MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Marine Resources
By: Representative DeLano
AN ACT TO CREATE NEW SECTION 49-15-82, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT IT SHALL BE UNLAWFUL FOR A PERSON TO POSSESS OR USE A GILL NET, TRAMMEL NET, ENTANGLEMENT NET, OR LIKE CONTRIVANCES IN THE MARINE WATERS OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI WITH CERTAIN EXCEPTIONS; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 49-7-9.1, 49-7-81, 49-15-15, 49-15-78, 49-15-80, 49-15-94, 49-15-100, 49-15-100.1 AND 49-15-100.3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH REGULATE THE USE OF GILL NETS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The following section shall be codified as Section 49-15-82, Mississippi Code of 1972:
49-15-82. (1) It shall be unlawful for a person to possess or use a gill net, trammel net, entanglement net, or like contrivances in the marine waters of the State of Mississippi unless:
(a) The fishermen in possession of or using the net has a valid commercial fishing license with a current net endorsement specifically issued for a gill net, trammel net, entanglement net or like contrivance that has been continuously maintained without any break from July 1, 2014; and
(b) The net in possession or use has been approved by the Department of Marine Resources in that calendar year.
(2) A net endorsement to a commercial fishing license to permit the possession or use of a gill net, trammel net, entanglement net or like contrivance may only be issued to a person that:
(a) Possessed a valid commercial gill and trammel net license during the years 2012 and 2013;
(b) Received approval from the Department of Marine Resources for a gill net, trammel net, entanglement net or like contrivance after January 1, 2009; and
(c) Has not been convicted of any fishing violations in the past three (3) years.
(3) In order to maintain a net endorsement pursuant to this section, the licensee must demonstrate through the Department of Marine Resources trip ticket program:
(a) Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) in sales of seafood product per year designated as being caught by gill or trammel nets in each calendar year after 2014; or
(b) Sales of seafood product caught by gill or trammel net equivalent to ten percent (10%) of net income in each calendar year after 2014.
(4) The Department of Marine Resources may set forth additional requirements to further restrict the issuance of a net endorsement under this section.
(5) A violation of this section is punishable by the penalties provided in Section 49-15-100(2).
SECTION 2. Section 49-7-9.1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
49-7-9.1. (1) (a) Any resident engaged in fishing for commercial purposes and selling or peddling nongame gross fish at retail or selling or shipping same at wholesale, as to markets, dealers or canning plants, shall purchase a commercial fishing license.
(b) A licensee must label each piece of commercial fishing equipment with a waterproof or metal tag containing any information required by the department. A piece of commercial fishing equipment is defined as: One (1) each hoop or barrel net; one thousand (1,000) feet or less of trotline; one thousand (1,000) feet or less of snagline; three thousand (3,000) feet or less of gill netting; or three thousand (3,000) feet or less of trammel netting. Netting of over three thousand (3,000) feet is prohibited.
(c) Upon the purchase of a commercial license for use of hoop or barrel nets, the licensee is permitted to use lead nets thirty-five (35) yards in length for each two (2) barrel nets used, but not to exceed seven (7) lead nets.
(2) Each person taking nongame gross fish as defined in Section 49-7-1, of any kind from the fresh waters of the state shall be considered a producer and shall be entitled to sell his own catch of nongame gross fish to anyone except as otherwise provided by law or applicable regulations.
(3) Each resident buying or handling nongame gross fish secured from commercial fishermen or others for the purpose of resale, whether handled on a commission basis or otherwise, and each resident shipping nongame gross fish not his own catch out of the State of Mississippi shall be considered a wholesale dealer and shall purchase a commercial fishing license. Resident wholesale dealers' licenses shall be issued only to persons who have been bona fide residents of the State of Mississippi for at least six (6) months.
(4) Each resident buying nongame gross fish from a licensed wholesale dealer or licensed commercial fisherman for retail sale to the consumer only on rural or urban routes shall purchase a commercial fishing license to do so.
(5) Each resident engaged in the buying and selling of nongame gross fish as a wholesale dealer's agent, whether on a commission or salary basis, or otherwise, and not selling in the open market, shall purchase a commercial fishing license and shall be responsible for any illegal transaction ensuing between the time he purchases the fish from the fisherman and the time the fish are accepted by the wholesaler by whom he is employed.
