Code of Virginia - Title 28.2 Fisheries And Habitat Of The Tidal Waters - Chapter 5 Oysters And Clams

28.2-500 Residency and certain oyster licenses
No residence restriction shall prohibit any person from obtaining any required license for buying fish or shellfish or for shucking oysters. In dredging or scraping ...

28.2-501 Application for license to take or catch oysters or clams
A. Any resident of this Commonwealth who desires to take or catch oysters or clams by any device other than a scrape or dredge shall ...

28.2-502 License fees for taking oysters or clams in tidal waters
Every resident who applies for a license to take or catch oysters and clams shall pay as follows: 1. For each person taking or catching ...

28.2-503 License for taking clams with tongs
The license for taking clams, by ordinary or patent tongs, shall entitle the holder to take only clams from the public bottoms in the waters ...

28.2-504 License fee graduated; penalty
A. Every person engaged in the business of shucking or packing oysters in Virginia shall pay a license fee based on the amount of oysters ...

28.2-505 Sale of shells to Commission
A. Each shucker or packer of oysters shall sell to the Commission at the prevailing market price up to twenty percent of the shells, unless ...

28.2-506 Season for taking oysters from public rocks; penalty
A. The season for taking oysters by shaft tongs or by hand from the public oyster beds, rocks, or shoals shall be as follows: 1. ...

28.2-507 Opening and closing public rocks
The Commission, in order to protect or promote the growth of oysters, may (i) close and open any area or restrict the manner or method ...

28.2-508 Prohibited area for patent tongs; penalty
It is unlawful for any person to use or employ patent tongs to take or catch oysters from the public rocks, beds, or shoals in ...

28.2-509 Maximum weight for patent tongs; teeth length; penalty
It is unlawful for any person to use patent tongs exceeding 100 pounds in gross weight, including any attachments other than rope, for the taking ...

28.2-510 Buying, selling, or possessing unculled oysters; penalty
It is unlawful for any person to buy, sell, or possess oysters under the prescribed size and over the shell allowance taken from the public ...

28.2-511 Culling oysters; penalty
A. In addition to any other penalty prescribed by law, any person charged with violating any regulation governing the culling of oysters shall be required, ...

28.2-512 Interfering with oyster inspections; penalty
It is unlawful for any person possessing unshucked oysters to (i) resist or interfere with an officer while he examines oysters suspected of being unculled ...

28.2-513 Prima facie evidence of culling violation; defense
It is unlawful for a person to have any oysters or shells on the culling board, deck, washboard, or other receptacle above the hold of ...

28.2-514 Possession of shucked oysters; penalty
It is unlawful for any person to possess more than one-half gallon of shucked oysters on board a boat harvesting on the public rocks. A ...

28.2-515 Dredging or scraping on private ground; permit required
Any resident of the Commonwealth holding under legal assignment an oyster-planting ground of at least three acres in one tract or adjoining tracts and having ...

28.2-516 Oyster dredging or oyster dredging equipment on boat; penalty
It is unlawful for any person to have on board a boat, a dredge or equipment normally used for dredging oysters, unless he has a ...

28.2-517 Marking ground
A person shall not dredge or scrape his oyster-planting ground unless he has first properly designated and marked the oyster-planting ground as prescribed by the ...

28.2-518 Dredging for oysters in James River; penalty
It shall be unlawful for any person to dredge for oysters in the James River during the open season for taking oysters from the public ...

28.2-519 Use of rakes or scrapes on ocean side of Eastern Shore; penalty
It shall be unlawful for any person to use dredges, scrapes, rakes other than hand rakes, or other like devices to take or catch crabs, ...

28.2-520 Use of hydraulic dredges prohibited; exceptions; penalty
A. It shall be unlawful for any person, unless he has been issued a permit by the Commission pursuant to subsection B, to (i) take ...

28.2-521 Revocation of license or permit to dredge
The Commission, on testimony of an officer at a hearing that he has personally observed a person having dredging cable or dredging equipment overboard or ...

28.2-522 Prima facie evidence of violation
In any prosecution for the violation of any sections of this article against the captain or crew of a vessel or any person on board, ...

28.2-523 Penalty
Any person who takes or catches oysters with a dredge, scrape, or instrument other than ordinary or patent oyster tongs or by hand, in any ...

28.2-524 Taking oysters or clams in certain areas; limitations
The Commission, in order to protect and promote the oyster or clam fishery, may open and close the following areas, or any parts thereof, for ...

28.2-525 Fishing in Chesapeake Bay immediately west of Tangier Island
The Commission, in order to protect and promote the fishery in that area of the Chesapeake Bay described herein, may open and close such area ...

28.2-526 Oyster measures; standards; penalty
A. It is unlawful for any person to buy or sell oysters in the shell by any measure other than one-half bushel or one bushel ...

28.2-527 Theft of oysters, clams, shells, etc.; penalty
Any person who steals, or takes or carries away without permission of the owner, (i) bedded, naturally occurring, or planted oysters or clams, (ii) oysters ...

28.2-528 Revocation of licenses for theft of oysters
The Commission, without notice and hearing required by § 28.2-232, shall revoke all licenses to take or catch fish, shellfish, or marine organisms, issued to ...

28.2-529 Converting shells into lime; penalty
It shall be unlawful for any person to take or catch oysters or shells for conversion into lime, unless the person has obtained permission from ...

28.2-530 Taking oysters or loading on vessel on Sunday or at night; penalty
A. It shall be unlawful for any person to take oysters, from either public or private grounds, on Sunday or between sunset and sunrise; nor ...

28.2-531 Taking clams on Sunday or at night; exception; penalty
It shall be unlawful for any person to take clams from either public or private grounds, on Sunday or between sunset and sunrise. This section ...

