Title 9

Before any person, firm, or corporation engages in the taking, catching, transporting, or selling of live saltwater bait and the transporting of dead saltwater bait for commercial purposes, he or she shall have in his or her possession a live saltwater bait dealers license. “Live…

All licenses required herein shall expire on the 30th day of September of each year. All receipts shall be deposited to the Marine Resources Fund. Nonresidents transporting and/or selling live or dead saltwater bait shall pay a license fee equal to that charged Alabama residents …

Each live saltwater bait licensee shall furnish the Marine Resources Division of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources with the Alabama Marine Police registration number of the boat or boats designated as a live bait catcher boat and the license tag number of the t…

Licensed live saltwater bait catcher boats may, except as otherwise provided by law or regulation, take or catch, or attempt to take or catch, bait shrimp of any size and other saltwater species of bait in waters of the state under the jurisdiction of the Marine Resources Divisio…

Persons with a recreational boat shrimping license may use a trawl having a width of 16 feet or less as measured at the cork line to catch, or attempt to catch, saltwater shrimp for bait or noncommercial purposes not to exceed five gallons of shrimp per person per day, and unless…

All rivers, bayous, and creeks of the state are permanently closed to the taking of saltwater shrimp for any purpose. Wolf Bay, that area encompassing the water within the boundary from the south shore of Wolf Bay northward to Beacon #86 on the north side of the Gulf Intracoastal…

Violation of any of the provisions of Sections 9-12-54.1 through 9-12-54.6, inclusive, or any regulation promulgated pursuant to Sections 9-12-54.1 through 9-12-54.6, inclusive, by any person or persons shall be an offense against the State of Alabama, and violators shall, upon c…

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation or association to sell or offer for sale, to take from any reef or have in his possession or to buy or offer to buy any oysters whose length is less than three inches, taking into consideration the five percent allowance as p…

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation or association, by himself or itself or through his or its agent, to mutilate, destroy or remove any buoy or other marker placed, set or stationed by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources or its duly authorized…

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation or association to take or catch or attempt to take or catch any oysters or shrimp by the use of any boat, barge or watercraft which has not been duly licensed by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. (Acts 193…

It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation or association to sell or offer for sale or to buy or offer to buy any oysters or shrimp which have been taken or caught by any unlicensed tonger or by an unlicensed dredge or by an unlicensed boat, barge or other unlicensed …

It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, barter, exchange, give or deliver to any person, firm or corporation doing business in Alabama any saltwater shrimp or oysters after having been notified in writing by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources or its agent t…

The district attorney of any county bordering on salt or brackish water or within whose boundary there is a body of salt or brackish water shall institute in the name of the State of Alabama any necessary proceedings to collect any sums due the Department of Conservation and Natu…

(a) All oysters taken from public oyster bottoms of the State of Alabama for commercial purposes shall be sacked or placed in containers, in accordance with the most current National Shellfish Sanitation Program Guide for the Control of Molluscan Shellfish, as adopted by the stat…

Those who are not bona fide residents of the State of Alabama and boats owned or operated by persons who are not bona fide residents of this state and boats of foreign corporations or boats taking oysters out of the state shall pay the same fee as that charged Alabama residents o…

(a) Before any person engages in the taking or catching of oysters from the waters or bottoms of the State of Alabama, the person shall first purchase an annual oyster catcher license. The license shall expire annually on September 30 and shall be twenty-five dollars ($25) . Howe…

(a) For purposes of this section, the term “product tasting” means providing oysters at no cost to the consumer for sampling to determine the qualities of the oysters, such as taste and texture. (b) Notwithstanding any law or rule to the contrary, including a permit or licensure …

All moneys accruing from the sale of such licenses shall be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the Seafoods Fund. (Acts 1953, No. 796, p. 1089, §2.)

When application is made for a license for any boat or vessel which is not enrolled in the customhouse of the United States, other than skiffs or vessels of one ton burden or less, the applicant for such license shall make an affidavit as to the tonnage of said boat or vessel bef…

Every dredge authorized to be used in catching or removing oysters from the public reefs, beds or bottoms of this state shall be licensed by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Before such license is issued, the applicant shall pay to the department of conservat…

It shall be unlawful for any person to use any boat for the purpose of drawing a seine or trawl used in catching shrimp or hauling or carrying shrimp without first having secured an annual license due and payable on or before the opening date of the season as set by the Commissio…

All persons to whom a license is issued to catch oysters or shrimp must have the same constantly in their possession while taking oysters or shrimp, and it shall be unlawful to take oysters or shrimp unless a properly issued license to do so is in the possession of the person ope…

(a) Any person, firm, or corporation who engages in the business of carrying one or more persons fishing in salt and brackish waters of the State of Alabama for a fee shall purchase a commercial party boat license. The fee for a commercial party boat license shall be $200.00 for …