(6) (a) Any resident using a wooden or plastic slat basket shall purchase a slat basket license for each basket each year in addition to a commercial fishing license. Slat baskets are defined as commercial fishing devices used solely for the capture of catfish and made entirely of wood and/or plastic slats in a box-like or cylindrical shape. Slat baskets shall not exceed six (6) feet in length nor exceed fifteen (15) inches in width and height or diameter, may have no more than two (2) throats, and must have at least four (4) slot openings at least one and one-fourth (1-1/4) by twenty-four (24) inches evenly spaced around the sides of the catch area. The one and one-fourth (1-1/4) inch wide slots or greater must begin at the rear of the basket and run twenty-four (24) inches toward the throat end of the basket. Slat baskets shall be placed at least one hundred (100) yards apart and may not be used with any form of leads, netting or guiding devices.
(b) Each slat basket shall have a waterproof or metal tag attached to it containing any information required by the department. Any other identification of the owner of the slat basket shall meet any specifications required by the department. Slat baskets may be fished statewide except where specifically prohibited.
(c) Any violation of this subsection shall be a Class I violation as prescribed in Section 49-7-141.
(7) It is unlawful for any person to offer for sale undersized nongame gross fish.
(8) (a) The fee for a resident commercial fishing license shall be Thirty Dollars ($30.00).
(b) The fee for a slat basket license shall be Thirty Dollars ($30.00).
(9) Any person authorized to issue any license under this section may collect and retain for issuing each license the additional fee authorized under Section 49-7-17.
SECTION 3. Section 49-7-81, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
49-7-81. (1) It is unlawful to take or kill game fish in any manner other than by hook and line with one or more hooks, or by use of a trot or troll line. Dip or landing nets may be used when landing a fish caught by hook and line, trot or troll lines. Shad and minnows may only be taken as bait with the aid of a dip or landing net, cast nets, boat-mounted scoops and wire baskets by residents for personal use in sportfishing. However, in private ponds or borrow pits or overflow ponds which go dry in summer and cut off from the regular streams, dip nets may be used for capturing or rescuing game fish. It is unlawful to kill or take fish of any species at any time or anywhere by mudding, or by the use of lime, poison, dynamite, India berries, weeds and walnuts, giant powder, gunpowder, or any other explosive, and no nongame gross fish shall be taken by the use of nets, seines or traps for personal use without a commercial fishing license. It is unlawful to set any freshwater commercial fishing equipment so that it extends more than halfway across the width of any stream, channel, drain or other body of water, and if commercial fishing equipment is placed in water, each piece of equipment shall be placed at least one hundred (100) yards apart. The commission shall have the authority to fix the minimum size mesh for use in barrel nets, hoop nets and seines for use in the freshwaters of this state regulated by the Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. This authority given the commission shall not be extended to the regulation of mesh size for use in marine waters. Notwithstanding anything in this or any other section to the contrary, any person in Mississippi fishing with barrel nets, hoop nets or seines in any waters of common boundary between Mississippi and another state may use a mesh size in such nets which is the same as the mesh size allowed in the other state, where the other state allows a mesh size in such nets which is smaller than the mesh size otherwise allowable in Mississippi.
(2) It is unlawful for any person to catch or destroy fish by the use of dynamite, gunpowder or other explosive substance.
(3) It is unlawful for any person to use a telephone, battery or any other electrically operated device for the purpose of killing or capturing fish.
(4) It is unlawful for any person to use any chemical of any kind in any stream or any lake where the public fishes for the purpose of killing or taking fish, except that this provision shall not be construed to apply to any owner of any fish pond using such chemical in his own private pond.
(5) It is unlawful for any person to poison any fish by mingling in the water any substance calculated and intended to stupefy or destroy fish.
(6) It is unlawful for any person to fish any equipment in the waters of the state of any size or type that is not allowed by the commission.
(7) Any hoop net, barrel net, seine, gill net, slat baskets, trammel net or untagged commercial fishing gear or devices being fished in public waters may be seized and held as evidence and shall be subject to forfeiture.
(8) Any person violating the provisions of subsections (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of this section is guilty of a Class I violation and, upon conviction, shall be punished as provided in Section 49-7-141.
