor pilots shall promptly transmit any knowledge coming to their attention regarding possible violations of this subchapter to the appropriate navigation district or port...
• Texas Section 66.306 - Enforcement
  All law enforcement agencies of the state, including agents of the department, are empowered and directed to arrest the masters and crews of vessels that...
• Texas Section 66.307 - Political Asylum
  No crew member or master seeking bona fide political asylum shall be fined or imprisoned under this subchapter. Acts 1975, 64th Leg., p. 1405, ch....
• Texas Section 66.308 - Penalty
  A captain, master, or owner of an unlicensed alien vessel or boat who violates Section 66.303 of this code commits an offense that is a...

Last modified: September 28, 2016