Massachusetts Statutes

Section 43. Whoever violates any provisions of sections thirty-nine to forty-two, inclusive, or of any rule or regulation made under section thirty-nine or thirty-nine A, shall be punished for a first offence by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars and for any subsequent o…

Section 44. No person shall import into the commonwealth any equine animal without a certificate relative to such animal from a laboratory approved by the United States Department of Agriculture, dated within one year from the time of such importation certifying a negative test f…

Section 44A. Any equine animal positive to a test approved by the United States Department of Agriculture for the detection of equine infectious anemia may be humanely destroyed; provided, that such destruction is observed by an agent of the division or of the United States depar…

Section 45. Every person engaging in the business of dealing in equine animals or auction of said animals and tack shall obtain a license therefor from the director, the fee for which shall be fifty dollars, and such license shall expire on October thirty-first following the date…

Section 46. Each vehicle used for the transportation of equine animals by any person engaged in the business of dealing with such animals, when operated on any way, shall bear a metal license plate, attached to the side of the vehicle to the left of the person operating or drivin…

Section 47. A person who transports equine animals for immediate slaughter upon any public way in connection with the purchase or sale thereof, shall have in his possession a bill of sale or memorandum signed by the owner or vendor of such animals, containing the address of such …

Section 48. Whoever violates any provisions of section forty-five to forty-seven, inclusive, or any rule or regulation made under section forty-five shall be punished for the first offense by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars and for any subsequent offense by a fine of …

Section 5. All orders, rules and regulations made by the director shall be entered on the records of his division and a copy thereof shall be sent to each inspector in the town to which the orders, rules or regulations apply, and shall be published by such inspector in the manner…

Section 6. Sheriffs, constables and police officers shall upon request of the director or an inspector assist him in the performance of his duties and shall have the same powers and protection, while so engaged, as peace officers.

Section 7. For the purpose of inspecting or examining animals or the places where they are kept, the director, any of his agents or an inspector, duly qualified, may enter any building or part thereof or any enclosure or other place, and may examine or inspect such animals or pla…

Section 8. The director may establish hospitals or quarantine stations, with proper accommodations, wherein, under prescribed regulations, animals selected by him may be confined and treated for the purpose of determining the characteristics of a specific contagion and the method…

Section 9. The agents of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the agents of the Animal Rescue League of Boston may visit all places at which neat cattle, horses, mules, sheep, swine or other animals are delivered for transportation or are slaught…

Section 1. In this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires, the following words shall have the following meanings and the following rules of construction shall apply: ''Angling'', fishing with hand line or rod, with naturally or artificially baited hook. ''Canned lobster m…

Section 10. A court or official authorized to issue warrants in criminal cases shall, upon a sworn complaint that the complainant believes that any fish unlawfully taken or possessed are concealed in any boat, vehicle, fish car, box, locker, crate, package, building or other part…

Section 100A. The director, with the approval of the marine fisheries advisory commission, shall, adopt rules and regulations relative to the taking, sale or possession of striped bass but in no instance shall any rule or regulation authorize the taking, sale or possession of str…

Section 100B. No person shall take, or attempt to take, with or by the use of a net, seine or any other contrivance of any kind or description, except hook and line, any striped bass within the jurisdiction of the commonwealth; provided, that it shall not be a violation of this s…

Section 100C. No person shall take, or attempt to take, with or by the use of a net, seine or any other contrivance of any kind or description, except by hook and line, any shad within the jurisdiction of the commonwealth; provided, that it shall not be a violation of this sectio…

Section 100D. No person shall take or attempt to take eels, Anguilla rostrata, by any contrivance other than by nets, pots, spears, or angling. The director is hereby authorized to establish rules and regulations governing the size, shape, mesh size, and manner of marking such ne…

Section 101A. No person shall wilfully detain, hunt, kill or injure a gray seal (halichoerus gryphus), also called a Nantucket horsehead. Whoever violates any provision of this section shall be punished by a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars.

Section 102. No person shall harvest for sale or engage in the aquaculture of marine plants except in accordance with any regulations adopted by the director and subject to a permit or written approval issued by the director.

Section 104. This chapter shall not be deemed to affect any privileges granted in any special statute relating to fisheries in any particular place, except such provisions thereof as relate to shellfish and shellfisheries, to alewife fisheries, and to those activities which are t…

Section 105. The commissioner of environmental protection may from time to time, for the purpose of promoting the public safety, health and welfare, and protecting public and private property, wildlife and marine fisheries, adopt, amend, modify or repeal orders regulating, restri…

Section 106. (a) Except as provided in this section, no person shall possess, sell, offer for sale, trade or distribute a shark fin. (b) A person who holds a license or permit to take or land sharks may separate a shark fin from a lawfully landed shark during the ordinary course …

Section 12. All fish unlawfully taken, held, possessed or dealt with contrary to any provision of this chapter or of any rule or regulation made under authority thereof, and all boats, vehicles and apparatus used therein, may, in addition to any or all of the penalties contained …

Section 13. The director, the deputy directors of enforcement, chiefs of enforcement, deputy chiefs of enforcement and all environmental police officers and deputy environmental police officers, or any member of the state police may request any person whom he has cause to believe…

Section 14. Actions and prosecutions under the laws relative to fish or marine fisheries shall, unless otherwise expressly provided, be commenced within one year after the time when the cause of action accrued or the offence was committed.