SECTION 4. Section 49-15-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
49-15-15. (1) In addition to any other powers and duties authorized by law, the commission shall have the following powers and duties regarding the regulation of seafood:
(a) To exercise full jurisdiction and authority over all marine aquatic life and to regulate any matters pertaining to seafood, including cultivated seafood;
(b) To adopt, promulgate, amend or repeal, after due notice and public hearing, in accordance with the Mississippi Administrative Procedures Law and subject to the limitations in subsection (2) of this section, rules and regulations authorized under this chapter, including, but not limited to, rules and regulations necessary for the protection, conservation or propagation of all seafood in the waters under the territorial jurisdiction of the State of Mississippi and for the regulation of gill net and purse seine fishermen. All public hearings under this chapter concerning the regulation of marine resources shall be held in Hancock, Harrison or Jackson Counties. Each rule or regulation promulgated under this chapter shall immediately be advertised one (1) time in a newspaper or newspapers having general circulation in counties affected by that regulation. A regulation shall become effective at 6:00 a.m. on the day after its publication;
(c) To regulate all seafood sanitation and processing programs. In the three (3) coastal counties, the sanitation program regulating processing plants and seafood sold in retail stores operating in conjunction with a processing plant or seafood market that primarily deals with seafood is under the exclusive authority of the commission. The commission may also inspect and regulate those areas of any seafood processing plant which process freshwater species at any site where the department inspects seafood processing plants. To effectively and efficiently implement the state seafood sanitation program, the State Health Officer, the Commissioner of Agriculture and the executive director of the department may enter into a memorandum of understanding, which at a minimum, clearly specifies the responsibilities of each agency in implementing the seafood sanitation program, as well as the sharing of information and communication and coordination between the agencies;
(d) To set standards of measure;
(e) To set requirements for employment of commission employees whose compensation shall be governed by the rules and regulations of the State Personnel Board;
(f) To acquire and dispose of commission equipment and facilities;
(g) To keep proper records of the commission, including an official ordinance book which contains all rules and regulations promulgated by the commission under this chapter;
(h) To enter into advantageous interstate and intrastate agreements with proper officials, which directly or indirectly result in the protection, propagation and conservation of the seafood of the State of Mississippi, or continue any such agreements now in existence;
(i) To arrange, negotiate or contract for the use of available federal, state and local facilities which would aid in the propagation, protection and conservation of the seafood of the State of Mississippi;
(j) To authorize the operation of double rigs in the waters lying between the mainland coast and the island chain, and those rigs shall not exceed a length of twenty-five (25) feet at the corkline, and to prescribe the length at the lead line for each rig, net or try-trawl;
(k) To destroy or dispose of equipment or nets which have been lawfully seized by the commission and which are not sold under Section 49-15-201 et seq.;
(l) To open, close and regulate fishing seasons for the taking of shrimp, oysters, fish taken for commercial purposes and crabs and set size, catching and taking regulations for all types of seafood and culling regulations for oysters, except as otherwise specifically provided by law;
(m) To utilize the resources of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory to the fullest extent possible;
(n) To develop a resource management plan to preserve seafood resources and to ensure a safe supply of these resources;
(o) To prescribe types and forms of scientific permits for public educational or scientific institutions, federal and state agencies and consultants performing marine resource studies;
(p) To suspend the issuance of licenses when necessary to impose a moratorium to conserve a fishery resource;
(q) To promote, construct, monitor and maintain artificial fishing reefs in the marine waters of the State of Mississippi and in adjacent federal waters; to accept grants and donations of money or materials from public and private sources for such reefs; to set permit fees and establish guidelines for the construction of artificial reefs in federal waters; and to apply for any federal permits necessary for the construction or maintenance of artificial fishing reefs in federal waters. The location data associated with artificial reefs by corporations and private individuals shall not be published by the commission or the on the website or in written publications of the department. Location data of the artificial reefs may be requested in writing by any individual and shall be provided by the department in a timely manner; and
(r) To require, in addition to other licensing requirements, the successful completion of educational or training programs on shellfish sanitation as a prerequisite to receiving commercial licenses authorized under this chapter in order to ensure compliance with the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference's educational requirements for shellfish processors, dealers and harvesters by January 1, 2014.
(2) The commission shall not adopt rules, regulations or ordinances pertaining to marine resources which are more stringent than federal regulations. In any case where federal laws and regulations are silent on a matter pertaining to marine resources, the laws and regulations of the State of Mississippi shall control. The commission shall review all marine resource ordinances for compliance with the no more stringent standard and revise any ordinances more stringent than this standard no later than December 31, 1992. This subsection shall not apply to rules, regulations or ordinances pertaining to the wild stock of marine fin fish.