28.2-532 Protection of oysters and clams of Virginia; labeling; penalty
It shall be unlawful for any person to offer for sale, sell or distribute for direct consumption oysters or clams as Virginia oysters or clams ...

28.2-533 Oysters on crab dredging boat; penalty
It shall be unlawful for any person licensed to catch crabs with a dredge to possess aboard a boat more than one bushel of oysters. ...

28.2-534 Possession of oysters while taking clams; penalty
The possession of oysters while taking or catching clams during the season in which it is unlawful to take or catch oysters from the public ...

28.2-535 Permit to buy or carry seed oysters from certain grounds; penalty
A. It is unlawful for any person to buy or carry oysters from the eastern side of the Counties of Accomack and Northampton or from ...

28.2-536 Taking clams in certain areas; penalty
It is unlawful to take or catch clams in Pocomoke Sound above a line drawn from Drum Bay Point, in the County of Accomack, and ...

28.2-537 Restriction on size of clams; penalty
It is unlawful for any person to harvest or ship clams smaller in size than the legal size established by the Commission. Any person who ...

28.2-538 Record of oysters handled; penalty
All licensed oyster buyers, planters, packers, importers of shucking stock or shippers shall keep accurate and itemized records, on forms issued by the Commission, which ...

28.2-539 Inspection tax
All licensed oyster buyers, planters, packers, importers of shucking stock or shippers shall pay to the Commissioner an inspection tax of three cents for each ...

28.2-540 Who pays inspection tax; schedule for payment
The inspection tax shall be paid to the Commissioner by the captain, or operator of any boat, vessel, or motor vehicle, or the purchaser, importer, ...

28.2-541 Replenishment tax
A. There is imposed upon all oysters taken from the public rocks, beds, or shoals the following replenishment tax: (i) on all oysters taken from ...

28.2-542 Public Oyster Rocks Replenishment Fund
All oyster replenishment taxes collected by the Commission shall be deposited in the state treasury and credited to a special Public Oyster Rocks Replenishment Fund, ...

28.2-543 Payment of replenishment tax; payment schedule
A. The replenishment tax shall be paid to the Commission by all oyster buyers who purchase oysters taken from the public rocks, beds or shoals. ...

28.2-544 Reports required of oyster buyers
A. All oyster buyers shall send to the Commission a complete report and taxes due the Commission on all oysters purchased during such periods of ...

28.2-545 Description unavailable
Reserved. ...

28.2-546 Permit to carry oysters out of state
A. It shall be unlawful for any person to carry, or attempt to carry, or to buy for the purpose of carrying out of this ...

28.2-547 Authority to inspect oysters when loaded on conveyance
Any officer is authorized to inspect as to the quality, size and measure of any of the oysters taken or purchased, loaded on any boat, ...

28.2-548 Duty to inspect; collection of tax and receipt
It shall be the duty of the officer in whose district a cargo of oysters is to be loaded to inspect the oysters as they ...

28.2-549 Violations; recovery of taxes; penalty
Any person who violates any provision of this article is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Any person willfully failing to pay such taxes to ...

28.2-550 Authority of Commissioner to make certain contracts; funds received to be paid into Public Oyster R...
A. The Commissioner with the approval of the Commission may contract with any person to take or dredge submerged oyster shells or any other subaqueous ...

28.2-551 Surveys and reports as conclusive evidence
The surveys of the natural oyster beds, rocks, and shoals of the Commonwealth, made pursuant to Chapter 511 of the 1892 Acts of Assembly, shall ...

28.2-552 Resurvey on motion of Commission or on application of citizens
The Commission may select and appoint any surveyor to survey or resurvey any oyster-planting grounds either in his own or any other county, and to ...

28.2-553 Reestablishment of lines of Baylor survey; procedure; evidence of reestablished lines
The Commission may reestablish, relocate, and remark all lines of the Baylor survey which cannot be otherwise relocated because of the loss or destruction of ...

28.2-554 Sale of Baylor survey charts and plats
The Commissioner shall have available to sell at five dollars per copy to the public copies of the Baylor survey charts and plats, in such ...

28.2-555 Crossings of Baylor survey
The Commonwealth Transportation Board may maintain, repair, reconstruct, or replace any existing crossings of the Baylor survey. Such authorization is granted for any Baylor survey ...

28.2-556 Erosion control devices within the Baylor survey
The public oyster beds, rocks, and shoals shall not include any area needed for an erosion control structure if the Commission, after considering the comments ...

28.2-557 Unlawful to threaten or hinder surveyor; rights of surveyor; penalty
It is unlawful for any person to threaten, resist, or in any manner interfere with a surveyor in the performance of duties relating to oyster ...

28.2-558 Placing permanent markers
Whenever the Commission makes or directs any surveys of Virginia's public oyster rocks, prominent and permanent concrete markers shall be placed on the shores fixing ...

28.2-559 Removal of oysters planted by mistake
When, by any resurvey of oyster-planting ground or survey reestablishing the lines of the Baylor survey made under the direction of the Commission, it appears ...

28.2-560 Larceny of oysters and shells; penalty
Any person other than the holder of an oyster-planting ground or his agents or employees who goes upon such ground and takes oysters and shells ...

28.2-561 Removal of markers of planting grounds; penalty
It is unlawful for any person to intentionally or knowingly injure, remove, or displace any boundary oyster stake, range monument, signal beacon, post or buoy, ...

28.2-562 Maps to be filed; evidential value
All maps of the bays, rivers, and creeks of this Commonwealth made by the Commission showing the location of oyster-planting grounds shall be filed in ...