Section 15A. Any game protector, fish and game warden, coastal warden, conservation officer or other person who is empowered to make arrests for violations of the conservation or marine fishing laws of the state of New Hampshire or of the state of Rhode Island may pursue any pers…

Section 16. Any occupation under this chapter of tide waters or any work done therein, shall be subject to the pertinent provisions of chapter ninety-one.

Section 17. The director may (1) Destroy from time to time license books and stubs, licenses, permits, certificates of registration and blanks relative thereto, after the same have been properly audited by the state auditor, and such other documents as the director deems advisabl…

Section 17A. Upon petition signed by any interested party or upon his own motion, the director shall submit to the marine fisheries advisory commission proposals relating to the management of the marine fisheries. After public hearing, notice of which shall be published in a news…

Section 17B. Notwithstanding the provisions of this chapter, the director may, by issuance of a written permit under such terms and conditions as he may impose, authorize the possession and taking of fish at any season and of any size for purposes of propagation, rearing, harvest…

Section 17C. (a) The director shall establish a state recreational saltwater fishing permit program to comply with the state exemption requirements of section 401 (g)(2) of the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, 16 USC 1881 (g)(2) and may promulgate regulat…

Section 17D. Whoever violates section 17C, or any rule or regulation made under authority thereof, shall be punished by a fine per offense as promulgated by the director. All funds received by the commonwealth under this section shall be deposited in the Marine Recreational Fishe…

Section 18. No person shall, without right, enter in or upon any building or other structure or any area of land, flats or water, set apart and used by or under authority of the director for conducting scientific experiments or investigations or for the propagation or protection …

Section 19. For the purpose of providing suitable passage for salt water fish coming into fresh water to spawn, the director or some person thereunto authorized by him in writing, may (1) seize and remove, summarily if need be, at the expense of the owner using and maintaining th…

Section 1A. The division of marine fisheries shall be within the department in the executive office of environmental affairs and shall be under the administrative supervision of a director who shall be called the director of marine fisheries. The director of the division of marin…

Section 1B. There shall be in the division of marine fisheries a commission to be known as the marine fisheries advisory commission hereinafter called the commission, which shall consist of nine members, qualified in the field of marine fisheries by training and experience, to be…

Section 1C. There shall be established in the division of marine fisheries a shellfish advisory panel to: (i) advise the director on matters of concern relevant to shellfish fisheries; (ii) provide a forum for governmental entities to receive and disseminate information relevant …

Section 2. Licenses, permits and certificates of registration issued by the director or his agent shall not, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, be transferable and shall be produced for examination upon demand of any authorized person. Notwithstanding the foregoing, th…

Section 20. The director shall assist and co-operate with coastal cities and towns for the purpose of increasing the supply of shellfish and exterminating the enemies thereof within their borders, and for this purpose may expend such sums as may be appropriated therefor. The expe…

Section 20A. The director shall assist and cooperate with coastal cities and towns for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a program of self-help to said cities and towns for the cultivation, propagation and protection of shellfish. Funds to carry out the purposes of this…

Section 21. The director shall devise a system of statistical information useful to the commercial and recreational fishing industry of the commonwealth and may collect and compile fishery statistics obtained thereunder. He may require for such purposes statistical reporting from…

Section 23. Except in the case of emergency imperiling life or property or an unavoidable accident or except in accordance with the terms of a permit issued pursuant to state or federal water pollution control laws, no person shall, from any source: (i) put, throw, discharge or s…

Section 24. Whoever, contrary to any provision of section twenty-three, himself, or by his agent or servant, does, or allows or suffers to be done, any act causing damage to the shellfish resources within the limits of a city or town shall be liable to said city or town in tort, …

Section 25. The entrance or discharge into the coastal waters, or the tributaries of such waters, of sewage or any other substance which might be injurious to the public health or might tend to contaminate any shellfish areas or shellfish therein which may be determined by the di…

Section 26. The supreme judicial court or any justice thereof, and the superior court or any justice thereof, shall have jurisdiction in equity to enforce sections twenty-three, twenty-four and twenty-five. Proceedings to enforce the same may be instituted and prosecuted by the a…