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Division of Marine Resources, acting through the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources, may undertake and provide for such conditions of sale or barter as may be necessary, expedient and to the best interest of th…

All sale or barter transactions that may be consummated for the purposes of this article by the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources shall be reduced to writing and approved by the Governor and the Chief Examiner of Public Accounts on the face thereof. The Commissio…

(a) Before any person, firm, corporation, or association constructs or attempts to construct an artificial fishing reef in the coastal waters of the State of Alabama as defined by Section 9-7-10, or waters approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers adjacent to or which may affe…

The Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources shall have authority to enter into agreements of reciprocity with conservation commissioners or directors and other proper officials of other states who have jurisdiction over the seafood laws and regulations of such states w…

Upon the entering of such reciprocal agreement, the license fees imposed upon nonresident fishermen and upon the owners of catching boats, freight boats or ice boats owned in whole or in part by such nonresidents shall be the same as for residents of the State of Alabama. (Acts 1…

The fishing rights and privileges which may be granted by or through such reciprocal agreements shall be exercised in accordance with the laws of Alabama and the rules and regulations promulgated by the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources of the State of Alabama wh…

The Governor of this state is hereby authorized and directed to execute a compact on behalf of the State of Alabama with any one or more of the states of Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, and with such other states as may enter into the compact legally therein in the for…

In pursuance of Article III of said compact there shall be three representatives from Alabama to the commission created therein to be selected as follows: The Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources shall, ex officio, be a representative of the State of Alabama on said…

Any powers granted in this article to the commission shall be regarded as in aid of and supplemental to and in no case a limitation upon any of the powers vested in said commission by other laws of the State of Alabama or by the laws of the States of Florida, Texas, Mississippi, …

All necessary expenses incident to the membership of the State of Alabama in the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission shall be payable out of the Seafoods Fund upon the requisition of the Commissioner of Conservation and Natural Resources. Such expenses shall include travel co…

There is hereby appropriated annually out of the Seafood Fund of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources the sum of $3,500.00 to the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission as the State of Alabama’s prorated share of said commission’s annual operating expenses as pro…

For the purposes of this article, the following terms shall have the meanings described herein, unless the context otherwise requires: (1) ALLIGATOR FARM. An enclosed area not located on public lands or waters, constructed so as to prevent the ingress and egress of alligators fro…

Any person, firm, or corporation may engage in the business of propagating alligators on an alligator farm for restocking, propagation, and other commercial purposes by complying with the provisions of this article, and may thereafter sell either live alligators to other licensed…

Whoever desires to engage in the business of raising, exhibiting, and selling alligators on alligator farms shall apply to the department for a license to do so. If it appears that the application is made in good faith, upon payment of $1,000.00, an alligator farmer license may b…

Alligator farmer licenses shall expire on the thirtieth day of September of each year. On or before the first day of October of the following year, every licensee shall apply for a renewal of his license. In conjunction with this application, the licensee shall provide a report i…

Alligators raised on such licensed breeding farms may be sold alive to other licensed alligator farmers only, or taken for their skins or for food, according to such rules and regulations as the department may promulgate. All skins shall be tagged according to rules and regulatio…

Whoever under the authority of this article has in his lawful possession any such alligators or parts thereof on such posted or fenced alligator farm shall have a property right therein and shall be the owner thereof. Whoever enters the alligator farm and catches, takes, or attem…

(a) Each alligator parts dealer shall secure an alligator parts dealer license from the department before commencing business. The license shall be secured annually and shall be furnished upon the payment of $100.00. (b) Each retailer selling canned alligator parts or purchasing …

(a) Any licensed alligator farmer may sell alligator carcasses or parts, provided he completes an official alligator parts transaction form, furnished by the department, for every alligator parts transaction. These forms shall be submitted to the department at 30-day intervals un…

Each alligator farmer shall tag with an official alligator parts tag, furnished by the department, all carcasses, meat, or nonedible alligator parts prior to sale and upon dissection from the carcass. This tag shall be completed in full and remain attached to the carcass or part …

All raw alligator skins shipped within this state shall be tagged so as to show the number and kinds of skins in the shipment, the consignor, shipping point, consignee, and destination. The department shall supply suitable tags to all shippers requiring them for actual shipments.…

There is hereby levied a severance tax on each alligator skin taken from any alligator within this state, payable to the state through the department by the alligator farmer selling or shipping his skins within or without the state or taking his own catch out of state, at the rat…

No person shall take or possess the eggs of alligators, alligators, or their parts or skins in any county of this state except as provided for in this article, and the provisions of this section shall not apply to legal finished products, alligators or parts thereof legally acqui…