SECTION 5. Section 49-15-78, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
49-15-78. (1) It is unlawful for a person to use a gill net, trammel net, entanglement net, or like contrivances for the taking of fish in marine waters within one-half (1/2) mile of the shoreline.
(2) A violation of this section is punishable by the penalties provided in Section 49-15-100, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 6. Section 49-15-80, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
49-15-80. (1) (a) All vessels to be used in catching or transporting fish in the waters of the State of Mississippi for commercial purposes shall, before beginning operations, obtain an annual license from the commission and pay a license fee according to the following schedule:
(i) All resident vessels engaged in commercial hook and line or gig fishing shall be issued an annual license by the commission at a fee of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00). All nonresident vessels engaged in commercial hook and line or gig fishing shall be issued an annual license by the commission at a fee of Four Hundred Dollars ($400.00). Each individual engaged in commercial hook and line or gig fishing must obtain a commercial fisherman license subject to the following license fees: One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) for a resident commercial fisherman license; or Four Hundred Dollars ($400.00) for a nonresident commercial fisherman license. If a duly licensed commercial hook and line or gig fishing vessel is engaged in commercial fishing, each individual aboard must possess a commercial fisherman license.
(ii) A resident fee of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) or a nonresident fee of Four Hundred Dollars ($400.00), on boats using trammel nets, gill nets or seines not more than one thousand two hundred (1,200) feet in length.
(b) Beginning September 15, 1994, no nonresident shall be issued a commercial fishing license under this chapter for the taking of fish using any type of net if that nonresident's state of domicile prohibits the issuing of commercial fishing licenses to residents of this state to engage in like activity.
(2) Each factory or manufacturing establishment engaging in the manufacture of oil, fish scrap, fish meal, fertilizer or other products from menhaden, shall pay a license fee of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00).
(3) Each boat or vessel engaging in the catching, taking or transporting menhaden in the waters of the State of Mississippi, the sum of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) and shall pay Fifty Dollars ($50.00) on each net, seine, trawl or purse net used in catching or taking menhaden in the waters of the State of Mississippi.
SECTION 7. Section 49-15-94, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
49-15-94. It is unlawful for any person to use a purse seine to catch mullet during the roe mullet season. A violation of this subsection is punishable by the penalties provided in Section
49-15-100(2) for the unlawful use of gill or trammel nets.
SECTION 8. Section 49-15-100, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
49-15-100. (1) It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to set a gill or trammel net in the marine waters of the state north of Highway 90.
(2) (a) For a first offense, a violation of this section is punishable by a fine of not less than Two Thousand Dollars ($2,000.00), nor more than Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00) and the department may initiate forfeiture proceedings for the net and catch. For subsequent violations, a person is subject to a fine of not less than Four Thousand Dollars ($4,000.00), nor more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) and shall forfeit nets and catch. If the person in possession of or using the nets in the violation is not the owner or licensee of the nets, the department shall notify the owner or licensee of the nets. The nets shall be subject to forfeiture unless the nets were stolen and prosecution for the theft is initiated.
(b) The penalties for a violation of this section shall not be suspended or reduced.
SECTION 9. Section 49-15-100.1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
49-15-100.1. It is unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to set a gill or trammel net in the marine waters of the state north of Highway 90. Any person, firm or corporation violating this section shall be punished as provided for under Section 49-15-100 and in addition shall forfeit vessel, motor and equipment used in the violation. If the person in possession of or using the nets in the violation is not the owner or licensee of the nets, the department shall notify the owner or licensee of the nets. The nets shall be subject to forfeiture unless the nets were stolen and prosecution for the theft is initiated.
SECTION 10. Section 49-15-100.3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
49-15-100.3. The possession of a gill net, trammel net or like contrivance, or any other equipment prohibited for use in the taking or harvesting of seafood under this chapter on a vessel on the marine waters of this state where the use of the net, contrivance or equipment is prohibited, shall constitute prima facie evidence that an offense has been committed to take or harvest seafood with nets, contrivances or equipment prohibited by this chapter, unless the vessel is:
(a) Anchored or moored at a permanent facility
intended for the mooring of vessels;
(b) Traveling directly between a marina, harbor or public boat launching facility and a United States Coast Guard marked and maintained navigation channel; or
(c) Traveling within a United States Coast Guard marked and maintained navigation channel.
SECTION 11. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.